By Reverend Alfred Lansana
Dear friends of the Bible, there is a story I would like to share with you.
Although we have never met in person, I can feel your prayers. I have seen for myself how the gift of God’s Word that you share brings real change in places such as my homeland, Sierra Leone.
Through this article, I wish to share how the seeds of faith that you have sown—through your prayers and your ever-flowing generosity—have yielded an extraordinary harvest in West Africa, bringing the Gospel to the furthest corners that had never been reached before!
I Felt for Myself That It Was the Best Gift
Ever since I was a child in Sierra Leone, my friends and I used to run from house to house to chat with the locals and invite them to church. Back then, I didn’t know that what we were doing was called ‘mission work’; I’d never even dreamt of becoming a pastor. I simply wanted to share the love of Jesus.
Yearslater, I moved to the United States to pursue my education. I earned several academic qualifications and built a successful career. Later on, my wife, Florence, and I started a ministry from the basement of our home. That small ministry grew into a rapidly expanding congregation near Atlanta. Over the years, I devoted my entire life to preaching, counselling, leading worship services in the chapel, and even outreach in prisons. Yet, deep down, I always felt that something was still missing.
All that changed two years ago, when I learnt about the ministry you support through the American Bible Society (ABS)!
At the time, my wife and I were in Kenya to attend a training course organised by ABS together with other ministry partners. We were introduced to the End-to-End programme and how it aims to spread the Gospel through visual media, audio, and printed Bibles. We never imagined that our own hearts would be so deeply touched by this ministry.
I remember very clearly the moment when I was sitting next to my wife, holding an audio device. We were listening to the ‘living’ Bible, spoken in Mende—our mother tongue, our family’s language, and the language we’ve used since childhood to think, pray and dream. It’s simply impossible to put into words just how marvellous that feeling was!
In English, we understand the Bible. But in the Mende language, we feel God’s Word kindling something new within our souls. Despite my extensive experience and educational background, I have never before experienced an encounter with the Bible quite like this. It feels as though we are hearing the Gospel for the very first time, and our hearts are overflowing with joy.
The only thing on my mind at that moment was: This is what I’ve been looking for all along! And right then and there, I knew exactly what Allah wanted me to do.
You Are Paving the Way for Us to Bring the Gospel to Villages That Have Not Yet Believed
Having realised just how great the potential of the End-to-End programme in sharing the Gospel with people from our tribe, we can’t wait to get started.
Upon arriving in Sierra Leone, we immediately began working alongside a missionary friend named Musa and several other colleagues to reach out to the local community. Our services are developing rapidly, but a major challenge lies ahead.
Around 80 per cent of Sierra Leone’s population are Muslim. Other Christians have previously tried to bring the Gospel to the villages there. Even Musa himself has tried repeatedly, but has always been rejected.
In fact, it is precisely these people whom God wants us to reach.
When I told Musa where we were heading next, he hesitated and said that they might not let us in. However, I had experienced for myself the miracle of God’s Word in my mother tongue. Although I wasn’t 100 per cent whether we would succeed, I said to Musa, “When we go there, we’ll give them an audio Bible as a gift, so that they might begin to realise that Jesus—whom they have long shunned—can actually speak in their own language.”
With this mission in mind, we rode our motorbikes to the first village to meet the village head and the local priest. Without the consent of these two figures, there would be no way for us to reach the villagers. The only thing I had with me was that audio Bible. I presented it to the village head as a gift, saying, “This is something that has changed my life, and I want to share it with you.”
My friend, you cannot imagine how happy we were when we returned there the following day and heard the village head’s testimony. Not only had he listened to the audio Bible, but he also said to us, “There istruth in this device.”
That evening, with the permission and blessing of the village head and the imam, the entire village gathered to witness the story of Jesus’ life in the Mende language. As they watched the story of Jesus’ life presented in their own language, we saw their expressions change. They want more.
Then, the village head asked a question I shall never forget: “Can you build a church here?”
