THE AFRICAN LEADERSHIP LETTER

A Joint Publication of the African Wesleyan Fellowship and the Africa Area Office of Global Partners Vol.3 No.1 May, 2014

EVERY URBAN PASTOR FOR RURAL MINISTRY: A Sierra Leonean Case Study

The Wesleyan Church of was encounters difficulties in posting pastors from founded in 1889 by the American Wesleyan urban to rural areas. The then Department of Mission. The Church started in a rural area in a Evangelism and Church Planting now the village called Kunsho. Kunsho is still less than Department of Church Ministries was twenty houses. From Kunsho the Church spread encouraged to design a mission strategy geared to other villages such as Masongbo, , towards addressing this problem. A mission Kamabai, , and strategy known as EVERY URBAN PASTOR FOR Kunkuna. The Gbendembu Bible School was RURAL MINISTRY (EUPRM) was designed. then established to train pastors for rural ministry. For nearly ninety years the Church was Biblical Basis: found only in rural areas. The biblical foundation for this mission strategy Near the end of the 1970s the Church is found in Acts 13:2, “As they minister to the embarked on urban ministries. Today there are Lord and fasted the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now over fifty Churches in urban areas in Freetown, separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work , Bo, Kenema, Port Loko, Kabala and to which I have called them.’” When the act of Kambia. Pastors who graduate from the missions started in the early Church it began by Evangelical College of Theology (formerly the sending two people. I cannot understand why Sierra Leone Bible College) are posted to serve the Holy Spirit needed two people instead of in urban Churches where they are able to one person. I cannot speak the mind of the Holy exhibit competency in ministry. Spirit in such decisions but I know there is value in being in the company of others. In fact being Churches in urban centers seem to be alone was what God said was not good (Gen. experiencing both numerical and financial 2:18). Working together with others enhances growth as compared to churches in rural areas. developing and pursuing a common goal, Pastors demonstrate more willingness to serve sharing problems together and having the in urban areas than serving rural areas. Ministry feeling of solving such problems. It encourages in rural areas which was formerly vibrant is one another when one feels stressed and declining gradually. Motivation for rural strengthens one another when one stumbles. ministry is low. Pastors in far distances are isolated. They are not visited often and lack the emotional care needed to continue serving in There is value in being in the company of the midst of difficult circumstances. With these others. emerging trends in ministry the leadership

1 Paul saw the need to be in the company of College of Theology. He is praying for the others in mission, when there was a contention financial support. over John Mark. Paul did go alone but took with • EUPRM encourages local churches to him Silas (Acts 15:36-41). contribute to evangelism. Pastors serving in local churches will form the primary targets. Relevance of the Strategy: Local churches will be encouraged to mobilize the resources needed for the pastor on mission. The strategy will target pastors serving in urban The local church will also spend time prayer for areas and their congregations. Urban pastors the mission work. When this is done members will be identified and sent to rural areas where will see themselves as contributing their they work together with rural pastors to do resources for missions. effective ministry. The relevance of this strategy will therefore be seen in light of the • EUPRM provides emotional support to rural following: pastors: Our rural pastors are serving in remote places where they face adverse conditions such • EUPRM enhances effective Evangelism: In as poor salary and medical care. Worse still, this strategy there is much potential for pastors are isolated from the rest of other effective evangelism in communities where ministers. They are hardly visited by colleague there is low receptivity to the gospel. pastors and the leadership of the church. The Evangelism requires mobilizing resources only opportunity they have to meet with other including personnel and confronting the people pastors and the leadership of the church is with the gospel. When this is done in concerted during District Conference. They lack the effort of two more pastors there will be emotional support they need when they face abundant harvest. difficulties in ministry. This strategy will provide • EUPRM exposes pastors to new realities in the spiritual, emotional and psychological the ministry: Many urban pastors have never support needed to help rural pastors who are had the experience of rural life and ministry. serving under difficult circumstances stay Going to rural areas for one month will help rather than abandoning the ministry. them to have the feeling of what it means to • EUPRM and socio-economic transform- work in rural areas. This will reduce the shock in ation: Urban pastors in mission together with future posting to rural areas. This will also the pastor and the community will identify and motivate urban pastors and their churches to engage in some ministry of transformation in provide support for rural ministry. health, education, farming etc. At Kadanso for • EUPRM provides a training ground for home example, the pastor who was sent there missions: Pastors who feel motivated to engage sensitized the community to see the need to in missions will have the opportunity to engage construct a nine mile road from the Chiefdom in practical missions experience. Some may headquarters town to the village. The pastor also be motivated to take missions as a career organized the community and they were able to through this strategy. In the first year of raise twenty-five million leones (Le. 25, 000, operation three of the pastors have 000, $US 6,000). This money was paid to hire demonstrated a willingness to engage at least the services of a road construction firm to in home missions. One of them has opted to rehabilitate the nine mile road. This project was take a course in missions at the Evangelical accomplished in five months.

