new church life: september/october 2015
to the orders. Later that day we enjoyed a
dinner for the clergy and wives – a social
occasion where we could have casual
conversations and also honor them all for
the work they are doing.
The Bobby Church serves as the
center of the church in Ivory Coast. It is
the first one constructed there by the Rev.
Sylvain Agnes. They gradually acquired
the land and put up a building, and have
recently made significant changes to the
structure – moving out walls for a growing
congregation and modifying the office and
meeting spaces. And they did it all with
local contributions and work.
This is also where the Theological
School is housed. All clergy there but
Sylvain have been trained in the Ivory
Coast, in the four-year program he created
based on the education he received at the Academy. This local training has been
startlingly effective. Sylvain and the other instructors there are adamant that
the core of the training has to be a rigorous study of the Heavenly Doctrines,
and an emphasis of it in all instruction and missionary work.
The school not only has been a means to train many New Church
pastors but it has added legitimacy to the church there. In fact, we are seeing
a phenomenon that we have not experienced anywhere else in the world –
people without a New Church background seek training there and then start
their own independent New Church congregations.
Interestingly, two men who were ordained two years ago expecting to start
independent congregations have asked to formally join the General Church,
and I ordained them into the second degree on this visit. One of them, Gedeon
Gnagne, has a father who is a minister with three churches. He is talking about
retiring and has approached Sylvain about merging with the General Church.
Apparently this is not uncommon there: independent ministers found
congregations and then, after time, look to affiliate with a recognized church.
The Methodist Church in the Ivory Coast has seen about 50% of its growth due
to this. While we don’t know where this might lead, Sylvain will be exploring
this with him.
On Sunday we, along with several General Church congregations,
gathered at our Cite Verde (Garden City) Church. When I first saw this land
several years ago and participated in a land dedication ceremony with the local
We are seeing a
phenomenon that we
have not experienced
anywhere else in
the world – people
without a New Church
background seek
training there and
then start their own
independent New
Church congregations.
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