The Lutheran Youth of the Congregations of Djoungolo II and Nkomo in Yaounde Prepare End of Year Exams at LHM-Cameroon!

May 21 st. 2011, from 7:30 to 18:00, about 50 young Christians from secondary schools as well as university students, gathered at LHM-Cameroon’s Center, for a long day spiritual retreat, in order to prepare their official end of year exams with Christ. This spiritual retreat was organized for the students the pastory of the Congregation, the Rev. Baiguele Jean, with the help of our ETS trained volunteers and elders of the Church.

During the Sunday service on May 22nd. the Youth Group of the Congregation of Djoungolo II dramatized the situation of two students of whom one went to consult a witch doctor before writing his exam, and the other went to the Church to ask for prayer.

LHM-Cameroon Celebrates Easter 2011 with Prisoners Thanks to Generous Gifts from the OGT, Maryland, USA!

The Handing over of the donations received from the OGT to the more than 4000 inmates of the Yaounde Central Prison was a good opportunity to witness Christ’s love for the needy in our midst.

Pictures of the ceremony below show how much these gifts were appreciated by everyone including the Prison’s authorities representing the Government at the ceremony.

“Remember Those in Prison as Though You Were with Them.” Heb. 13: 3.

This best summarizes the ceremony organized by Lutheran Hour Ministry Cameroon on 20^th April 2011 at the Yaoundé central prison. After having thanked LHM-C and the Orphan Grain Train in the USA, the Yaoundé central prison’s Chief urged LHM-C’s staff to continue sharing the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ with all incarcerated individuals, families and those who work with them from outside the correctional institution. The period chosen by LHM-C was highly significant. As a matter of fact, the Holy Week as a period of the sufferings  of Jesus Christ resonates with inmates who can  relate the stories in the Gospel to their own experience.”It was wonderful to share the Gospel with these men and women who have done terrible things in their lives and all of sudden they want to be born again. Isn’t Our God Great?” says Geneviève THOREA teenage mother project’s coordinator, who attended the ceremony at the prison.

“ My experience  of the inmate is that they fully engage in today’s event that coincides with the Holy Week because we have lived it and are living it in ways that most of you coming from outside cannot understand. For us, because Jesus lived what we have lived, there is no part of our lives that God doesn’t understand and no part of our suffering that God through Christ has not shared. LHM-C today’s action is once more the manifestation of this divine love. We express our gratitude to Orphan Grain Train and the entire people of America for having made this Holy Week a Holy one indeed. Food, cloths, shoes, and other commodities and mostly comforting words of God give us the courage, power and strength to live even in prison as Jesus lived and taught, and that means for us sharing generously with each other and forgiving each other graciously and loving and praying for our cellmates and enemies. Keep on praying for us” says Chrispo MELI and LHM-C’s indoor ETS volunteer.

On the whole, this ceremony was an opportunity to implement God’s love and help prisoners receive God’s forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ and grow consequently in their indoors’ ministry of love, forgiveness and help to each other.

A big thank you to all our partners in the Lord’s Mission of the Orphan Grain Train, Maryland, USA.

NEWS RELEASE!

POSTINGThe ceremony of the handing over of end of LHM’s Bible Correspondence Courses’ certificates to 14 teenage mothers, involved in the project “Esther” of the Cameroon Bible Society, which took place in the Chapel of the Protestant University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, was coordinated by our Ministry Center’s Audience Relations Manager.

An ETS Workshop was planned to hold in April, in MINDIF, a remote area in the northern part of Cameroon. But with the death of our Local Board Chairperson, Mrs. DOUDOU KOLOMENI, it will surely be postponed. During all this time of waiting for the corpse to be brought back to Cameroon for burial, LHM-Cameroon organizes prayer sessions at the bereaved family house from 19:00-21:00, every day. This will give us opportunity not only to comfort the bereaved family members, but this is also a good occasion for evangelism through Lutheran Hour Ministries’ distribution of tracks. Thousands of people will be coming for the burial and we are also planning to install stands all around the Church and the family house premises from where tracks and brochures will be given out.

This generous smile and the commitment of this servant of God will greatly be missed at our Ministry Center in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

An ETS Seminar was organized at The Lutheran congregation of Nkomo-Okoui, here in Yaoundé. It ran from the 19th to the 21th of April. More than 35 participants attended the workshop and in the end, 22 were commissioned. Here is an attitude of Rev. Dr Samuel FROUISOU, Director of Lutheran Hour Ministries-Cameroon and Emmanuel KAMDEM FOPA, Audience Relations Manager, during the Workshop.