2 Implementing the Program Programs included in this strategy are categorized into pre-evangelistic, evangelistic Agencies: and post-evangelistic. Pre-evangelistic The program was implemented by the following programs included prayer and resource agencies: mobilization including the construction of parsonages. Evangelistic programs included • Mission Agency: The Wesleyan Church of prayer, Jesus Film Campaign, preaching and Sierra Leone through the Department of Church teaching, baptism, membership reception and Ministry is implementing the strategy. As an socio-economic transformational activities. agency the department in collaboration with Post-evangelism programs include receiving, the various District Superintendents identifies compiling and dissemination of report to the pastors to be sent at a time. The partners. department provides orientation for the pastors before they are sent out. The Director Steps in Implementing the Strategy: receives service report from each pastor. He compiled an annual report for the attention of • Designing the strategy: The strategy was the National Superintendent who in turn designed with the approval of the National presents the report to the National Board of Superintendent. Administration. • Prayer and Sensitization: Prayer and • Local Churches: Two set of local churches sensitization among churches, para-church help in the implementation of this strategy: The organizations and NGOs to support the Sending and Receiving Churches. Sending strategy. It took the department one year to do Churches include Churches in urban areas in this. The strategy was shared with the six Freetown, Makeni, Bo, Kenema, Kambia, Port District Superintendents for discussion during Loko and Kabala. These churches endorse the the 2012 District Conferences. The strategy recruitment of pastors into the mission work, was endorsed for its commencement in 2013. raise the funds and engaged in prayer. The • Identification of rural churches. Three localcChurches also receive reports from the Churches were identified based on their need pastors and the annual report from the Director and characteristics: these Churches were: of Church Ministries. Three churches were Kukuna, Komoya and Kadanso. Kukuna and identified as Receiving Churches: Kukuna, Komoya are Soso communities and are Komoya and Kadanso. As receiving churches predominantly Muslim areas. The American they were responsible for providing lodging for Wesleyan Mission entered into Kukuna and the pastors and the required cooperation. built a Church there in 1948, the membership is • Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). still less than ten. Work at Komoya started in The strategy requires the cooperation of NGOs 1990; membership is still made up of children. in providing social services. At Kadanso for Pastors are known to have labored and example the community collaborated with a abandoned the stations in frustration. Kadanso, road construction firm that provided the service a Limba community, was reached in the early for rehabilitating the road linking the village to 1940s by American Wesleyan Missionaries. The people are animist. In every household there is the Chiefdom headquarters town. a sorcerer. Many pastors are afraid to be posted Programs Included: to this community for fear of bewitchment.

3 • Building of parsonages. Two of the selected during this period are baptized and received communities lacked parsonages. Funds were into membership. For a ten-year period no raised to construct the two parsonages before baptism was done at Kadonso and Komoya. the commencement of the project. With this strategy a total number of fifty-six • Identification of sending churches: Thirty-six adult candidates were baptized at Kadanso and local Churches were identified to serve as thirty-eight children were baptized at Komoya. sending Churches. The churches provided The terrible road at Kadanso was rehabilitated transport, food and other logistics for their during this period. respective pastors. • Exit after four weeks: Pastors are to serve • Launching the program: The strategy was only for one month. He exits at the end of one launched in Freetown during the 2012 District month and another pastor enters immediately Conference. The National Superintendent without any gap. launched the program. All the local churches • Report: The Pastor compiles his report were motivated to contribute to the program. noting the activities, challenges, opportunities • Pastors engage in evangelism and ministries and recommendations. The report is submitted of transformation for four weeks. Converts to the Director one week after the exit.

