Will you help us start a church here?

In 2019, Tearfund Canada’s CEO Wayne Johnson travelled to Liberia to meet with some of our local partners and see their new church-based community project.

He described his experiences:

“We travelled down a paved road for a number of hours, then a dirt road for a few more. At the end of the dirt road there was a small village. In this village there were only forty-two families, all Muslim. 

“There, I saw how difficult life in the village is. The Ebola outbreak which ravaged their community only a few short years ago – killing 11 people – burns in their memories. I met a nine-year-old boy, Alusine, whose parents were among those who died. After they were killed by the disease, he became the sixth child living in his aunt’s house. But then she died, and he had to wrestle with the question: what does the future hold?

“But there is hope. For the first time in recent memory, someone has taken an interest in this village. They are not providing handouts—instead, they are training families in how to grow more vegetables for food and to sell in the market, in contrast to the ‘slash and burn’ method of palm oil harvesting. 

“I was encouraged because I could see hope being restored. With the first harvests there was great joy, and everything they took to the market was sold. Plans were being made to care for their community’s orphans, orphans like Alusine. 

“They asked, ‘Why? Why are you doing this?’ This small Muslim community heard a humble answer from our partners: ‘We follow Jesus.’

Then a few hours later, the community leader asked quietly, “Will you help us start a church here?”