Trainees are all ears, getting the skills to be implemented on the field of Evangelism.

Break time after bread of course…

Participants at the Nkomo-Okoui’s ETS Workshop.

Rev. Joel MOHAMAN, the Yaoundé District Pastor, praying and blessing the trainees, who commit themselves to share the Good News of Christ with the people of Nkomo-Okoui, Yaoundé.

Local congregation pastors, trainees, and LHM-C staff happy indeed for the outcome of the seminar.

To God is the glory…

MINISTRY CENTER CATCHING ON ITS ETS VOLUNTEERS

Our ETS trained Volunteers continue to pass on information about a variety of our evangelism programs and BCC Lessons to current and prospective students throughout the country and beyond. The locality of Nkomo-Okoui situated in the outkirts of Yaounde hosted an ETS Workshop about a month ago. Throughout a variety of activities carried out by our Ministry Center, such as door-to-door evangelism and continued volunteers activation through evaluation meetings, our ETS Volunteers regularly refer to the Ministry Center more and more respondents, who are eager to learn about Jesus Christ and the Good News of our salvation. Our local radio programs featuring Christian messages are also well received and are generating hundreds of responses and a subtantial number of BCC enrollments. According to Mr. Souman Ania, our AR Assistant, in charge of coordination of the Volunteers’ activities: “Messages of encouragement continue to flow in, and we are so thankful to God for being just instruments of these wonderful happenings of this important mission of bringing the Gospel of the Crucified Saviour into the heart of the people of Cameroon”. Prayer Concern: The Chairperson of our Local Board Committee passed away in Lyon in France last month. At the time of writing this news release, her corpse is still retained in France. Her husband is supposed to travel to France tonight, hoping to bring the corpse back next week for burial in Cameroon. Please, pray for the bereaved family and our local Ministry Center in Cameroon, which will greatly miss the support of the deceased. Samuel Frouisou, LHM-C’s Coordinator.

RELEASED INMATE NOW ACTIVE IN HIS LOCAL CONGREGATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIMOE Paulin, a Former Detainee of the Yaounde Central Prison, now LHM-C’s Volunteer in His Locality

 

Prison ministry is part of LHM-C’s activities, to reach out to those serving time in prison.

Years ago, the staff of Lutheran Hour Ministries-Cameroon, during an outreach program met LIMOE Paulin, an inmate at the Yaoundé Central Prison. During this encounter, “I openly confessed my crimes to Christ and I started attending LHM-C’s programs in the prison. Afterwards, I was trained as an ETS Volunteer to spread the gospel within the prison”, Paulin said.

 

Released after having served for several years’ imprisonment, Paulin LIMOE now offers a good deal of his time bringing the Good News to people around his locality, using his personal experience and testimony. “God has answered my prayers in my prison time by forgiving and releasing me from prison”, he said. “I am a newly born Christian and God has endowed me with His Spirit to share his Word of love with others, in my area”, he added.

 

LIMOE heads a Bible study group in his village and attends worship service at a congregation of the Eglise Evangélique du Cameroun, where he is very active. His bible study group uses LHM-C’s material for evangelism outreach.

 

Respondents from Paulin’s team are regularly registered for BCC, counseling and connected to his local church. KEMBOU Carine is one of their recent referrals to the Congregation.

 

We pray that God continue to fill Paulin with blessings and guide him in his work, for the glory of His Name.

 

 

 

 

BCC STUDENTS URGE PASTORS TO USE LHM MATERIALS FOR EVANGELISM

July 31st. and August 12th. 2009, our Office in Yaounde, Cameroon, made a series of presentations of LHM’s evangelism materials to a group of Teenage Mothers, who are currently taking training aiming at their social and spiritual integration in community. Using our BCC program, LHM-Cameroon’s Staffs showed the participants the importance of studying the Word of God, in order to understand the greatness of God’s love for every human being, whatever his or her social condition’s of life.

After brief presentations of the four Level of the BCC program, many of the participants were touched and several among them decided to register for BCC righ away. After taking these BCC lessons for some days, they shared their joy of studying the Bible through LHM’s BCC with some Presbyterian Pastors here in Yaounde.

September 25, 2009, three Presbyterians Pastors came to our Ministry Center, asking to know more about our evangelism materials in general, and our BCC in particular. After some discussion with our Staffs, and taking into consideration the importance of  the faith issues raised and treated in the LHM’s BCC, the three Presbyterian Pastors expressed their need of inviting LHM-C to partner with their Congregations, which were planning to organize a public evangelism campaign in the Yaounde next month (October 2009). They asked LHM-C to provide them with a thousand copies of each Level of our BCC, and to participate in the evangelism campaign as the coorganizer of this great mission, which will reach out to thousands of the Yaounde city dwellers.

