The Church of Sierra Leone

Many church students have noted Africa’s crucial role in world evangelization. Nowhere in the world is Christianity spreading as rapidly as wildfire as in Africa. Churches are planted by the hundreds a year throughout the once-heathen nations. Missionaries are sent to nations that once sent missions from Africa, and many exciting phenomena.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Sierra Leonean church has serious problems. The character of the church community has left many wondering if this is all there is to Christianity and if they want to identify with that lifestyle. How is it possible that a nation like Sierra Leone, which was the first to receive the gospel in sub-Saharan Africa, is plagued with enormous vices? Is Christianity in the Sierra Leone church a mile wide but an inch deep? It is indisputable that several things have gone wrong.

1. Characteristics, practices and negative attributes of the church

At the core of one’s observation are the fundamental or root causes (problems) that manifest themselves in various forms. To solve problems, the church first needs to identify them.

has. Lack of adequate theological training: The African church is plagued by serious ignorance. It is generally assumed that Christian workers do not require balanced training. At worst, it is society’s misfits who should be Christian workers. Consequently, the church is considered privileged to have a trained accountant as its pastor who graduated from a university, even if he/she does not have any theological influence.

b. Lack of commitment to biblical holiness: There is confusion about the doctrine of holiness. Some have taught the standard so low that they are comfortable with sinful behavior. Others see holiness as a goal they have achieved and do not need progress. Yet another is the assumption that holiness is unattainable in the present life. So next to the commitment is the lack of knowledge and clear teaching of holiness. Even the little, muddled, that is known is not lived. Pastors have also contributed to this disappearance. They contradict by lifestyle what they teach. There’s a big slip in the church. Believers are accommodated to sin.

against Lack of Proper Teaching: Chinyere Madugba is correct when he observed that people who are not ready for discipleship are not ready to be pruned. Unfortunately, people are taught to acquire things that promote their pride and greed. Isn’t it ironic that many Christians in Freetown are plagued by so much crime? The church is inevitably a taxpayer. The central problem is the lack of adequate teaching. They cannot profess to be Christians who are not prepared to be guided by Christian ethics. Christianity is not a ‘Sunday suit’ to be worn to church on Sunday and abandoned on the weekends.

d. Spillover: It could be reasonably argued that the above issues could be at the core of the problem of the church in Africa. However, in manifestation, various forms are evident.

Yo. Pride: Pride is the self-esteem of being superior, through some false measure, to others who consider themselves inferior. Pride is a symptom of an unshakable self. The lack of teaching about the discipline of the Christian life leaves intact a part of the human being that is exposed in pride. This could be seen in the great desire and attachment to titles, positions, acquisition of unwanted goods and certificates. It is indisputable that it is now an unreproachable sin in the church in Sierra Leone.

ii. Egocentric Prayer: The popular teaching on prayer in African churches has much intrusion from the African Traditional Religion (ATR): progressing oneself and destroying one’s enemies – ‘back to sender’, ‘fire by fire’, Holy Spirit persecute them.’ They believe that all answers to prayers should be instant.

iii. Misunderstanding of Revival: Revival is generally regarded as one of the annual scheduled church programs when believers are called to be serious with the Lord. The biblical meaning of revival is missing. The sense of revival as morally and essentially coming back alive to God is not the understood sense of revival.

2. Characteristics, practices and attitudes that need transformation

It is sad to note that the African church may not have or sustain a revival until God’s minimum revival conditions are met.

has. Trained Personnel: Africa needs biblical theologians, pastors, and Christian workers trained in both the doctrine and practice of biblical Christianity. These are to set the standard for the practical Christian life. A pastor who will be used of God to bring revival to his congregation must have knowledge of the doctrine and experience of sanctification. The pulpit is central to revival and there can be no revival until the man in the pulpit or some section of his congregation is transformed.

b. Commitment to Holiness: The African church needs to be re-taught that claims to be Christian entail responsible Christian living. Revival could easily come when people are not ignorant of doctrine and the pursuit of biblical holiness. If holiness is the product of salvation, then not being holy is denying salvation.

3. Agencies for a continuing renaissance

The church must be committed to teaching. The fundamentals of Christianity and the Christian walk must be made as clear as possible: the way of salvation, the fullness of the Spirit, how it can be obtained, and the need for Christian discipline. In the context of revival, Christians must have a biblical meaning of revival, how it is to be sought, and the conditions under which it is to be sought. People must also be taught about the seriousness of sin and its consequences. Holiness is God’s desire for his people, and to walk in holiness is to walk in the will and pleasure of God.
Furthermore, Christians should know that seeking God involves a process. They must seek the face of the Lord in humility and consecration. The surrender or consecration is not an act of will but a perfection of devotion of love. Revival will come when God’s conditions are met. It comes in the context of the clear teaching of sin, salvation, the fullness of the Spirit, repentance, total surrender, the appropriation of the gift of faith, and in prayer and fasting.

4. Close

It is with deep regret that we state that Sierra Leone may not have a genuine biblical revival and cannot sustain it even if experienced until there is a new focus on the need for genuine repentance and prayer, training of church workers, knowledge of doctrine. and ethics, and as a church committed to biblical teaching and the practice of holiness.