Cover,   2,   3,   4,   5,   6,   7,   8,   9

Page 4

National Association of Congregational Christian Churches,  P.O. Box 288, Oak Creek, WI  53154
414-764-1620 
Email: naccc@naccc.org   Web Site: http://www.naccc.org

by Rev. John Carson, Associate Executive Secretary for Missions, Church Development, and Regional Partnerships

[Editor's Note: This is a continuation of the article which appeared in the April NA News.]

From India, I traveled on to Africa, and was welcomed there, too. First to Lagos, Nigeria, where I was met by the Rev. Solomon Oladele and his wife, Margaret, and driven north to the work of Christ to the Villages in Ilorin. I was warmly greeted, and able to spend several days with the children and staff of their primary and secondary schools, along with those of their Omega College. The schools and college are producing graduates of great ability who consistently score beyond their peers in state examinations. Because of their strong moral and scholastic reputation, enrollment is steadily increasing, drawing students and families from every state in Nigeria.

Christ to the Villages needs our help in accommodating more students in their schools, and increasing evermore their equipment and facilities. They also tend to 28 churches and preaching stations, many of them far off main roads and into the bush. I was welcomed warmly at many of them, and privileged to spend time with pastors and people striving with joy to be faithful to God and Christ. Sometimes we sang and worshipped under trees, other times in shelters, and in simple, humble church buildings.

It was also my privilege to "bring" Christ to the Villages with Solomon and Margaret, who regularly visit, preach, and live the Gospel before people who've not yet heard of Jesus, or named Him Lord of their lives. The many works of Christ to the Villages deserve our prayers and support.

From Nigeria, I traveled on to Ghana, where I was welcomed. ("You are welcome" there, too!) I was met by the Rev. Charles Nyane and several representatives of the leadership of Word Alive ministries. From Accra, we traveled west along the coast to Takoradi, home to Rev. Nyane and his family, and site of one of many churches and offices for the work. From Takoradi, we drove further west to Esiama, a coastal village and headquarters to their Living Stone Primary and Secondary Schools, a Bible College, a Nursing School and orphanage. I was able to meet with the children and teachers of the schools, a number of students/graduates/pastors from the Bible College, along with the leaders of their Nursing School and Orphanage. Bright and joyful, glad and faithful people all around.

While there, I learned of many of their students' achievements, including the good news of ALL their first graduating class of nursing students passing their state examinations - and many with distinction! Indeed, the Ghanian government is so glad in the success of the Nursing School that it is planning to build them an additional 12 classrooms, along with a residence hall for 200! Plans to build a Nursery school are also underway, along with doubling the size of their orphanage.

All these projects have grown from a desire to plant churches and meet the needs of people being served. 15 churches are currently up and running, many of them pastored by graduates of their Bible School. Word Alive is also in the process of planting what it hopes will be the first of many churches in Ivory Coast, and stands ready to partner with all who seek to follow Christ in Congregational ways. (While there, we also met with representatives of God Gives Interdenominational Ministries, a work dedicated to planting churches and serving the needs of Liberian refugees recently displaced to Ghana.)

To sum, in far more ways than I can say, my first trip overseas has changed my life. I was greatly inspired by the faith and hope of those I met. I marveled at what God was doing in their lives and those being served. And the trip made even stronger my desire to see our sponsored works elsewhere. To champion all of them among the people of our churches.

All the works above deserve our prayers and strong support. As do all the other wonderful works and beautiful people we support around the world.

"It was a growth of the great revival at the beginning of the nineteenth century, at which time a serious protest against the insistent dogmatism of many Congregational and Presbyterian churches, [. . .] alienated some people who, finding themselves thus excluded from the communion which they would have sought, entered into fellowship with each other on the basis of a common allegiance to Christ, and a common subjection to the will of God as set forth in the Scriptures."1

1 Leonard Woolsey Bacon, The Congregationalists, New York: The Baker & Taylor Co., 1904, p. 257

Rev. Dr. Lloyd Hall is the Association's Historian
and serves Plymouth Congregational Church of Lansing, MI

Page 4
 

Cover,   2,   3,   4,   5,   6,   7,   8,   9