Missionary Renegade: Out of Africa for Monday, August 3, 2015 "Stories of innovative ministries on the Africa Region" from The Africa Region of The Global Church of the Nazarene

Monday, August 3, 2015

Out of Africa for Monday, August 3, 2015 "Stories of innovative ministries on the Africa Region" from The Africa Region of The Global Church of the Nazarene

Church of the Nazarene Africa Region newsletter | August 2015
In this issue:

Young adults create 'Jesus at the Hospital'

The story of how the NYI Social Club members at the Dusbuliga Church of the Nazarene help pay hospital expenses for mothers in need.

Nazarene youth in Ghana grow rice to support ministries such as 'Jesus at the Hospital.' by Frank Mills, Ghana North District Superintendent & Africa NYI Justice Advocate
Hospitals in Ghana will allow pregnant mothers to have their babies and give any necessary medical care, even when the mothers come to the hospital without cash. But the hospitals have come up with various ways to retrieve money for medications used and other bills. The unfortunate part is that in many hospitals in Ghana north, the newborn babies are detained at the hospital until the parent is able to pay the expenses.
Irresponsible husbands put their pregnant wives in this hard situation by never showing up to the hospital to clear the bills. Sometimes young girls are impregnated by men who refuse responsibility. Such girls sometimes find it difficult to pay bills after delivering at the hospital, and their babies are detained until the family or mother is able to raise funds to clear the debt.
One day Sophia, a first-year high school student and a member of the Dusbuliga Church of the Nazarene, visited the hospital to pray with the sick people as she usually does every Sunday after church. At the hospital, Sophia found out the ordeal of the mothers. She first prayed with the 12 mothers whose infants were detained. Sophia then ran to the church to inform the Nazarene Youth International Social Justice Club leader of the church.

Members of the NYI Social Justice Club at the Dusbuliga Church of the Nazarene in Ghana.
The young boys and girls quickly mobilized a fundraising effort among themselves, friends and parents. The club members of 23 youth ages 14-24 raised an equivalent of $120 USD within 10 hours. The club members returned to the hospital and paid off medical bills for the release of five mothers and their newborn babies.
The NYI social justice club later decided to continue this ministry. They adapted the name 'Jesus at the Hospital' ministry. The club members found various ways to raise money to meet the needs of detained babies and their mothers.
The group later decided to start a rice farm project to sustain the ministry. The village chief gave the club idle swampy land for their project at no charge.
Today, the NYI social justice club members of the Dusbuliga church have been cultivating and selling rice to help the needy and vulnerable. In the last three months, this social club has helped paid the debt of 45 mothers, paid tuition fees for two school drop-outs, and supplied pens and pencils to nearby village school children.
Reaching refugees through creativity

Ermias and Mulu Choliye (left) lead refugee ministries in East Africa. Designer Uwizeya Marie Clementine (right) teaches refugee women marketable skills, such as bead work.
Ethiopian missionaries Ermias Mekuria and Mulu Meseret Choliye, who recently moved to Nairobi, Kenya, are using creative ways to show compassion and support to refugees in East Africa.
Rev. Ermias oversees an Internet radio program that reaches listeners in six East African languages. The radio programs are produced by volunteers, including refugees who are being trained in radio production. Ministers from local churches in Nairobi volunteer to provide content for the 20-minute programs, which run twice a week.
The messages reach listeners in some areas where missionary work would not be welcomed. In areas where one can't preach the gospel over the radio, presenters speak into people's lives by addressing topics such as family and marriage, Ermias said.
The Choliyes also help lead a women's Bible study and handiwork group at the Central Church of the Nazarene in Nairobi. The group is a place where refugees from several countries gather to learn about Christianity and to gain skills making craftwork, such as beaded jewelry and purses, which can be sold at local markets.

Church member Uwizeya Marie Clementine, a professional jewelry maker and fashion designer, teaches the beadwork class at Central Church(pictured). In the next session, the women will learn about sewing.
A third way that Ermias and Mulu reach out to refugees is through distributing holiness booklets and literature twice a year in
two major East African languages. The most recently published booklet features testimonies from the women's group and an anti-human trafficking article, which includes personal stories from victims in Nairobi.
Kenya is home to more than 550,000 refugees. The aim of the East African refugee ministry, according to Ermias and Mulu, is "to spread the message of holiness, the hope of Africa and the salvation gospel of Jesus Christ around the refugee and immigrant communities of Kenya and beyond."
Youth display strong leadership on Africa Region

NYI members in Sierra Leone.
Young Christians in Africa are reaching out to their communities with passion and creativity. Here are some examples of the work of Nazarene Youth International (NYI) across the region:
Sierra Leone
Young church members have been a big help to their communities throughout the Ebola crisis, said Sierra Leone District NYI President Mohamed Sesay.

