In 1999, I knew that I was given special treatment as a missionary pastor with only one congregation (an English speaking church), while Cameroon pastors had as many as ten or more. I requested the opportunity to serve village churches in addition to my one church. We started with three and by 2003 we had served five.
Our furthest village church was sixty-five kilometers down the road to Tibati, which was notorious as being very rough. Flat tires were not an unusual event. Slow and steady was the mode of driving, and when huge overloaded trucks approached in swirls of dust in the dry season or seas of water in the wet, I got as close to the roadside as possible and just stopped.
Our first church Bekel Mangari was a 35kms drive which took at least an hour and a half. A particular lonely tree beside the road was our identifying mark. A climb up the roadside hill revealed four posts and a grass roof. The pews were v-shaped branches jammed into the ground supporting logs upon which you sat.
They told us upon arrival that first Sunday, that they weren’t expecting me as they had not seen a pastor in a long time. These small congregations were led under the direction of a Catechist and in many cases had not seen a pastor for over a year—or could be two. Communion after such a long period offered a great event, and the absence of a pastor gave me the experience (at another village) of baptizing 19 babies at the same time. Baptizing all these babies with names in a tribal language, which were difficult for me to repeat, and the fact that most were firmly engrossed in receiving nourishment from mom, made it a challenging sacrament to complete.
Eventually we traveled once or twice per month to offer services to three village congregations. On one of our Sunday trips when we arrived at Bekel Mangari, lo and behold the four posted grass roofed church was no more! A violent rain storm had entirely blown the church away. We worshipped in the shade of a lonely tree under the blazing hot sun. The next time I arrived, I was informed that without a church, the members had traveled and joined another congregation. It was sad to lose this church and these people who had become friends.
The value of a church building to village people is important, whether it is on four posts or mud brick walls, but a firm roof that can amply offer protection from wind and rain is of high value. Most village congregations would begin with four posts and a grass roof, and depending on their growth would evolve into mud brick walls with tree branch rafters and purloins thatched with grass. The ultimate of course is to have a metal (zinc) roof that offer long years of protection from wind and rain.
God’s Blessings, Rev. Jack Frederick Chairperson MNO Companion Synod Committee |
