New Strategy in Missions: Separate the Sheep and Goats?



CRC SL Staff meeting.

At the recent CRC SL staff meetings (which I became aware of about 10 minutes before they began and which spanned two days), Evangelist and Pastor Edison Kamara gave a report on his catchment area, the Foria Zone.  Of all the stories, this one caught my attention.



In a certain village, Edison has been having conversations with the local chief who, as is often the case, also serves as the Imam of the Mosque.  In these conversations it became clear that the chief welcomed the presence of Christians and their evangelistic efforts in his community.  In fact, the chief went the extra mile by calling a meeting of the entire village.  Once he had everyone assembled, he got up and addressed the crowd:  "I know of two religions in Sierra Leone:  Islam and Christianity.  If you go to the mosque, sit here on my left.  If you don't go to the mosque, sit here on my right."  Once the villagers were appropriately segregated, he continued, "If you don't go to the mosque, you should go to the church." 





This is Rev. Edison Kamara - who also believes

Muslims shouldn't get all the nice clothes.

While he may have been interested in moral education for his village, he drove the point home rather clearly:  "If you do not belong to the mosque or the church, then if you die, you will not be the responsibility of the mosque or the church.  If fact, you should expect that when you die, we will tie a rope around your leg and drag you out of town into the forest, where you will be left to rot.  Therefore, if you are not in the mosque, join the church."

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In other Ringma news, Ella and Jacob are evicting residents of their bellies through the use of worm-ridding medicine, while I have been taking ciprofloxacin to evict some smaller squatters, residing in my gut because of my Foria water-drinking exploits.  We are doing fine and not terribly hindered.  Maria and Naomi seem unaffected.  Everyone but me is at home today because there is no school today while the teachers and parents are planning for sports day at the end of March. 

Next week, we have plans to travel to Freetown (the capital city) to run some errands along with Rev. John Phiri and Zach Adams.  We will also take a look at a Reformed College located in the area to see how it might fit into the plans of leadership development of CRC SL pastors.  We may even catch a wave or two at the beach.  We will definitely be purchasing some peanut butter.