Sherbo (May 2012)
When the Sherbro JESUS Film church planting team went to Foyalappia Village to present the new strategy, Pastor Patrick A. Tommy of the United Method Church commented, “I have been yearning for this program for quite some time now. I must thank one of my brothers in Christ who enlightened me about your team and the JESUS Film church planting strategy. I am very happy for such a program in this chiefdom. I am ready to work with you as you came to train and equip us with materials. By the power of God, we are going to plant many churches starting with the one in Mondor which is our first target.”
The week after this initial contact with the pastor, the JESUS Film church planting strategy team trained seven people from his church to form an Action Group. Victor K. Allie, one of the trainees, was ecstatic: “This is a God-sent program for us. Honestly, we never dreamed anyone would ever come and offer the kind of teaching that you have given us. This Action Group training has helped me learn so much about how I should live my Christian life. I now know the difference between having a relationship with God and living in close fellowship with Him."
Another member of the Action Group, Hanna Foray, said, “This training has opened my eyes to many things about the Christian life that I had never learned before. It has certainly made me more zealous about living my life for God. The gospel tract called Road to Life will be helpful to me because most of my family members are uneducated and not serving God. Using this little picture booklet, I can now easily present the truth about God to them. I want people to learn how they can receive Jesus Christ and become a part of God’s family. Thank you for this training.”
Shortly after the training, this Action Group showed the JESUS Film in Mondor village where a new church plant was targeted just like Pastor Tommy had planned. A total of 330 people came out to watch the showings out of which 57
people prayed to receive Christ and 29 new adult believers committed to the follow-up discipleship lessons.
An Action Group training was also conducted for a local church in Moyamba Junction. The pastor, Tommy B. Simbo, said he had heard about this strategy before November 2011 and had been wanting to meet with the team in order to plant churches in surrounding villages, especially at Gbongoma. After seven people from his congregation were trained, they were able to start a church plant in that village where the JESUS Film was shown to about 600 people. A total of 18 new adult believers and 22 children committed to follow-up.
Pastor Alfred N. James of the United Methodist Church in Gbappie village also expressed an eagerness to work with the team. “I assure you that I am ready to work with you. Thank you for bringing us this church planting strategy, training, manuals and other helpful materials,” he said. As a result, they were able to plant a church in Gbonumbu village in March 2012.