Rev. Moses Khanu, Assistant National Superintendent, W esleyan Church of Sierra Leone.

Email: [email protected]

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A CASE FOR AFRICAN WESLEYANS TO RESPOND TO THE MISSIONARY CALL

The Mission God's heart for mission must be the major priority for the church today. It is God's breath. “How thus will they call upon who they did not To be sent symbolizes “the mission," but this believe? And how will they believe in the one term is not written in the Bible. Before the 16th about who they did not hear? And how will they century the mission was considered as the hear about him if there is nobody who sending of the Son by the Father, and the preaches? And how will there be clergymen, if sending of Holy Spirit by the Father and the Son. they are not sent?” (Romans 10: 14) Now “mission” has become understood as the sending of the church to the world by the Father.

4 The mission consists planting the Church theologian Ka Mana who published an entitled militant in the whole world, in a permanent way, work: “The New Evangelization in Africa". in various countries. The work of missionary is thus the preparatory step of the ecclesiastical He says: “A Christianity which was not able to activity. evangelize the society in its deep aspects, was not able to build the social dikes against the God's heart for mission must be the detainment of the evil and gave everywhere the image of a useless varnish put on an unlimited major priority for the church today. African and world paganism."

Missiology is a full theological discipline. It is the Before the Christianity, the African lived in a science which must be mastered by all those social and cultural environment. This who make a commitment to the field of the environment shaped his thoughts and actions to mission. We have just said that the mission is at face the existential problems and to organize his its core the work of evangelization. And that's environment and life in interpersonal relations, one of the big challenges of the church in Africa in economy, and in the social justice. This today. Evangelism is to announce the Gospel, environment is also the place where God shows the good news. These expressions are found himself to him and calls him; the place of frequently in the New Testament. meeting and dialogue, conversion and support

in his word. Christianity brought the Good News Evangelization to Africa, the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ.

But Africans shall only remember it if this Good Evangelization is the means by which people are News is adapted to the different cultures of reached by the Gospel. It reaches its purpose Africa. only when those who received the Gospel are converted and become Christians then give birth William A. ETEKI says in his work “Work with to other Christians. Evangelization and the Christ in the Cultural Revolution,” “It’s time to growth of the church is thus an ongoing and say that the purpose of the Church is to bring the continual process. Gospel to a community as such with its culture,

its religion, to introduce the Christ into all the To summarize, in the evangelistic mission, we human values which find their justification." say that it consists in the proclamation of the

Good news, teaching and testimony. It is in Culture is an integrated system of beliefs about these three phases that the church guarantees God or about the reality and about customs: the continuity of Christ's work. how to behave, communicate with the others,

to speak, to pray, to get dressed, to work, to play Evangelization is an important challenge for the to deal to cultivate etc. … That is why church in Africa because the God of the Bible is missionaries have to be initiated in African not static. The African continent is a dynamic cultures which is the way given to people to society. The church has to adapt its teaching to organize their world. Missionaries who are the present needs for the continent. That is why successful become identified with the culture by this evangelization must rather be either made an intimate knowledge of the people, as we can by the African themselves than by the western give the example of our Lord Jesus Christ missionaries. We shall quote an African himself. He left his glory to become a vulnerable

5 and dependent child. He also knew the time of decode correctly the biblical message according poverty, oppression, hunger, thirst and he cried. to the rules of the interpretation of the Bible. The second: the African missionary looks in the As missionaries we have to know all the aspects direction that is the “culture of the receiver” of the culture of the people by taking on their with his own perception of the world, and his lifestyle and we have to show a real sympathy codes of communication. He has to remember for them. The purpose of culture is to learn to himself the receivers of this culture are so communicate confidently and really with people profoundly rooted in the ideas and values of of the other culture. That is the task of the their culture as he is in his. missionary and its concern; it consists in establishing communication or a contact point. As Christ found it necessary to become identified with the human race to bring salvation The Impact of an African Missionary in an and become our Sovereign Priest, also African African Country missionaries can easily adapt to other African cultures and life, then give the gospel better. A missionary is a product of a culture which probably is very different from the receiver of In the process of acculturation, missionaries will the Christian message. But an African missionary experience culture shock, but for Africans that can be shocked partially, because the cultures will be cut in half. And the objective of the are almost the same. As an African missionary he missionary work should be the establishment of will adapt easily and will communicate Christ in native churches which have their own a way that the people understand and repent administration and their own propagation. and believe in the gospel in an understanding way. Conclusion

