Greetings from Bear Valley of Gueckedou, Guinea.
Please keep read our annual report for 2023.
Introduction
This report covers all the activities carried out by Bear Valley Institute of Gueckedou, Guinea, which operates mainly in the southern Guinean Forest region. This region includes seven (7) prefectures: Kissidougou, Gueckedou, Macenta, N'Zerekore, Lola, Yomou and Beyla. For this year 2023, the bulk of our activities have been focused on the prefecture of Gueckedou.
The Prefecture of Gueckedou is located in south-eastern Guinean Forest region, with a total surface area of 440,000 ha or 4,400 km². Founded by the Kissi ethnic group, its population was estimated at 310,602 in 2014. It comprises 10 Communes or municipality (Bolodou, Fangamadou, Gueckedou-centre, Guendembou, Kassadou, Koundou, Nongoa, Ouende-Kenema, Tekoulo, Temessadou Djibo).
According to our analysis, this Kissi community is very receptive to the Gospel.
This report presents the activities carried out by Bear Valley Institute in Gueckedou, Guinea during the 12 months of 2023. It is structured in four main parts: the first presents the Institute in general, covering its goal, vision, mission, and motto, while the second looks back on the Institute's essential activities by theme: training, evangelism, planting new congregations, the third summarize the prospects for the next 12 months and fourth the report's conclusion.
I-Presentation of the Bear Valle Institute of Gueckedou, Guinea
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Gueckedou, Guinea is a religious organization, created on February 25, 2018 at Gueckedou, Republic of Guinea following the collaboration of Steven Ashcraft, Francis S Musa and the brothers of the church of Christ
Born in the context of Bear Valley International's extension in Guinea precisely in Gueckedou.
Our: goal is to promote Bible teaching for Christians in Guinea.
Mission is to contribute to the improvement of the biblical knowledge of Christians in Guinea so that they are able to fill leadership positions in the Church.
Vision is to extend Christian teaching activities to the national level.
Motto is found in 2 Timothy 2:2
And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who are able to teach others also (2 Tim. 2:2 LSG).
II-Overview of Activities
This report provides an overview of all the activities carried out by the Bear Valley Institute in Gueckedou, Guinea, in collaboration with Bear Valley International and its technical and financial partnership during the year 2023. The activities focused mainly on the training of evangelists, evangelism, planting of new congregations...
Our objectives are to seek ways and means, strategies, appropriate and necessary support for the promotion of the integrated and sustainable development of the Church of Christ in Guinea through :
- The training of evangelists or preachers for two years full-time from 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday with about 48 courses taught including the 66 book packs of the Bible;
- The evangelism of communities through evangelism campaigns, public evangelism, door-to-door evangelism and radio broadcasts;
- Planting new congregations to extend the kingdom of God in our community;
Results achieved :
In terms of results achieved, we have on:
1. The training of evangelists or preachers: we currently have 12 students who are in their 7th quarter and will complete their Bible courses at the end of the first quarter of 2024.
Another training method initiated by our coordinator Steven Ashcraft is called Rapid Training for Church Leaders, which is highly effective in converting denominations, multiplying leaders and planting new congregations.
This year, we trained 50 persons across Guinea.
2. In terms of evangelism, we converted 223 men and women over the past 365 days. This result is the combination of all our efforts: graduates, students, school staff, evangelism teams in putting into practice the different methods of evangelism: personal, door-to-door, public, and campaigns(we did 4 evangelism campaign).
3. In terms of planting new congregations, we were able to establish 5 new congregations namely: Yende Bawa, N'Wokouma, N'Diafassou, Gbolonin and Kokossou under the guidance of God through his Holy Spirit.
4. In terms of Bible seminar
To end the year on a high note, the Gueckedou churches of Christ organized a Bible seminar from December 22 to 24, 2023. During these three days of fellowship in Christ, participants were edified by the following themes:
1-Religious feasts taught by Antoine Fassa Tolno.
2-The life of the early church, taught by Eloi Tolno, a graduate of the second batch of Bear Valley in Gueckedou.
3- Responsibilities in the Christian home, taught by our brother Venecious Fallah from Foya, Liberia.
4- Supporting God's work by Niouma 2 Kamano.
The event went well, with God's support, despite the fact that our country was going through a difficult period due to the fire at the hydrocarbon depot.
III-Our Outlook and Target Villages
Outlook
The prospects for the year 2024 are many and ambitious, but we will be focusing our efforts on priority themes in line with our vision and mission. Specifically, these will be:
- Promoting the training of evangelists, preachers and churches leaders;
- Promoting evangelism in all its forms, aimed at converting pagans, including dénominations, into the Lord's church.
- Promoting the planting of new congregations and their edification through Bible seminars.
- Improving the skills of our evangelism team members.
Target villages
Here are the villages target to establish locales congregations in 2024 by the grace of God.
1 Karima
2 Sembessou
3 Bandikoulo
4 Boboela
5 Bakama
6 Gbonbou
7 Kolessoua
8 Bakouma
9 Fandou
7 Banko restoration
8 Yenguela
9 Descendu
10 Douaha Moundeke
11 Menian
Conclusion
It's true that two thousand and twinty-three was a special year for the joy we felt for the baptism of 223 personsin the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. It should be noted that we had experienced moments of sadness due to the death of some of our brothers and sisters in the congregations, in particular the death of one of our students Antoine Tolno, the death of Tamba Nestor Kamano a graduate of the first batch as well as the cruel death of Tamba Emmanuel Kamano evangelists at the same time instructor at Bear Valley of Gueckedou, Guinea.
In terms of activity, in view of all that has been said above concerning the implementation of our various activities presented in this report, we must acknowledge that, we have been successful in evangelism and planting new congregations.
For this reason, we will continue to invest effectively in training young preachers full of energy to work in evangelism and in planting more local congregations...
We plead with Bear Valley International, brothers and sisters in Christ, congregations of churches of Christ: people of good will to continue incessantly to support us spiritually morally financially and materially in the implementation of our 2024 action plan.
Then, we would like first thank Almighty God for the health and the grace that accompanied us during the 365 days of successfully carrying out the above-mentioned activities.
We also thank Bear Valley International and all the donors who continue to support the church of Christ in Guinea.
Special thanks to Keith Kasarjian and Steven Ashcraft, respectively Extension Director and Coordinator of Bear Valley International, for their technical support in the management of the school.
We would also like to thank Ken Stanley, Barry Baggott and all those who contribute in any way to the development of the Church of Christ in Guinea.
We conclude by saying that all the churches of Christ in Guinea salute you.
Niouma 2 Kamano
Administrative Assistant