I had planned to visit the Church at Jakpumba early last month but due to our sad and unexpected trip back home we couldn’t make it. The congregation is struggling because one of the church leaders moved away from the village, one of them died and one of them left the church to become a fetish soothsayer. I wanted to see how they were faring. I had heard their numbers were dwindling. Many of the students who are members are away at boarding school for the majority of the year. This leaves one man to lead the church and he is illiterate. Even though he is illiterate he can make sure the church meets every Sunday. An evangelist from a neighboring village preaches for them from time to time.
We arrived at 10am and were pleased to see that the church had already begun the service. They were not aware that we would be visiting today. The neighboring evangelist was there today and had started teaching the Bible class. Three women, two men, nine children were present for worship, excluding me, Kandie and Timothy. We took the usual gifts to the congregation; bench, cups, juice, bread, chalk, Bible, pad and pen. They were tickled to get the presents. I taught a short lesson from Hebrews 10:24-25 where the writer said to come together and encourage one another with emphasis on encouragement. Everyone needs to be encouraged sometime!
After the service was over the two men asked for financial assistance to repair the building. They have saved money to do some of the work so we matched their funds; now they can replace the back wall that is breaking away from the building. After our discussion we went to visit the chief and say Hi.
The chief was sitting under a tree at his house. He told us he knew we were in the village because he had walked by the church building earlier. The chief had helped settle a land dispute between the Church and a neighbor who had put a house and a meeting /greeting place on the church land. He ruled in favor of the Church because he knew the Church and the neighbor was a stranger. He made the man move the meeting / greeting place but he left the house intact but warned him not to do any more encroaching on the church land. This is a good example to show how important it is to have a good relationship with the chief and show him respect.
I neglected to tell you we had to have Gomda come pick up the old van this morning because I couldn’t get the clutch to work. Gomda got it to start in gear and drove off. Kandie and I watched him drive away until he was out of sight. I told Kandie I hope he gets there without having an accident because he was not slowing down because he did not want to change gears! It was late this afternoon when he called to say he got it fixed.
That wraps up another Sunday. Hope you had a good Lord’s Day! May God bless.
In His service,
Stephen and Kandie Taylor