NYI and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries put on a four-week campaign called "21 and Free," visiting offices, markets, community centers, hospitals, schools and other public places to encourage people not to stigmatize survivors of Ebola or those who had gone through quarantine.
"People greatly appreciated us," Mr. Sesay said. "Through our encouraging message, broken hearts were healed and people were brought together."
Youth in Kissy, Sierra Leone, are now addressing the needs of children who cannot afford an education. They are organizing free classes for the children and are organizing a meeting for community members t0 discuss the importance of allowing their children to be educated.

"They've worked with making new blackboards and benches in order to accommodate the children in their community that are not going to school," Sierra Leone District Superintendent Vidal Cole said. "The church is a blessing to the community."
Other youth efforts in Sierra Leone include a "Career Talk" youth seminar, a Gospel Talent Show for the community and district churches, and a youth retreat and national youth thanksgiving.
"We hope to continue experiencing God's hand of revival among young people in our country," Mr. Sesay said. "As we proceed towards foundation building for youth development, we hope you will continue to pray with us for God to raise vibrant spiritual leaders among young people who will copy the good steps of others."
Nigeria
Youth ministry in the South East Nigeria District is "the engine room and life wire of the church in the district," said Sir Iyaks Inyang, the national NYI training coordinator. Youth are involved in many events to engage their churches and communities.
Youth events, such as a musical talent night last fall and an all-night District Youth Fellowship event in March, are attracting up to 200 young people. This year, NYI is planning more concerts, a youth camp and a district convention.
"The ministry is getting stronger," Mr. Inyang said. "The youth are really involved and in charge. Indeed, they are born to lead and are in leadership."
Swaziland
Young people in the Swaziland South District gathered for a three-day NYI camp in April. They played sports together, did Bible quizzing and learned about the topic of teen pregnancy. "The Spirit of God was felt. Young people committed their lives to change their behavior," said Rev. Lucky Gama, the district's NYI President. The camp happens each year in the four zones of the Swaziland South District. The April camp was held in the Nhlangano Zone.
Ghana
Nazarene youth from the three districts in Ghana will gather this month for a nationwide National Youth Camp, with the theme, "Remember your God in the days of your youth" (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7). The camp will take place August 24-31 in the Ghana North District.
"It's going to be a time of continuous revival, connections, friendship, learning, encouragement, empowering and casting of vision for the present and future," said Rev. Frank Mills, the Africa West Field NYI Coordinator.
Africa Region
Youth from across the Africa Region are invited to gather for the region's first ever NYC - "Nazarene Youth Connection." The event will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from the 14th-18th of December, 2016, with the theme of CHOSEN 2 CHANGE. Watch for more details at www.facebook.com/NYIAfrica.
CONTACT
For more information about NYI activities in Africa, email nyi@africanazarene.org.
Share NYI news with the Africa Regional Office at news@africanazarene.org.
"The voice of my father"

Rwandan man who escaped genocide now leads Malawi church by Gina Grate Pottenger for Engage magazine, May 20, 2015
Thirteen-year-old Elysee Bayishime decided to disappear for a little while, since he didn't want to do the chores his father had asked him to do. In 1994 in Rwanda, perhaps that wasn't the wisest way to rebel. People had been vanishing without a trace for some time.

Rev. Elysee Bayishime
Having wandered outside his family's safe compound without telling anyone where he was going, the boy suddenly found himself gripped by a soldier. The soldier jerked him along for 10 minutes without saying anything. Frightened, Elysee could not pull away.
They arrived at the Kaburi Majengo at Gisenyi graveyard. In the darkness, which obscured his face, the man put a knife to Elysee's face and began to question him.
After a few minutes, the soldier said that he was going to kill the boy.
"I started praying within my heart, asking God for help. When he raised up his hand, I told him, 'Wait a minute, can't you listen to the voice of my father calling me by name?' I said it repeatedly."
Distracted and uncertain, the soldier loosened his grip on Elysee. He twisted free and ran for his life back home.
From the time he was a small boy, people in the church where his parents were full-time ministers used to call Elysee the "little pastor." He couldn't understand it, since although he was well-behaved at church, back home he was disobedient and argumentative.
From 1994 to 1996, his family became refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo, driven out of Rwanda by the genocide. War and disease was claiming millions of people's lives all around them, including Elysee's youngest sister Cecile, who was struck down by pneumonia and cholera.

