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Stories from Our Global Partners | Liberia
June 21, 2023
Stories from WordSower
From our indigenous missionary team in Guinea:
“Service went on well today at Dabadu. This is the town’s first time to have a church service and praise God. The turnout was great, with 32 in attendance. We just completed the second church service in Dabadu. Attendance increased to 35.”
“Last night, while setting up for the Jesus film, we were attacked by three unknown guys. They brought palm wine to sell and created a great disruption. We told them to leave. One of the men slapped my ear, creating great pain. The community people came and rescued us, and the town leaders took them to the police. Praise God! We were still able to show, and 267 attended!! The next morning, the man who slapped me came and apologized and prayed for salvation. We are reaching out to the unreached tribes and people of Guinea! The Holy Spirit is moving in Guinea.”
“This is our first house church. Members contributed planks for the roof. Wordsower has provided nails and will purchase metal for the roof. It is a Muslim-dominated community. There are no churches in this region. The members were glad to contribute the roof planks to make sure their tent would be raised.”
From our base in Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia:
“We thank God Almighty for His grace upon us. Our fasting and prayers proved to be fruitful. We spent two weeks going through the city from house to house, inviting and praying with the people, doing a massive mobilization mission. We invited people on the street, churches, pastors, Imams (an Imam is the spiritual leader of a Mosque), and many Muslims. It began with a 3-day training and ended with a 2-day crusade. Three hundred seventy-six attended the training. The first night of the crusade 156 announced a commitment of faith for salvation. The second night, Imams attended along with their Muslim congregations. One thousand eight hundred seventy attended the crusade. Sunday morning, we went to the waterside; 65 had agreed to be baptized, and most were Muslims. Before we had finished baptizing, another 15 had agreed to be baptized. A total of 80 were baptized. Those who were baptized gave evidences and testimonies of their faith. We have witnessed a great working of the Holy Spirit. Wordsower is highly regarded by the many pastors and teachers who attended our training. Many Muslims converted to Christ. After this event we decided that another pastoral training is necessary to make sure these new converts are discipled and brought into a church. We are planning another such event in the large town of Tanii.”
“The town of Falie is the county stronghold of the Animistic people in Grand Cape Mount County. It houses the county’s altar. Six times churches have tried to start in the town and have failed. The Animistic regional leader is called the Devil. He says a church will never survive in this town. The town belongs to their society and no church can exist here! Wordsower Africa has heard this many times over the years. Never have we entered an Animistic stronghold, with the power of the Holy Spirit, and not been able to crumble the stronghold and start a church.
Wordsower Africa has established a church in Falie. We have evangelized, baptized about 20, discipled, and trained spiritual leaders. We usually will put up a roof for the churches we start. The metal roofing, nails, and planks have been purchased for their building. Hopefully, the roof will be completed by April.”
From our indigenous missionary team in Sierra Leone:
“We had a church service in Kamoria village. We spent the night and showed the Jesus film in their language. The next morning, we had a beautiful church service. Many came, but some of the new converts stayed away because of fear of family and community persecution. We have two spiritual leaders we are training to be elders of the newly birthed church.”
“While I was in Sierra Leone, we had a pastor’s conference. Sixty-two spiritual leaders attended from several churches. Many of these are new pastors that came from Muslim towns. They loved the teaching and want more teachings.”
“Our Lord has done a marvelous and wonderful work today in an unreached churchless village. We did a day-long mission there and asked if we could show the Jesus film. They agreed for us to show it, in their Temne dialect, the next day. We arrived during their Muslim prayer time, so we waited until the prayer ended. More than 300 people gathered to view the show. We called upon the Imam to pray before we started. The Imam prayed. Almost everybody was praying the Muslim prayer way by having their hands open. Afterward, we thanked the Imam and began the show. In the middle of the show, many of the people were shedding tears and shouting. After it finished, 143 people gave their lives to Christ and were willing to be baptized. The next morning, we baptized 162 people. Interestingly, this resistant, churchless, Muslim village of an unreached tribe has given birth to a new church! Pray that our Lord will guide and protect all the new converts in the village. Lord, thank you for leading us to this village and for delivering these souls. Everybody everywhere needs to hear the Gospel. We go.”
“I, Kim Smith, am in Sierra Leone to visit our base here. They are working with the unreached Tenme-Banta tribe and other unreached tribes. I came to verify if the testimonies they had been sending were accurate. I’m astounded. The strategy of our team here is to enter a town and meet the town chief. Usually, there are no Christians in these towns of Muslims. Our team will ask if they can show a movie about Jesus on a big screen in their language. Rarely is our team refused. Some will refuse the first couple of times they are asked, but not one Muslim town has ultimately denied us. After the show, the crowd is asked if any want to become Christian. The team will do a prayer with them for salvation. The next day they return to teach and baptize. The baptisms may be from 1 to over 100 new converts. There are NO flippant baptisms here! Each one agreeing to be baptized knows that family and town persecution, often severe, is waiting for them. Their newfound faith is very real. The team will continue to meet with the new converts. From within the converts, a spiritual leader will arise. The new pastor will receive increased training.”
