Evangelical missionaries in this part of Africa have a long history of capitalizing on personal salvation and the assurance of an eternity in heaven, above all else. There is concern for physical needs as is evidence in the establishment of many health facilities. But these facilities sometimes are little more than bait stations to get clobbered with an appeal for personal salvation.
Personal salvation happens by praying a prescribe prayer inviting Jesus into one’s heart, stop going to dances, stop drinking and a short list of other behavior modifications. After that it’s learning right doctrine.
Let me give you a story that illustrates the fruit of that kind of salvation theology:
One of the hazards of being a toddler in an impoverished family here in Guinea Bissau is the risk of being seriously burned by falling into a cooking-fire pit or getting dumped on from a precariously balanced kettle of boiling water. I can’t tell you how many little ones have been brought here with extensive 3rd degree burns.
Our procedure is to cover the burn in Vaseline or other special burn preparation. Then the area is wrapped with sterile gauze and in a few days the destroyed outer layer of skin can be removed and new skin begins to reappear. Antibiotics are also needed to fight infection.
We had just such a case a few days ago. The mother brought her two-year old with a large burn from sitting down on a fire pit. The burn occurred a week previously and since he wasn’t getting any better she decided to seek help at our clinic. Right after the burn happened she got treatment at the local witchdoctor which included covering the burned area with ground mandjandja leaves mixed with rabbit hair.
When we described our burn treatment procedure she refused to allow us to remove the witchdoctor treatment. She left with a very sick child. This woman is an evangelical Christian.
Two years ago we had a similar case and the mother, from an animistic family, also refused to allow us to remove the traditional treatment. Four days later the child died. I’m afraid to ask what happened to the recent little guy.
Is a gospel that invites Jesus into one’s heart but then allows a helpless child to suffer from burns really the ‘good news’?
For the child it certainly isn’t. Is one really ‘converted’ when she puts witchcraft over scientifically based and proven medical practice? I don’t think so. God’s light hasn’t penetrated very far into that life.
The gospel of God’s kingdom is radical and revolutionary. It brings life and hope to all the corners of our existence. It is our task as missionaries to help our friends (and ourselves) to experience nothing less than holistic transformation.
For the past two cashew seasons the high price of in-husk cashews has been such that it has not been possible for us to see a profit from shelling them. The cashew building has sat unused during this time.
In the meantime our medical ministry has started to flourish and seems to be becoming one of our primary ministries. We have public clinic everyday operating in a corner of the church meeting room. There are few amenities and you would scarcely know it is a clinic.
In January of this year Annette Miller, RN came to be our nurse for 6 months. She was expecting to work in a clinic. Needless to say she was significantly crest-fallen when I pointed her in the direction of a rickety plywood cupboard, a green table and a couple of benches over in the corner.
Starting in November and the following months we have several visiting doctors and nurses who will be able to provide high quality health care so it is important that we have a respectable facility for their work.
The new building (the previous cashew plant) is a spacious 50’ by 27’. It has three rooms. One will serve as a patient consulting area, the other a lab & pharmacy and the third large room could eventually serve as a maternity or inpatient ward.
Phase I of the renovation activities has poured the veranda, finished the plastering and installed a ceiling. We still need to build some countertops including sinks, screen the windows and build the watchman’s room. It would be great to have more cupboards, chairs and a couple more windows. We will need some privacy curtains in the consulting area and paint the place. With that done, perhaps during December we will be able to open for business in a real clinic.
Phase II, down the road, will provide solar panels for power, a water tower so we can have running water and more furnishings.
Another essential component of the medical ministry will be to train Tening Mane as a certified nurse. His training begins in mid-October at a very good nursing school in Ziguinchor. To make this happen we need your help to raise $4,000 to cover the cost of his training for each of two years (total, $8,000). If you are able to help with this scholarship please send donations to EMM, P.O Box 458, Salunga, Pa. 17538. Donations should be clearly marked ‘Guinea Bissau, Mane Scholarship Fund’
Mario and Gibby get Training as Pre-school Teachers
Close to the forefront of all of our ministry and programs is a training component empowering African leaders to take over from the missionaries sooner rather than later. We just made a big step forward in that department by sending our pre-school teachers, Mario and Gibby to a two week teacher training seminar in Bissau city. They returned full of vision and plans on how the pre-school can be a great blessing to the children and get them started on the way to scholarship.
Few children of primary school age in Catel are literate. We are out to change that and the place to begin is with the pre-school crowd. In our pre-school they will get a pre-reading foundation, be disciplined to study, learn to interact positively and kindly with their age-mates and learn about God.
I asked our two teachers for some of the highlights of their training in Bissau. Gibby said the training helped him to understand the developmental process of early childhood and how that time can be used to help the child develop mentally, emotionally and spiritually. They learned ways of disciplining children other than corporal punishment.
The teachers were given a pre-school syllabus which they expect to follow for the coming school year.
Mario noted that many children come with broken spirits and low self-esteem because of their home situation. They were given instruction on how to help children in their emotional development. Both of our teachers see the pre-school as an essential component in the mission of the church for evangelism and the establishment of Christian community.
They expect to launch the new school year on October 3rd.
Catel Leaders Initiate New Village Outreach
Our Catel church leaders have begun holding services in the village of Sendena only a couple miles from Catel. What is interesting about this development is that I have stayed out of any direct involvement with getting the outreach started. It has happened through the initiative and planning of the African leaders.
Interest started when Tening, one of our leaders, was attending a funeral in Sendena and started a conversation with a long time friend from there named, Jegrey. Jegrey noted that he was seeing a big change in some people from Catel now that the church was there. He was eager to learn more about being a Christian.
Informal contacts with Sendena continued including the treatment of a severely burned child. He was so bad the parents had given up any hope of his survival. Annette and Tening treated the child and in just a few weeks he was completely healed.
Finally in mid-August of this year the Catel leaders were received at a meeting of the village folks including the chief of Sendena and another chief from a neighboring village. Remember, this is the rainy season and getting to Sendena our guys had to wade through waist deep water!
First our leaders presented a Bible lesson, followed by words of welcome from the Sendena leaders. One of the respondents said, “Your knowledge about God is something you must not keep to yourselves. If you have this good news you must share it with those who don’t know it. We want you to come to Sendena to teach us about God.”
Another said, “In a village where people don’t know about God everyone lives by the flesh. There is stealing, violence and no forgiveness. The people are unable to work towards their common good.”
Jean Pierre, a resident of the village who is literate bought one of the Bible story books we have available and began gathering the children to teach them Bible stories. This young man is not yet a believer but he has great potential for spiritual leadership in Sendena.
Sendena is no exception. All over Guinea Bissau there are villages eagerly waiting for the Good News. Pray that God will raise up evangelists within the church here along with bringing in more missionaries from abroad to encourage and disciple local leaders.
Beryl Forrester,
Guinea Bissau Country Rep.
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