Sierra Leone Update

Joe Bob Amara

Annual Conference

We held Sierra Leone Annual Conference in April at the River View UB Church in Mattru Jong. Preceding the annual conference was the dedication of the new River View UB church in Mattru Jong. The building is one of the largest now in the Sierra Leone Conference with a capacity to accommodate up to 1000 members. It is a very beautiful church that we are all proud of.

Decentralization of the Conference

Our conference has now decentralized. We are experimenting as yet, and hope things will improve gradually. Some of the features:

• More powers and responsibilities have been given to the various conference districts.
• The Secretariat now supervises and monitors very closely the activities of the districts. The Secretariat, consisting of a seven man team, still operates from the UBC Mission House in Freetown.
• Annual Conference now becomes National Conference, which meets once every two years.
• Conference meets annually.
• The Bishop and Missions Director are invited as observers and to give reports.

Mattru Hospital

The Mattru Hospital, which was completely vandalized by rebels in 1995, is back in full operation. The rehabilitation was done by MSF Belgium with funds from the European Union. At the moment, services at the hospital are almost free with only the payment of a registration fee of 500 leones. The wards are full to capacity. Some surgery is already being done. The second phase of rehabilitation, which involves the maternity ward and the main doctor’s residence, will soon kick off.

Strategic Planning

We recently did strategic planning for the conference for the next three years, 2000–2003. We evaluated the conference in light of our failures and successes for the past several years. New challenges and strategies have been mapped out for the next three years.

Evangelistic Outreach

There is a big boom in our evangelistic efforts. During the past year, our districts established the following outreach stations as a result of the Jesus Film Ministry Campaign.

• Gbangbaia District: 16 outreach stations.
• Bo District: 10 outreach stations.
• Mattru District: 11 outreach stations.
• Freetown District: one outreach station.

Districts are poised to do more this year and strengthen the existing churches.

Sierra Leone is yet to fully emerge out of the prolonged rebel mess. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. The Sierra Leone Conference needs support at this time to put us on our feet once again.