God is Good
One of Pastor Emmanuel’s favorite sayings is: God is good all the time, and all the time God is good! Perhaps we have never been more humbled by the undeniable truth of that statement than we are now, in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. According to our Liberian friends, the 18 months of the outbreak were worse than the civil war—mostly because they were cut off from each other, unable to to participate in the sort of physical affection that Liberians are known for. Many of them shared with us the fear and sadness they felt throughout the ordeal.
Well, Ebola isn’t eradicated, but life is definitely back to a new normal in the sisterhood of AVDC churches. Best of all? We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God meant what he said when he promised he would bring beauty out of ashes. More churches were planted, a second orphanage (Christ Our Hope North) was opened for Ebola orphans in Lofa County, a new ministry has been started at Dumbar Farm for recovering addicts, the farm at Harbel is expanding, and the Good News of the saving grace of Jesus Christ is being spread far and wide.
The Global Church Partnership
program celebrated it’s first
church-tochurch meeting in August.
In August, the first team since Ebola hit was able to travel to Liberia. What a reunion! They connected with friends old and new, toured the farm, held a pastor’s conference, updated child profiles, and were able to visit several of the new churches. Four members of the team were also able to make a brief visit to Christ Our Hope North where they toured the grounds and met the workers and children.
The very day the travel team left Liberia, the first Global Church Partnership representatives landed on Liberian soil. A group from New Life Reformed church spent almost two weeks in-country building relationships with their partner congregation, Dumbar Farm. The aim of the Global Church Partnership program is to pair churches in Liberia with congregations in the US. As these sisterhoods deepen and relationships solidify, our prayer is that the body of Christ is strengthened and encouraged. We have so much to learn from each other!
Projects that OBOH is currently working on include finishing the high school on the Dumbar Farm/Christ Our Hope campus, expanding the Harbel farm, helping Christ Our Hope North create a solid foundation for the orphaned children of Lofa County, and so much more! We are so blessed to watch God’s will unfold.
Reunions were sweet after the
Ebola outbreak travel restrictions were lifted.
Want to stay up-to-date on what’s happening at OBOH? Since we only send snail mail packages once or twice a year, we encourage you to follow us online for (almost) daily posts, pictures, prayer requests, and more. We’re grateful for great means of communication with our friends in Liberia that include Skype chats and pictures of events that are happening in real time. As our ministry continues to expand we have so much to share!
The teachers at the Vine School System of Christ celebrated the start of a new year on September 14!