“The first time we arrived in this village, at about 11 am, almost all the villagers had gone to work on their farms. We asked for the chief and were told that the chief was absent, but the Iman was there. We interacted with the Iman telling him our purpose. Immediately, the Iman called, in a very loud voice, upon people to gather. We taught the Gospel and sang a few familiar songs in the Temne dialect. They were surprised and happy to hear the Gospel.
They agreed for us to show the Jesus film, in their dialect, the next night. We arrived during their Muslim prayer time and waited until the prayer ended. More than 300 people had gathered. We called upon the Imam to pray before starting the film. The Iman called for the prayer, and almost everybody prayed a Muslim prayer. In the middle of the film, many people shed tears, groaning and shouting. After the show, 143 people made a public confession of faith for salvation and were willing to be baptized.
We came to baptize, but the river was dry. We ran here and there, trying to find water to baptize people. One of those willing to be baptized said, “A water pit is close to my garden; let us go there.” The water was very dirty, and the pit was small, but we were left with no option; we prayed and baptized 162 people. Soon after, the residents enlarged the pit and called upon us to return so others could be baptized. We then baptized many more.”
“God has sent us into this churchless Temne village called Mabando Village; they have rejected the Gospel and denied our team from showing the Jesus film twice. They believe the village was established as an Islamic settlement from its origin until now and that they don’t need Christianity. They said that the Gospel is not necessary, nor is the showing of the Jesus Film.
Two weeks later, while passing through to the next village, one of the Sheiks (A leader of an Islamic) called our attention and said that the community had discussed and finally agreed to allow us to show the Jesus Film in the Temne dialect. We immediately stopped, set up the equipment, and waited for them to finish their evening prayers. At 8pm, we started showing. During the process, one of the Arabic teachers started driving the children, telling them to go to their houses. The children ignored him, so he started beating some of the children. Thanks be to God that one of the chief elders shouted at him in a loud voice and put a stop to him immediately. At the end of the film, three converted, and we baptized them the next day. We are to return to Mabando Village to house evangelism and offer prayers. We observed that Muslims are people that love prayers. We have used the method of prayer to win them over to our Lord several times.”
From our indigenous missionary team in Gbarpolu County, Liberia:
“Two animistic towns have finally accepted the Gospel. One of them, Yakayah, was founded in 1864 by a warrior named Yaka of the unreached Gola tribe. Since the town was established, there have been no worship services or a church. This town has been a regional stronghold of witchcraft and the demonic by the power of God, that yoke has been broken. Our team went in and showed the Jesus film. Many accepted Christ. Their first Christmas celebration service was a success. The town chief agreed for us to have the service. Another church is being birthed.”
“Zelemu town has accepted the Gospel. The town elders have given land for the Christians to build a worship center. Another church is being birthed, for the first time, in this town.”
“Madina, the regional Muslim stronghold, has never allowed Christians to be in their town. Finally, they allowed us to have a Christmas celebration. The children were many. Pray with us; a church will also be birthed here.”
“Our mission to the prison was great! We talked with 32 prisoners, and three prayed for salvation. One was a Muslim man named Mohammed. He is the head of all the prisoners. They call him 5-star. 5-star surrendered to Jesus. We gave him 5 Bibles and our Bible marking training so that he could start training disciples. He was once a leader under Satan’s rule; he is now being transformed by God to make disciples in God’s kingdom.”
From our indigenous missionary team in Lofa County, Liberia:
“We did a training, 23 attended. The town did not have a church building, so we trained under a big tree. We showed the Jesus film in the evenings. On the first night, 47 people viewed, and three people gave their lives to God. On the second night, 55 viewed, and seven people gave their lives to God. Mr. Saylee said he was a very wicked man. The night after the first day of our training, he had a dream; he saw himself walking toward a huge fire. As he was getting close to the fire, someone spoke to him and said, “Go and baptize.” In his dream, he saw a building and was told to enter it and pray. He woke up from sleep greatly disturbed. That day he went with his wife to the building where we were training. He told us that he wanted to be baptized. So, we spent time with him, teaching him the scriptures, prayed with him, and baptized him. A 99-year-old woman also attended the training and was baptized. After the training, the village asked us to help them start a church.
From our indigenous missionary team in Ivory Coast:
“A new group of disciples has started an independent church and are growing. Nine of them came for our level 4 class. And yet another group of disciples has formed a church, which Emmanuel Tooua works with. We baptized 12 persons in this new church, a Muslim leader of 14 years, converted to Christ Jesus. He is now a Wordsower trainee. He taught, in our level 4 class, “How to reach Muslims.” He has become a missionary to the Muslims.”
Gle Henry, aged 78, trained in 2020 by Wordsower, planted a church in Gbloleu Town. He invited us to teach and show the Jesus film. More than 750 viewed Gospel films, and more than 50 confessed Christ as their Lord and Savior. Pray for us.
For more information on how you can help our Global Partner’s reach the unreached, click here.