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Soil and church growth A compilation of experiences from five weeks in West Africa

By Mette and Alex Bjergbaek Klausen

From Matthew 13:1-23 we know that there are different types of soil. Positive, healthy church

growth depends on the right type of soil. We have just returned from five intensive weeks in West

Africa. We have analyzed the soil in three different Anglican churches, one in Guinea and two in

Sierra Leone. It is important to do a proper and thorough analysis before planting. Maybe the soil

is lacking important nutrition – something that will not allow certain crops to grow. Within mission

we always need to take the context into consideration.

The New Seeds (Guinea)

The seven ordinands just before their ordination.

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“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound…” Seven ordinands are singing the famous song

written by John Newton with still voices. The cathedral in Guinea Conakry is fully packed,

but silent. Many prominent people are present. Amongst others the papal apostolic nuncio

of the area, the former president’s wife, a representative of the new president, the

archbishop and primate of the Anglican Province of West Africa, just to mention a few. The

police has closed down the streets around the cathedral. This a special day of celebration.

The ordinands have taken their vow, prostrated and symbolically carried the cross up the

church aisle. Some of these practices may be strange to us, and we have to remind ourselves

that we are working in a church that is dominated by Anglo-Catholic theology. We are

observing and learning – this is the real bells and smells. Lots of incense, which we have not

been used to from our time in Sierra Leone. There are many different ways to worship God.

It is a church that goes back a long way, but it has

passed through challenging times. With the new

bishop, Jacques Boston, things are about to change.

The ordination service is also a celebration of his five

years in office. He represents a new generation – a

new and young bishop with visions. To ordain seven

new priests is quite an achievement. Never in the

history of the Anglican Church in Guinea (and Guinea

Bissau) has such an ordination taken place. And we

are talking about a church that was established in the

1850’s. There are many reasons why the church has

struggled to grow. But one of the obvious reasons is

the challenge of being an Anglican church in a French-speaking country.

The seven new priests are much needed. Many of the priests in the church are growing old,

some are beyond retirement – this ordination will help the church maintain status quo. If

the church is going to expand, more priests are needed. When we asked bishop Jacques

Bishop Jacques Boston

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Boston what he would need within the next ten years, he answered boldly: “I need 50 new

church leaders” and then after a pause he said, “no, make that 70”. Some of them to be

ordained, others to occupy other positions as missionaries and evangelists. This is a

challenging request, not least for us since French skills are required, if we are going to work

in Guinea. But when you are thrown into the ocean, you are motivated to learn how to swim.

We were made motivated! Upon our arrival in Guinea we were informed that we were

expected to run the retreat for the ordinands. Out of the seven, two speak/understand

English, and only one of them good enough to serve as a translator. We were surprised, but

accepted the challenge as it was a unique opportunity to get to know the new priests.

The ordination retreat

took place in a guest

house, where the

ordinands were secluded

for seven days. They were

sharing one room, where

all activities took place

and they were only

allowed to leave for their

meals. Initially it was

difficult for them to cope

with this, but gradually they got used to the idea. We focused our attention on aspects of

spirituality and individual faith rather than academic disciplines. The academic aspects can

be added later, it is far more important for them to be molded and made ready for ministry.

The retreat involved meditation, case studies on practical pastoral challenges, prayer life

etc. We enjoyed the opportunity to interact with them, despite the obvious language

barrier. Bishop Jacques Boston wants his diamonds (as he calls all his priests) to learn English,

The ordinands were secluded in a room for seven days.

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so that they can communicate with the Anglican Communion worldwide. This tells us just

how lonely it is to be a French-speaking Anglican Church.

A new farming project? (Guinea)

Church expansion involves more than

just ordinations. One thing is the

human resources (the new diamonds),

but quite another thing is

sustainability. What will happen if 70

new church leaders are not being paid

their stipend on time? If a staff of less

than 20 clergymen can cause a

headache due to lack of finance, how

would it be with 70? When Jesus sends

out the seventy-two evangelists he

instructs them to “Stay in that house,

eating and drinking whatever they

give you, for the worker deserves his

wages” (Luke 10:7). But what if the

congregations struggle to feed

themselves? We need to consider

sources of income to sustain the

church and its evangelism. A church should not depend on foreign donors in the long run. In

The Relay Trust we are currently assisting the church in Guinea to identify income generating

activities. As part of this process we brought our agricultural specialist, Anders Bjørnkjær-

Nielsen to help us evaluate farming opportunities in the Rio Pongo area of Guinea. Since the

time of the first missionaries, who landed in that area, the church has owned land there.

Anders is collecting soil samples from church owned

farmland.

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This means that the church today has a lot of unused potential farmland. But it is important

to do a proper analysis of soil and other resources and be realistic in our approach. The

church may not yet have the capacity to run a large-scale farming project, and not all the

soil may be good for farming. We are in the process of analyzing the soil to find out what

type of crops to grow, and whether there is a need to add specific nutrition to the soil. At

the same time we need to identify the human resources necessary for such a project.

Farming is an obvious source of income in many parts of Africa, and Guinea is not an

exception. But farming could also be a learning process. To teach future church leaders new

farming techniques that could improve their yield might also be a way to finance church

leaders in the future. They could become “tent-makers” just like Paul – and teach their skills

to the congregations to increase the general living standards. Currently we are considering

options with Farming God’s Way, which is a farming method developed in Zimbabwe in the

1980’es but it is making use of ancient techniques based on the Bible. All of this may become

part of our future project in Guinea.

Our mission in Guinea climaxed with two services, each six hours long. The first was the

ordination on a Saturday, and the second was Sunday morning on Kassa Island outside of

Conakry where a new parish was founded. The church is growing!