The villagers are keen to get started. Everyone is involved: young children carrying buckets of water, men and women making bricks by hand, and even the local carpenter crafting the pews and the pulpit. Even when heavy rain brought down the unfinished building, the community’s spirit did not waver in the slightest. For so long, these people had regarded the Bible as something foreign and distant. Yet, thanks to your compassion, dear donors, they have been able to see and hear the Gospel in the Mende language, and they have realised that this Good News is indeed intended for them.
“This is the truth,” the village head told us. “We want our children to learn this new way of knowing God.”
The congregation in that village used the audio Bibles you provided to continue learning about God until they finally found a pastor to settle there. Before long, residents from neighbouring communities began asking us, ‘When will you come and establish a church in our village?’ From there, one Easter morning, we witnessed for ourselves what God is capable of doing, even from the smallest seed of faith.
We Witnessed the Miracle of Easter!
When the time came to consecrate the second church in the neighbouring village, the occasion coincided with the run-up to Easter. However, the villagers did not want to celebrate it alone&—they wanted to invite the surrounding villages to join them. The only obstacle was that Easter Sunday fell right at the height of Ramadan.
People began to advise me, “This move is too risky and bold. You want to consecrate a church in the midst of a time that is deeply sacred to Muslims.”
To be honest, I don’t know what will happen in the future either. However, I am absolutely certain that we serve a God of miracles—He who has guided our steps this far.
So, on that Easter Sunday, we went ahead with the inauguration of the new church, attended by dozens of guests from other villages. The number of visitors was so overwhelming that we had to set up extra chairs outside. During that unforgettable service, we listened together to an audio Bible in the Mende language. God performed miracles, wondrous signs and wonders. People were healed in the name of Jesus.
Next, we invite anyone who wishes to commit their life to Christ. Almost the entire congregation raised their hands, including the village head, who was the first to receive a Bible in his local language!
After the service, even whilst observing the Ramadan fast, all believers enjoyed the meal we had prepared to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus—and the new life you have brought to this village through the Gospel.
Before returning to their respective homes, the guests whispered to us, “We are ready. We want this same God to be present in our village too.”
Your Rewards Keep Multiplying!
After that miraculous Easter Sunday, I knew full well that God’s calling for me was to continue this ministry that has transformed the lives of so many people.
We have seen for ourselves the spiritual harvest that has come from your faith and faithfulness to God. It is through your love and faithfulness that you support the Good News ministry. In the first village we visited, the village head told us that the Bible had helped him become a better leader and mediator. Families who had been at odds for years have now made peace. Crime rates have fallen dramatically. Indeed, God has answered the villagers’ prayers by blessing the village’s farmlands with a harvest far more abundant than in previous years.
A man told us, “Ever since the church was established in this community, we have been led out of darkness into the light through teachings that reveal the truth to us.”
Today, we are celebrating the establishment of 14 churches built in villages across Sierra Leone since 2023!
However, this Good News is, of course, not just for Sierra Leone, but for the Kingdom of God. That is why we are also training believers in other West African countries such as Senegal, Guinea, The Gambia and Liberia on how to use the End-to-End programme. They traverse difficult terrain, brave extreme weather and are even prepared to face the risk ofpersecution because they know just how great the power is of what they are carrying. The Gospel will transform the lives of many people wherever it goes. And God continues to bless our ministry through faithful partners like you!
Thank you for sowing the seeds of faith!
Every time a child hears the Word of God in their school classroom; every time a mother watches a Gospel story unfold on the television screen; every time a village gathers to listen to the Bible in their everyday language, that is where the seedsseed is being sown.
You have opened the door to a place-a place where the Gospel has never been heard before!
Whether through a donation, prayer, or even by spreading the story of God’s work by sharing my story with your friends, nothing is in vain. Every seed sown in Africa is bearing sweet fruit, and I have witnessed this with my own eyes.
Thanks to your support, I can now quote the words of the Apostle Paul with complete confidence:
And in my preaching, I considered it an honour not to preach in places where Christ was already known, so that I might not build on a foundation laid by others, but in accordance with what is written: ‘Those who have never received the message about Him will see Him, and those who have never heard of Him will understand Him.” (Romans 15:20–21, TB)
Praise be to Allah!
