“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1Co 3:11)
Greetings from rain-soaked Liberia! We pray that this update finds you treasuring Christ our Lord and resting in his grace. We are thankful for you dear friends and family. We are grateful for your prayers on behalf of our family, ministry, and Liberian brethren. Thank you for your support and encouragement! We pray for you and pray God’s best for you.
The past few months have kept us extremely busy. Our threefold vision for wholistic church planting in Liberia means we wear many hats. There are also many areas of ministry that need to be in place to build for the future. The gospel and the preaching and teaching of God’s Word are preeminent.
I continue to train the men from Behla weekly, as well as Amos Margai, our teammate. Classroom training is twofold: Bible training and Wholistic ministry. The Bible training consists of the traditional courses, survey, Bible study methods, etc., with an emphasis on Pastoral leadership. The Wholistic training consists of workshops that are biblically integrated. These include the “Farming God’s Way” workshops with training in crops, homesteading/permaculture, beekeeping, rabbits, chickens, and fish farming. Other workshops offer life-skills from a biblical worldview such as bookkeeping, facilitator training, worldview training, the role of God’s Church as God’s instrument for transformation, and community health. Our goal is to “cross train” these men. Hopefully, God will raise some of these men to not only plant churches, but facilitate workshops and train others in the ministry of Coram Deo Liberia.
The wholistic ministry workshops also consist of “practical” training. Workshops occur primarily on the Gbarnga teaching farm. Some workshops are also done in villages.
Targeted areas for wholistic ministry include our neighboring Dunbah Town community, Behla and the surrounding villages of Fahleh, and Bomoyeh. Nyaata, home of Mathew and Zebedee, and Klehn’s Town, hosted by Alphonso Tia of Repentance Baptist and Samuel Cooper from Garjays Town. These and other men from this area Amos and I train once a month. There are other areas we are praying about… we’ll have more info hopefully sometime this year.
Michelle continues to work with the women of Behla Baptist. She meets with them monthly for a Titus 2 study and to teach them a skill such as baking bread or sewing.
Michelle is teaching them to hand sew first, before beginning on a treadle machine. We also only have one machine. Pray for guidance and God’s provision if he leads Michelle towards this type of equipping ministry. Michelle is also working with Teresa Sumo in teaching the children of Behla. Teresa teaches them chronologically in a storying/questioning format. Please pray that her reading skills will improve. We praise God for her heart to teach and that she can listen to God’s Word in Kpelle and English in preparation for Sunday school.
Pray that the church will have a burden for their community and that they would truly grasp the vision of serving. There are encouraging moments. Further encouragement comes from regular visitors from Fahleh. There is a man named Johnson there who wants training. Please pray for this outreach to a neighboring village, about a 45 minute walk. Thank you for praying!
Behla sponsored Jerry Vah, a Physicians Assistant student from Behla. He returned to present his diploma and thank the church.