Both of the churches we serve participate in the Sierra Leone Initiative, which allows us to partner with United Methodist churches in Sierra Leone.
Two guests from Sierra Leone are currently touring churches in our conference, reporting on the work in their country. We met both of them this past weekend, and one of them, Rev. Solomon Rogers, stayed with us Friday afternoon through lunchtime on Sunday (Ethel Sandy was also with us Friday afternoon).
The significance for us is that Solomon is the pastor of the church Centre Grove partners with (Kercher). Solomon is also the district superintendent of the Kenema district where West Side’s partner church is (Rorucks), as well as a second church one of Centre Grove’s Sunday school classes partners with (Dodo).
We enjoyed having Solomon in our home, and the kids enjoyed having a guest, as well. The Kercher church presented Joleen and I with nice, locally made shirts, and pants for Joleen. We wore them on Sunday, which matched the shirt Solomon wore.
Solomon spoke at West Side on Saturday night. He began Sunday morning at Centre Grove with breakfast and speaking during the Sunday school hour. Solomon attended and participated in worship services at Centre Grove and West Side. Both churches prayed for Solomon and the work in Sierra Leone.
The United Methodist Church is growing and vibrant in Sierra Leone (as it is throughout much of Africa), in spite of tremendous challenges. We are grateful for the privilege of connecting with Solomon. Communications in Sierra Leone can be pretty challenging, but we hope to be able to communicate more in the future.
Thanks to church photographers, John Kordish (Centre Grove) and Russell Unick (West Side), here are some photos from Sunday services at Centre Grove and West Side …
Great pictures, I am sure both of the churches enjoyed the weekend services and the kids enjoyed the house guests.