Update April 2011 - Rev. Timothy Eby

District Superintendent Senegal

KOLDA MINISTRY

The main report this month is from Kolda.  Pastor DoSantos continues to send regular reports of what is happening there and Joe and Josianne have become involved in the church.  They report having had their first communion and that they have 12 candidates for baptism.  They plan to have a baptismal service on the Easter weekend and have invited me to be there.  I am  working on a plan to visit them before we go to the US for our home assignment with hopes of officially organizing the church. 

They are also doing a mass distribution of the Good Samaritans children’s boxes this coming month as an outreach to their community.  We continue to support the work there with 40,000 cfa per month for the rent of their building even though my partner has not been sending funds.  I am hoping that we will find some regular support soon because our district funds are being depleted with this support.  I am encouraged that the church is still growing and that discipleship is happening, children’s programs are running and with the support of the Carvelho family we are having the basis of a good church developing.

Update January 2010 - Rev. Tim Eby

District Superintendent Senegal

January was a month of transition.  The work in Kolda has begun.  Innocent returned to Kolda and worked with Pastor DoSantos to establish some contacts in the Sikilo suburb of Kolda.  We have offered help to get him started by paying 3 months rent on a house that will be his base and a place for the church to start.  He has begun with two homes for meetings weekly as houses of prayer and will start holding worship services starting in March.  He will also come to Dakar to go through a membership class and pastoral orientation in the third week of March.  We are looking for a Barnabas project to help him survive in Kolda while getting the church going.

Innocent has begun work in Thies.  He visited with Pastor Maiga, all the families that are part of their fellowship in the suburb of Thialy.  He identified 5 leaders and held a special meeting with them to propose his vision in getting the church started there.  He showed the film in homes and has had several catholic families become interested in the church as he is teaching the bible and sharing the doctrine of the church.  One family has 11 members all interested in the church.  The father’s name is Mignane and this family is one of the key families that will create the first members of the church.  He also made a good relationship with a man named Mohamadou.  He gave his life to Christ and has been introducing him to many other people in the community.  He offered the use of his land for the starting of a project to help the church grow and support rent of a house for worship.  We hope to get a Barnabas project started there by the end of March.

The village ministry in Fissel is stable and starting to expand.  Pastor Jean Benoit is now living in Dakar and just visiting the village churches twice a month.  He is staying in the villages and doing teaching and development as he goes.  He made contact in a new village called Khoul Godauene and is developing a leader there named Mali Diouf.  He is taking leaders from one village to the other as he goes to keep the contacts of development local.  They have plans to have the choir from Baad begin to train those in the village of CisCis so the worship can be better.  At this point they have Sunday worship in only two villages but the other villages have weekly meetings of prayer.  The building of cement blocks was started this month in Badd.  We expect to have an official ground breaking and start of the zonal center there in March.  The building will have a worship hall and two rooms giving a place for Jean Benoit to stay when he visits the area for teaching and preaching.

Aida attended and was certified as a literacy teacher.  We have the supplies to begin a class with 25 students in March.  The leaders are organizing a way for the classes to begin and Aida is offering her services as a teacher as gift to the church.  We hope to find a way to start a Barnabas Project to support her efforts.

We praise God for the many new steps this young district is taking to expand the work across Dakar and into the interior of Senegal.  Keep praying that God will provide partners to help push this ministry to the next level of effectiveness.

Respectfully Submitted,

Rev. Tim Eby

Update January 2008

We are seeing new and exciting days in the ministry in Senegal.  God is bringing new leaders into the church and the development of pastoral training has begun.  In October of 2008 we hope to officially launch the Senegal District with three organized churches.

                                   

Other ministries have included outreach to the community through basketball tournaments, visiting the prisons, doing community neighborhood clean up campaigns, and some youth retreats.  The children’s ministry center is almost completed in construction and will provide a new place at the church for the weekly “Kid’s Club.”

Opportunities to expand outreach into several villages throughout the interior of the country have recently presented themselves.  Pray for resources and wisdom as we find partners and  strategies that will effectively expand the impact of the holiness message of Christ across the country of Senegal.