This is an important opportunity for LHM-C to present people with God’s saving message. Given the fact that from less than thirty Teenage Mothers to whom the BCC  Lessons were introduced, our Office will now be distributing thousands of copies, we believe this will help touch more lives for Christ. Our prayers go with everyone who takes the BCC lessons. May the Lord Himself provide them with His inspiration, so they may become witnesses of His love among the lost of our world.

Rev. Samuel Frouisou, LHM-Cameroon.

News from Localities of Mbanjock, Nkoteng and Ekombitié

On the above indicated dates, Mr. Haman Paul, the Audience Relations Manager, of Lutheran Hour Ministries–Cameroon, visited our BCC students based in localities of Ekombitié, Mbanjock and Nkoteng. All these three localities are located some 140 miles, North of Yaoundé, the capital city of the Cameroon. This tour was in the framework of church link program. During the tour, Paul had talks with several of our BCC students and church elders of Lutheran congregations located in these three areas. He explained to church members, what Lutheran Hour Ministries was all about and the role LHM plays in the life of churches, in terms of its ministry of reaching out to the lost. Focusing his talks with the church leaders on the spiritual needs of Christians in their localities and on the commitment of LHM to help in this matter, “We altogether found out that people were in need of the Gospel, but there are problems to get the message to them”, Haman Paul pointed out.

In the locality of Ekombitié for instance, Christians who have grown weak in their faith but are still very interested in the Gospel are many. But, “We can’t warm back up their faith with the BCC only because many of them do not know how to read or write. And that’s why we think it will be nice to organize an open air evangelization campaign”, Paul Haman said.

As far as BCC is concerned, people in these three localities are very interested in it despite the fact that many of them are not educated. In the localities of Nkoteng and Mbanjock, there are many BCC students who completed their courses. But, according to the catechist in Nkoteng, Mr Bangaoua, there are people who completed their BCC since six months, but have never received their diplomas. “These are maters we must take seriously in the duty of LHM-C”, Haman Paul reported.

From Cameroon – Jul 09 Ministry Activities

In Mbanjock and in Nkoteng still, some BCC students have committed themselves to form Groups of “Friends of Lutheran Hour Ministries– Cameroon.” The aim of these groups is to carry out some projects and also to take active part in church activities. Thus, the LHM group of Mbanjock has helped to put up a worship shed made up of palm leaves where Christians gather every Sunday morning for worship. This group has also created a corn farm and has helped to feel with soil the foundation of the ongoing building of the Lutheran church congregation in Mbanjock.

Concluding his report, Haman Paul said that: “Visit to brothers and sisters in Christ in Ekombitié, Mbanjock and Nkoteng helped to edify our BCC students and to clarify churches that LHM-C is not a Church but an NGO that does in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus.” “This tour also helped me, Paul said, to discover that people are really in need of our BCC.”

From Cameroon – Jul 09 Ministry Activities

Former Prisoner Commits to Serving God

YAOUNDE, Cameroon: Bringing the Good News to prison inmates who have lost all hope is one of Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM)-Cameroon’s most effective ministry outreach. One of these prisoners is named Mbakop, and he was in such despair that when LHM staff were first introduced to him, the prison guards described him as an "unrepentant prisoner who always claims his innocence." It was revealed that Mbakop was convicted for misappropriation of funds, and was subsequently serving a ten-month prison term.

One day, a fellow inmate and graduate of the Equipping the Saints (ETS) evangelism program, shared a message based on Psalm 102:19-20 which reads: "The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death."
Mbakop would later say that verse changed his outlook on life because nobody believed his innocence, but he now realized that God knew the truth and would eventually vindicate him. He wanted to know more about God’s Word so he joined a group that LHM staff established within the prison to study the Bible and share devotions and prayer.
Then, about a month later, something unexpected happened. Mbakop was released from prison, on appeal, due to lack of evidence to fully substantiate the charges. He was overwhelmed with joy and thanked God that he had finally been vindicated.

Today, Mbakop is a free man and he recently paid a visit to the LHM-Cameroon ministry center to thank the staff for introducing him to Jesus Christ. He also asked to be a volunteer and help bring the Gospel to prisoners, and former prisoners as well.

"We welcome Mbakop to our team of volunteers," LHM-Cameroon director, Samuel Frouisou. "And I ask our brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for him as he longs to serve Christ through his personal testimony."

Your continued prayers and support for LHM allow outreach programs to have an impact all around the world. We ask that you prayerfully consider a gift to our International Ministries today.