Around the World: Surviving gang violence in Haiti, Facebook evangelism in Kenya and more quick takes
Around the World is our monthly rundown of news briefs, links and quotes from Churches of Christ all over the globe. Got an idea for this column? Email Erik Tryggestad at [email protected].
Featured image (above): Hundreds gather for the National Youth Camp in the Philippines.
HAITI
TI RIVIERE — A preacher and his family fled for their lives as one of the gangs ravaging this troubled nation burned their home.
Vilga Cherilus, his wife, Rodlie, and their children — a 9-year-old and an infant — escaped with only the clothes they were wearing and fled to a village in the nearby mountains of central Haiti.
Despite the trauma, Vilga made his way to Cap-Haitien to continue his studies at the Center for Biblical Training, which prepares ministers to serve Churches of Christ. Fonrose Teogene, a director at the school, bought clothing for Vilga with proceeds from the sale of the school’s old truck.
The Galman Church of Christ maintains a house for widows near the school and plans to use a room there to house Rodie and the children. “Vilga’s wife is not in a secure location,” school officials said. “Vilga’s classmates have asked to go without meat for a week so that the money saved can go toward Vilga’s wife’s transportation to come to Galman.”
Gang members detained another student, Johnder Sejour, as he attempted to return to the school after a break but eventually allowed him to leave. “We are all praising God for his intervention,” school officials said. Learn more about the school at haitianchristianfoundation.org.
KENYA
SORI — Darlene Kirk, a Church of Christ member in the small town of Vinita, Okla., doesn’t know how she became Facebook friends with Mary Atieno, who lives in Sori, a village on the banks of Lake Victoria in Kenya. Actually, she does know. “It was all God,” she said.
The two women exchanged messages about faith, and Kirk sent Atieno a copy of “Muscle and a Shovel” by Michael Shank. After reading the book, Atieno wanted to know more about Churches of Christ. Kirk sent Atieno a link to the livestream service of the Church of Christ in Grove, Okla., about 30 miles from Vinita, not knowing that the Grove church supports ministry in Kisii, Kenya, about 60 miles from Sori.
David Marube, left, stands with new converts George, Mary and Sheila at Lake Victoria in Kenya.
Gary Lane, a member of the Grove church, contacted Kisii evangelist David Marube about Atieno. Marube traveled with Thomas Ondieki, minister for the Bonyancha Church of Christ, to Sori and studied the Bible with Atieno, her sister Sheila, her husband, George, and some of their neighbors.
The two women asked to be baptized, so the family walked to Lake Victoria and did just that. George was baptized the next day. Now a newborn Church of Christ meets in the couple’s home.
The Grove church provided funds for the trip.
PHILIPPINES
BAGUIO CITY — More than 530 Christians representing 78 Churches of Christ and more than 100 visitors attended the recent National Youth Camp hosted by the Heritage Church of Christ and Heritage Bible College. Seven attendees were baptized.
SENEGAL
SÉDHIOU — “Man proposes, but God disposes.”
That saying held true during a recent mission trip to the Sédhiou region of southern Senegal, said Arnold Dzah, a Ghanaian-born evangelist who serves Churches of Christ in this predominantly Muslim nation in West Africa.
Charles Odoi, left, teaches the Four Fields Discipleship Method in a village in Senegal.
Dzah led a team, including fellow Ghanaian Charles Odoi, to teach the Four Fields Discipleship Method for church multiplication. At the first village they intended to visit, they learned that their contact had traveled to Guinea-Bissau for a traditional circumcision ceremony. At the second village, the area chief they needed to approach for permission to enter had recently died.
“But God redirected us,” Dzah said — to the village of Dioukoua, where members of Dzah’s team had worked on an agriculture project. The group received the chief’s permission to enter, and “by God’s grace, at the end, 18 new souls were baptized.”
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