Muddy hills (Freetown)

Upon our arrival in Freetown, Sierra

Leone, we were invited to the 200 years

anniversary and rededication of the

church in Bathurst outside of Freetown.

The tiny, ancient church was totally full.

Old churches are rare in Africa – so a

church that was constructed in 1817 is

really extraordinary. Mette was given the

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honour of preaching for this joyful occasion. Bathurst is a small village and the road leading

to the church is terrible. Especially the last bit. A steep hill that can only be climbed by 4x

vehicles during dry season. Coming down was not a problem – it was the journey back that

became our challenge. While enjoying our lunch after the service the rain came. All drivers

were instructed to bring the vehicles up the hill, so we would not get stuck. But it was already

too late. The vehicles struggled. We were there with bishop Thomas Wilson of Freetown

Diocese – and our vehicle was not strong enough. After several attempts the vehicle

managed to climb all the way to the top, but upon arrival it broke down and had to be towed

away. Fortunately, we were surrounded by good people and managed to get a ride back into

town.

Freetown is situated in

the mountains. This

hinders serious

expansion and obstructs

city planning. Before the

rebel war broke out

around 300.000 people

lived in the town, but

today we are probably

counting 1.500.000

people. Many of them

live in slum-like houses –

and many will have to

make do with simple shacks in the outskirts of town. In combination with deforestation and

climate change this becomes very dangerous. The heavy rains are causing havoc every year

– and this year was no exception. In August, during the heights of the rainy season, a hillside

in Regent, a suburb of Freetown, suddenly came down one early morning, before people

were up and about. Houses and people were buried under the heavy rocks – and only few

A hillside that collapsed and destroyed an area in Regent and killed at

least 1000 people.

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managed to get away. It is still unknown how many people lost their lives – but estimates

say around 1000. The site has turned into a large graveyard, as more than 600 people were

never found. Such horrible incidents are likely to happen again, as new and taller buildings

are constructed inside and outside of Freetown.

The Mount Zion project (Freetown)

During our visit in Freetown

Diocese we were trying to

find the perfect location for a

new retreat and training

centre that is supposed to

serve as a resource centre

for two dioceses of Sierra

Leone as well as the diocese

of Guinea (and potentially

for the entire Anglican

Province of West Africa). The

diocese has been given a

large piece of land (1,5 acres) in the hills outside of Freetown. This land has been given by

the government in exchange for a small piece of land next to a hospital inside of Freetown.

It was expropriated during the Ebola epidemic, when the hospital needed to expand with

Ebola wards. We went to see the location together with Bishop Jacques Boston and Bishop

Thomas Wilson. There was no doubt for any of us that this will be the perfect location for a

retreat centre. It is a quiet and remote area, but still with a very good road nearby, which

will give easy access to both the capital and the province. The hills are protected by law, so

nobody is allowed to destroy the forest next to the land. There is a breathtaking view from

the hill – you can see all the way to the mangroves that protect the mainland from the ocean.

Visiting the site of the new Mount Zion together with Bishop

Thomas Wilson and Bishop Jacque Boston

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Since we could all agree to the location the next step is to begin the planning. We are looking

at a ten-year project where we intend to raise one structure every year. We began by naming

the site “Mount Zion”, the place people go up to spend time with God. From the future

centre we intend to train church leaders on all levels and coordinate the training for various

satellite centres. The focus will be on holistic training – not only the academic disciplines of

theology. Another aspect of the training is the use of mobile technology. We want to

integrate mobile technology into the project and use it to empower learning processes, as it

opens up for whole new opportunities using audio and video and giving access to much more

materials than a common library.

We also had time to visit the training of nine

candidates for ordination in the northern

province. This is a training programme,

which is fully coordinated and tailored by

the diocese. There is no need to bring these

nine candidates all the way to Freetown to

get a diploma or bachelor of theology, as

the general educational level is low in that

area. A church based certificate level would

be enough to meet the congregations’

needs. The focus for Bishop Thomas Wilson

is to mold these candidates, so they can become living testimonies in their local

communities. This has far more to do with the heart than with the brain. The Relay Trust is

supporting this training. In the future similar training will be coordinated from the training

centre in Freetown, as it is a big task for the individuals involved as teachers – most of which

are already full time engaged with their own parishes.

The nine candidates outside Holy Trinity Church

in Makeni, northern Sierra Leone.

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When thorns infest the fields (Bo)

While we were in Sierra Leone we also visited the Anglican Diocese of Bo. Our main mission

was to follow up on projects that have been sponsored by The Relay Trust and to meet with

lay-readers and members of clergy. The situation in the Bo diocese has been extremely

difficult since the eruption of a corruption scandal December last year. We are still waiting

for the outcome of the investigations and the final conclusions. Due to the scandal, many

partners have withdrawn their support for the time being. Through the administration in

Freetown along with a new administrator in Bo The Relay Trust is still supporting clergy

salaries and the new leadership, so the church will not starve. Though there are thorns

growing in the field, there is also a lot of hope for the diocese. We must remind ourselves

that ultimately the church is God’s church regardless of human faults. Malpractices can

divert any church, and therefore it is so important to remind ourselves and each other what

it truly means to be a church. In the Anglican Diocese of Bo there is need for peace and

reconciliation – there is a strong need to bring all the leaders together and clear the air. It

will take years. The diocese has lost its reputation among common people and a lot of

members have abandoned the church. But we are not giving up. Bad things happen – and

sometimes they happen for a reason. Sometimes it is God’s way of exposing things, for us

to have a new beginning.

We put our trust in God and hope to see a new dawn for the diocese of Bo.

God bless!