Source: Christian Aid Mission, July 17, 2013
After hearing that no church existed in the area, native missionaries from Trinity Gospel Ministries met with leaders of Masap, a Sierra Leone farming community, in March. The missionaries explained they were Christians and they wanted to tell the people about Jesus Christ. If the villagers were interested, they would like to start a church for them.
Immediately the people responded with applause. The God of heaven had answered their prayers. “We have suffered so much and all other things have failed us,” said one community elder. “But if you can come with a church here, then we will be happy.”
Two weeks later a team of 14 missionaries came to Masap and conducted evangelism outreach in four villages. It was surprising for them to discover the gospel had been preached in the district for over 120 years, yet Masap had somehow not been reached. They initiated churches in two of the four villages they visited, Masap and Kategiyan.
That first Sunday when the village gathered for worship, 164 people came together in a spirit of celebration and praise. The area chief, village chief, and other Masap leaders all gave their hearts to Christ.
A similar scene was repeated in Kategiyan, where the entire village welcomed the gospel message and established a church. About 75 people attended that first service.
“Seeing the beauty of what is already happening in Masap and Kategiyan, the other villages are asking that we do the same for them,” wrote the leader of Trinity Gospel Ministries in a recent report to Christian Aid Mission.
It’s time [Sierra Leone] had something to celebrate. From 1991 to 2002 the nation was engulfed in a brutal civil war that took the lives of some 50,000 citizens. Perhaps the most visible atrocities of the war are the thousands of amputees whose arms, legs, and ears were cut off by unspeakably cruel rebel soldiers.