“Prepare the way…”

The impending mission is starting to merge quickly into the community’s consciousness here in Monrovia. The publicity committee has done a fantastic job in the time they were given, to announce the arrival of “Christ Mission to Monrovia” to the city.

Poster for the "Christ mission for Monrovia" as it is locally known...

The main street into town is hung with Mission posters decorated with the Mission logo and an action shot of our CEO and chief evangelist Stephen Lungu. Even as we drive around the city, the posters stuck to our car attract great attention, and when stationary, many curious passersby wander up, unabashed, to examine the advertisement. Churches are making announcements each week to their congregations, and government ministers and city mayors have been invited to join us for the Opening Ceremony and a “City Leadership Dinner”. For the past two weeks, the mission has been advertised on local radio stations through interviews and during the Public Service Announcements. Considering that over 80% of the population are said to be illiterate, radio advertising plays a crucial role.

Our efforts to publicise the mission have run parallel with the intense campaigning of 10 candidates who are contesting the recently vacated Senate seat representing the County of Montserrado. The city of Monrovia is located within Montserrado, one of fifteen counties in Liberia. Today their campaigns culminated in the Senate by-election.

There has been considerable anxiety in the lead up to this by-election, with most saying it is a test run for the 2011 Presidential election. Political parties and their adherents’ activities have been tightly controlled. Each party was allocated one day this week to campaign, in order to avoid clashes between supporters, and yesterday, the day before the election, was set aside as a “cool off” day. Campaigning of any sort, even wearing party colours, was outlawed. In addition, today was declared a public holiday within Montserrado, and voters have been instructed to vote without indicating in any way who they support to avoid the possibility of violence between parties.

Even the Lord is not taking any chances. For the first time during our stay here, it has rained almost non-stop during the day, which has cleared the streets of gatherings of people and quenched any possibility of mob violence developing. The UN helicopters have been flying nervously overhead, but thankfully all seems peaceful.

Excitingly, today our team of 35 visiting evangelists start to arrive, with the majority of these evangelists (27 of them) flying in tomorrow. They will converge in Monrovia from the DRC, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and Australia. We will also be joined by a Mozambican pastor who will participate in the mission with a view to being a key organiser of a Pan African Mission in Maputo next year, which we hope to conduct as part of the “Mission Africa” activities, in conjunction with the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.

We would greatly appreciate your prayers for:
• Safe travel for our evangelists, and protection for their families
• Safety and guidance for the local believers, particularly Mission Chairman Zubah Kollie, as they “run around” the city making final arrangements for the mission week
• That hearts and minds would be prepared by the Lord to hear and obey Him, and that many, many people would experience deep transformation and healing throughout the mission week.
• For the discipleship committee as they establish follow up groups and procedures
• For Pan African Mission Director, Songe Chibambo, who seriously injured his shoulder in September and is still in considerable discomfort.