Update from Kabala

A very quick update from Kabala. Pastors training has gone well, but please pray for them that they would improve at their bible study skills. Some have been very promising and gave a great 5 min exposition on 2 Timothy. Others have been slow to pick up the skills and didn’t communicate their text well.

Biblical womanhood went well too. Please pray that the women will have understood and will take on board what they learned, especially thinking about equal dignity and worth of women in a society where women are often seen as inferior.

Thanks!

Kabala and Kono

Today we set off for Kabala, a town in the north of Sierra Leone. It is a long drive but the roads are good. Please pray for a safe journey and that we would quickly settle in there.

The aim of the trip is to train and resource pastors and student leaders in the town. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, John will be leading sessions with the church leaders – they’ll be listening to some talks from Vaughan Roberts on “What is Preaching” and “Preaching the Epistles”. Please pray that these talks would speak to them and God would use the sessions to make them more effective at preaching and teaching.

In addition to these sessions, there will also be some Biblical Womanhood sessions for the women, and bible studies in 2 Timothy for the student and youth leaders. We will all be involved in these, so please pray for us as we use the next few days for preparation, and pray for God to give us all understanding and that our lives would be changed by his Word.

On Saturday, we leave for Kono, a town in the east of the country, and we will repeat the same programme there. We’ll be back in Freetown on Friday 11th.

Yesterday we had the Word Alive meeting, a monthly bible teaching programme designed to equip pastors with doctrine and to model thematic and expositional preaching. John gave a great talk on “Salvation and Justification” – I’ll share some thoughts when there is a bit more time to write.

Finally, thank God that we are all in good health and we are getting on really well together. Praise God for the hospitality we have been shown there; the Africans do everything for us – including our laundry!

Map

Here is a map showing where we are staying at the moment. As you can see it is quite far out of Freetown and the journey in every morning is over an hour!

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More photos

 

In Freetown

Greetings from Freetown! (Photo is of the beach!)

We have had a great time so far. I don’t have time to write much, and I hope to write later on the lifestyle and culture here. Needless to say we are living a very basic existence, but it is a remarkably attractive way of living devoid of most of the things that complicate our lives in England.

Yesterday we went to a slum area of Freetown called Kroo Bay, and did a session for local church pastors. The church was very well equipped, with radio microphones, fans and keyboards – surprising given the lack of basic facilities outside in the houses. John did a brief introduction to 2 Timothy, before Robin and I led studies in Chapters 1 and 2 with the men, and Sarah did John 4 with the women. Our aim was to model a way of studying the bible in small groups, and they said afterwards they found it helpful.

On Thursday we visited the univeristy campus, and met with the CU executive. John gave a brief thought from Philippians 1 and 2, and we had a discussion about the challenges of student witness in Freetown. It was shocking to hear about the level of corruption within the university – lecturers failing students on the basis of their tribe is commonplace, and we encouraged the CU to speak out against it.

Another massive problem in Sierra Leone is false teaching. Large swathes of the church teach a health/wealth/prosperity gospel with no room for suffering and trials. It is exciting to see that the work of Truth Mission is helping, and please pray that God would bring reform and change to the church here.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we have the Word Alive meeting, and on Monday we travel to Kabala. Please pray for God’s provision of a driver to take us there!

What we’re doing

Here are some specific things that we are doing out in Sierra Leone to inform your prayers:

(I don’t know masses about some of these things but will try to fill you in as we go.)

• Bible studies with youth/student leaders – this will be happening on the 4th and 10th July, and we will be going through 2 Timothy. I will be leading some of these studies, and would appreciate prayer as I finish preparing these.
• John’s sessions with pastors – John Aldis (International student worker at St Ebbe’s) will be leading some sessions on biblical interpretation with local church pastors. Many will be twice his age! These will take place on 1st/2nd and 7th/8th July.
• Word Alive – John will be teaching at this conference on “Salvation and Justification”. He will also be preaching at a church service in Kono.
• Biblical womanhood – Rosie Brock will be running some sessions with local women on 3rd and 9th July.
• Women in ministry – Sarah Decker (who I haven’t met yet) will be leading this session on 27th June.
• Finally, I will be doing some website and computer work for Truth Mission. Please pray that I would be able to fix their problems and that they can promote their work through the planned website. Note that if you search for Truth Mission on Google, this blog is the top result!

We’re leaving tomorrow so do pray for a safe trip and that we would quickly find our feet and adapt to West-African culture!

Beginnings

Here is some information about our trip:

God willing, this summer I will be part of a small team of 5 going to Sierra Leone for 3 weeks. Our mission will be to assist with the work of Truth Mission.

Chris Jonah set up TM with the help English pastors (like David Jackman) while he was studying at Cornhill in London.

Its mission is to model and teach expositional preaching of the Bible to students and pastors. They have a Bible institute called Grace & Truth where pastors and lay-people receive Bible-handling training on a part-time basis. They also speak at university groups. The students are very keen!

Truth Mission also arranges for English pastors to come and teach at 3-day conferences which take place in the less accessible ‘up-country’ regions.

The church in Sierra Leone has serious need of projects like Truth Mission’s because many people have been attracted to a quick-fix miracle gospel. It’s not that careful study of the Bible is always deliberately avoided. Some pastors have just never been taught that there is power in teaching the Bible systematically and in context.

I hope that our little team will, amongst other things, be able to help run expositional Bible studies.

Please pray for us that:

• God would keep us safe from disease and accident
• We would be able to make friends and contacts quickly
• The Bible studies and training that we provide would be useful and appropriate.
• God would provide for us all financially.

Please pray also for Sierra Leone. This country is gloriously beautiful in it natural resources, but much has been lost through a long civil war (ended in 2002). It is now the poorest country in the world. Pray that:

• Political and humanitarian work would proceed unhindered in order to rebuild the country
• That the churches would preach and teach the gospel faithfully.
• That Christians, especially those in public office (like the current President) would work with patience and integrity.