We can now see the task of the African African missionaries will be better in Africa than missionary in a clearer perspective. The in the other continents. He will discover easily missionary has to cross the cultural barriers in ways to communicate the Gospel to other two directions. The first one is to be able to African brothers.

Rev. David Kajila, Wesleyan Missionary in Cameroon Sent by the Wesleyan Church of Congo (DRC)

Email: [email protected]

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6 STRIKING THE BALANCE BETWEEN BEING A SPIRITUAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LEADER

The general duties of the National Being an administrative leader on the other Superintendent of the Wesleyan Church of hand, means protecting and promoting Sierra Leone according to its Church Discipline institutional needs and policies. The church is an are two-fold: “To provide Spiritual and institution that consists of personnel, assets, Administrative Leadership for the Wesleyan mission and vision. These need to be upheld at Church” (Paragraph 740:1). all times so as to prevent the institution from falling apart. The National Superintendent as The model of spiritual leadership is in Jesus administrative leader has the responsibility to Christ who considered himself as the Good ensure that the mission, vision, personnel and Shepherd. This means, spiritual leadership is a assets are maintained and coordinated for kind of relationship compared to a relationship sustaining the institution. As an administrative between a sheep and a shepherd. As a good leader, he is responsible to the National Board shepherd, Jesus said he laid down his life for his of Administration, National Conference, Global sheep. “I am the good shepherd. The Good Partners, and the Districts and Departments Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”(John under his supervision (Paragraph 740:1-27). His 10:11), so also is the spiritual leader. The administrative functions call for many activities National Superintendent as the spiritual leader such as coordinating, chairing meetings/ therefore like Jesus is the shepherd of a flock of conferences, planning, monitoring, reporting, over 30,000 sheep. As a shepherd, he is traveling, etc. responsible for leading, feeding, nurturing, comforting, correcting and protecting the The National Superintendent as sheep. These responsibilities call for many activities such as teaching, preaching, praying, administrative leader has the counseling and providing for the social and responsibility to ensure that the physical needs of the sheep (people). The mission, vision, personnel and general aim of being a spiritual leader is to assets are maintained and provide enabling environment that can build a coordinated for sustaining the healthy relationship between God and man for institution. inheriting the kingdom of God. Being the spiritual and administrative Leader is The general aim of being a spiritual highly demanding. Spiritual leadership is leader is to provide enabling meeting the needs of every member and being environment that can build a the administrative leader is to meet the healthy relationship between God institutional needs. I view the two to be inseparable. This is a clear indication that the and man for inheriting the office of National Superintendent (spiritual and kingdom of God. administrative leader) has a huge task in ensuring that both the needs of individuals and the institution are equally met. These functions

7 are essential for the growth of individuals in the population. They are directly responsible to the church. greater flock of the church members. For a balance to be kept on the spiritual and In order to create a balance between the two administrative leadership, he should focus on roles, the spiritual and administrative leader the building of the capacities, skills, must build the capacity of District competences and resources needs of the two Superintendents and National Directors/ categories of the persons mentioned above. It is Departmental Leaders. The Church structure much easier for him to mentor his close comprises of District Superintendents and associates and empower them to go out to National Directors. These two sets of people are affect the lives of the majority whiles he creates in direct contact with the majority of the church a balance in his administrative work.

Rev. Dr. Usman J. Fornah, National Superintendent, Wesleyan Church – Sierra Leone

Email: [email protected]

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The African Leadership Letter is a joint publication of the African Wesleyan Fellowship and the Africa Area Office of Global Partners. Send address changes or requests to be added to or removed from the mailing list to: [email protected]. This publication is also available on the Africa Area website: www.gpafrica.org

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