Sierra Leone Pastor Praises CRC

Pastor John Phiri this week thanked Christian Reformed World Missions missionaries for paving the way for him to help bring thousands of people to Christ in the small African country of Sierra Leone.

Standing in front of a ceiling-high map of Africa, projected onto a wall in the Christian Reformed Church’s Grand Rapids, Mich., office, Phiri said the low-key but dedicated approach of such missionaries as Paul Kortenhoven and his wife, Mary, have made it easier for him to start 54 worshipping communities in northern Sierra Leone over the last three years. The Kortenhovens worked there for 20 years patiently and steadily. They are now retired.

“There was a change of mind among the people because of what people saw in the CRC in the hard times,” Phiri said as he updated CRWM and others about the ongoing work in Sierra Leone, a mostly Muslim country that faced a brutal 10-year civil war that ended in 2002.

“The church was there through it all and picked up the broken pieces and helped in relief and development when the war was over,” said Phiri. “Most of the other agencies fled for their lives,” leaving Sierra Leone when the war began.

But even early on in its ministry, CRWM did not preach to the people with an abundance of words. Rather, the missionaries worked through Christian Extension Services, CES, the outreach arm of the CRC in the country, on literacy, educational, agricultural, clean water and health programs. The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee was also a signficant part of this effort, especially in the areas of relief and development. Over the years, the two agencies—CRWM and CRWRC—have worked closely together on projects in Sierra  Leone

“CRWM began preaching the Gospel by addressing the problems that people were facing,” he said. “We are enjoying a boom in growth that I attribute to how CRWM has done its work through God and the Holy Spirit in Sierra Leone.”

Phiri is an ordained preacher in the Reformed Church of Zambia, which is in southern Africa, thousands of miles from Sierra Leone, a steamy country that is in the north of the continent. When first approached about doing ministry in Sierra Leone, he said there was no way he would work there.

“I didn’t want to go, but there was this voice inside of me that told me that this is what God wanted me to do. You can’t run away from God,” he said. “I found when I came to Sierra Leone that I was able to build on all of the good work of CRWM.”

Phiri registered the Christian Reformed Church of Sierra Leone with the government in 2007. The CRC of Sierra Leone continues to grow, especially as Phiri and others conduct leadership trainings that raise leaders who end up attending Bible school or seminary and then returning to minister in villages scattered around northern Sierra Leone.

Meanwhile, the church works to cut down the rate of illiteracy, addresses the needs of people with HIV/AIDS, and has partnered with a CRC school district in Canada to start a school.

“Serving as a pastor in Sierra Leone has been an amazing experience,” Phiri said.

To see a more extensive story on the work of the CRC in Sierra Leone, visit http://www.thebanner.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=2116.

--Chris Meehan, CRC Communications