 |
Clarence Thésée
I left Mauritius for a 3 month missionary trip to Cameroon acccompanied by brother Joseph Lagarigue from La Réunion. Sam, a young ‘worker in training’ joined us during our time there. We stayed mainly in Yaoundé, but also travelled to Douala and Buea several times. Our mission was to follow-up on the 6 months that Jean-Claude and his wife had just completed there with the pastors and servants of God across the country, as well as to establish relationships with key pastors. We also acted as facilitators in order to prepare for the national conference taking place in November 07; meeting with key leaders, because we could not imagine organising this conference without them.
Cameroon is a very diverse country composed of 200 different ethnic backgrounds. This diversity can be seen in the midst of the church too. I found the structure of the church in this country, which had been evangelised around 1860 by missionaries from Jamaica, very interesting. The church has remained generally conservative. A century later, they experienced a pentecostal revival which has given them their particular identity. This revival was represented by Samuel Obaker, one of the great men of God of Cameroon. Incidentally, in 1987 he came to Mauritius when Miki Hardy organised the first Christian conference ‘Revival 87’. His heritage is still present in Cameroon, and thanks to that revival, there are still men of God in that country who love sound doctrine. When we preach the cross, they experience afresh something which they had known during this era, what God had done for their country. They were therefore eager to rediscover this pure gospel which had rooted them in what Jesus had accomplished on the cross.
The message of the cross is not new to them. These men know that this is the way, and that they need to return to this good foundation... With everything that has happened in Africa after the pentecostal revival, and the abuses of the charismatic movement, they have sought to protect the church, and this has brought about an element of law.
Many men of God that I met are very sincere. Despite this pentecostal heritage still being present, a number of doctrines have managed to infiltrate the church. The older servants of God want to stay with what they and their fathers have received, and are therefore distrustful of all the differents currents of doctrine, (‘anglo-saxon’ practices, prosperity, etc.) The younger generation are, however, very attatched to the doctrine of deliverance.
Certain servants of God are ready, and are waiting for the conference. The Lord is directing us towards the ‘Papas’ who came out of the pentecostal movement. They are representatives of the church in Cameroon, highly respected in the neighboring countries, and equally, they have a priviledged access to other leaders in Central Africa, Nigeria, Gabon, Congo.
The most difficult task was to get in touch with them, but after insisting, we did finally meet up. The pastors we had met initially had tried to make us believe that they were opposed to the cross... everything that we saw or heard in the natural discouraged us, but we felt strongly that we needed to approach them! In fact, they were only on their guard, as nobody had invited them to play a role at the first CTMI conference in Douala in 2006! We therefore needed to humble ourselves and ask forgiveness for that. Despite this poor start, it was enough that they felt our hearts. They declared that this was what they had been waiting for; some even added that it was what they had been praying for. I even heard a brother say, “Who knows, it may be through you that the revival we are waiting for will come.”
To answer their question: “What has CTMI come to do in Cameroon?” We replied: “Firstly, not to start a church!” We explained that we were looking for men who were tired and worn out in their ministries, who wanted to live the real gospel and return to the cross. At the end of one meeting, an apostle declared that he had prayed to the Lord: “Lord, return us to the true gospel which has been hidden.”
We met other servants of God from Yaoundé and Douala… Brother Moba, Brother Didier, and President Boba who co-ordinates pastors of Yaoundé. It was he who invited us to attend a seminar, and allowed us to share freely in his church. We had 5 seminars of 3 days in the two main cities, where Joseph and I took turns in sharing. The theme of these meetings was the work of the cross in our lives, and law and grace in the church. These seminars were mainly with the leadership of the church. We were also invited by Brother Genesis Tinshu to preach in his church in Buea. In fact we even travelled to Talbar which is 3 hours by road from Yaoundé! In each place, we could see how thirsty Cameroon was for the true gospel! They wanted to live the real gospel of the cross. Despite principles of law and charasmatic doctrines, they are really sincere in their service and in their faith in the Lord. Their spontaneity in responding to the gospel was very encouraging for us.
God has already touched the hearts of those who need to be present at this conference, and we are sure to have a people of a certain standing attending! For all these brothers, Baptists, Pentecostals, whom we met, we really have a heart to bring to them everything that we can, in order to respond to their prayers of many years: revival…
Since our return, things that had never happened previously are occurring. A brother went to preach in a church that was not his! It’s admirable to see that even though they do not walk together, these men of God respect each other, because to them a pastor remains a servant of God. They told us clearly that nobody should be excluded! Despite their differences, the ‘Papas’ we met really wanted us to see everybody. Even though they may disagree with certain ‘apostles’ in Cameroon, they are prepared to humble themselves as they carry a heart for the church. During these co-ordination meetings, they are able to come together in spite of everything that could separate them.
There is a great expectation in the hearts for the conference in the November. Fabien and Sam from Mauritius have taken over from us there. We need to continue to pray for the men of God in Cameroon!”
|