In 1996, they returned home to Rwanda, but life did not resume normaly.
"Life was so difficult in our family, in terms of starting a new life without shelter," he recalls. "My father could only manage to provide food for us one meal a day, and we were being chased from school now and then due to lack of fees."
For five years, teachers, headmasters and fellow students tutored him after class to explain what had been taught during class.
In 2001, just as he was about to complete secondary school, a spiritual revival was organized at the school. The timing was from God.
"I was feeling tired of everything, even of myself. I was thinking how I have been a burden to many people for so long. I was remembering the kind of life our family was living. I deeply thought of myself and my life and I felt empty; this emptiness had troubled me for so long."
The first speaker preached from Matthew 11:28-29: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
Elysee claimed that promise for his own: He knelt at the altar and received Jesus Christ as savior for the first time. That peace he found in knowing Jesus sustained him during the next six years when he struggled with unemployment and had no money to continue to university. He looked to God to provide, and waited on Him. Also, his friends in the Church of the Nazarene at Gisenyi prayed for and encouraged him.
In 2006, he became engaged to Lucie, a longtime friend who attended the Church of the Nazarene in Rwanda. The two relocated to Malawi where they had the wedding ceremony, established a new life and began attending the Ufulu Church of the Nazarene.

Reverends Elysee and Lucie Bayishime (Photos courtesy Engage magazine)
After all these years, the "little pastor" finally recognized that God was truly calling him to full-time ministry. Both Elysee and Lucie followed God's leading in 2008 to enroll in the Nazarene Theological College of Central Africa (NTCCA) in Lilongwe, to train and prepare themselves for making Christ-like disciples.
They graduated in 2011, then continued their studies with Africa Nazarene University, through its satellite campus in Malawi.
While they are finishing their education, Elysee and Lucie took on the challenge to relaunch Nathenje Church of the Nazarene, which had started in 1983 but closed its doors some years later. The group of 19 adults and 25 children are now worshipping regularly together, and have added a nursery school that has enrolled 22 children; and they have a Nazarene Compassionate Ministries child development center that has registered 30 children. These children receive supplemental education, play activities, and memorize Bible verses.
Last year in March, Elysee and Lucie were ordained as elders.
"We are so proud to serve God and his people at Nathenje and as ambassadors of the gospel wherever God sends us," he said.
PRAYER REQUESTS

Pastor Sawahenga Hendrix' wife, Mervis, died on the 27th of July after a being bitten on her leg by a puff adder. She was fetching firewood on her farm when she stepped on the snake. She was taken to the hospital, where she passed away two days later. Mervis was 36 years old and a mother to seven children. She was a chairwoman for women's fellowship at the zone level and was an active Sunday school teacher at Chun'U Church of the Nazarene in Zambia, in the Nyakulen'a, Zambezi area. We lift up her grieving family and church in prayer.

Prayer requests from the NMI Prayer Mobilization Line:
There is no way for us to hear about all the atrocities that happen around our missionaries and churches. Recently, a missionary couple on the Asia-Pacific region visited the global NMI office and told of a mass killing that happened in the area they live. Yet, this tragic situation didn't make it on to the major news outlets. This serves as a reminder to pray for even the situations we do not know. Please pray always for people who are persecuted because of what they believe, what skin color they have, or what nationality they represent. Pray also for our missionaries who faithfully serve in places where tragic, violent situations occur. May they experience God's protection, comfort, and strength to keep on ministering for the Kingdom of Christ.
Four years after South Sudan was declared its own country, the people are suffering in the face of a 20-month long violent conflict. The conflict has led to rapidly deteriorating humanitarian conditions. Pray for the people of South Sudan, that in the midst of violence and deprivation, they will sense comfort and provision from the almighty God. Pray that leaders of the warring factions will lay down their arms and reconcile their differences.
ABOUT THE REGION

The Nazarene Church is in 42 countries in Africa, with more than 600,000 members in six fields.
What would you like to see in Out of Africa?
Email us at news@africanazarene.org.