Stories from Africa

ACCRA, Ghana — These testimonials to the value of the dramatised Bible readings of the Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH) Scripture cassette ministry were gathered and written by Kojo Opare-Hammond, of the Africa Regional Center of FCBH, in Accra, Ghana.

“Some time back I was a drunkard and a womaniser. I never believed I could ever stop these habits. I visited a friend one day and he was playing a cassette. I thought it was one of our usual cassettes, but when I drew closer, it was something else – the Word of God on cassette. I got interested and decided to listen with him. It was the Book of Galatians 5:19-22. The message was just about my life! It was so direct that I could feel God talking to me. That day, I decided to give my life to Christ and changed my lifestyle. I am now proud to be a Christian.” — Henry Chauda Magamu, Four Miles Assemblies of God Church, Zambia

Mrs Phiri is married to a schoolteacher. “My husband had always been a very violent man,” she said. “Apart from beating me whenever he came home drunk, he was a womaniser who often slept out.” His wife found out that there was a local listening group called Lirangwi New Life Study Group. She joined the group early this year and, encouraged by her, Mr Phiri, too, joined the group shortly afterwards.
     “When he joined the group, his lifestyle changed almost immediately,” she said. “He no longer beats me and he comes home early and sober. He is now a caring husband and we are now members of our local congregation.”
     Mr Phiri confirmed her story. The Lirangwi New Life Study group started with ten members in April 2001. The number has now doubled and comprises fourteen adults and six young men. They meet every Sunday from 2:00 p.m. — From Malawi

“Before the introduction of this cassette, I hardly had time to read my Bible, and even if I did, I could hardly read it for 10 minutes. In fact, if I wanted to sleep quickly, I would just pick up my Bible in order to lure me into deep sleep. But since the cassette was introduced in our church, I can sit for more than two hours without getting tired. By this means, the Bible has become more real to me than ever before and my life has also been transformed. I wish the organiser of this program God’s blessings and more vision to spread God’s Word.”
— Mrs Danatu Sule, Nigeria

“I teach at a large government secondary school outside Nairobi that has several boys committed to hearing the Word of God every week.
“Despite the various challenges, such as a teachers’ strike and recurrent power failures, there is a high level of commitment from the student body. The boys meet twice a week for the Faith Comes By Hearing program and have a discussion for over an hour.
     “A group of 21 fourth-form students have listened through the whole New Testament and received certificates from the Bible Society. The school has restarted the program with a large new group of students, and Faith Comes By Hearing has helped the Christians in the school build Christian virtues, and be committed to God. “It is true that ‘faith comes by hearing’.”
— Teacher at Komothai Boys’ High School, a government school in Kenya

Pastor Kolade told us that among the many things the program has done for the church, there is one that is very dear to his heart. He said a woman in the church gave her daughter to an elder to give to his son for marriage. The marriage was conducted but unfortunately, after three to four years of marriage there was no child. The woman then took away her daughter and pledged her into a marriage to another man. This created confusion, bitterness and division in the church. Several attempts to settle the matter and reconcile the two factions in the church failed.
     The church was consequently disintegrating. A miracle happened when he began the FCBH program, as they got to Matthew 6:12, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. The woman got up, weeping, and knelt before the elder, begging for forgiveness. She pledged to refund all the money the man had spent on her daughter. The whole congregation burst into tears of joy and that began the needed revival in the church. “This program came to save my church,” the Pastor declared proudly. — Pastor Kolade, Christ Apostolic Church of Sakete, Benin

“We heard from the tape [that] Paul was not a Christian before. But even when he became a Christian, he lived a challenging life. This encouraged me very much. I have gone through terrible situations in life, which nearly made me give up on my faith – my wife being sick, losing my job and having a motor accident almost simultaneously. Having heard the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, I was encouraged to forge ahead, [convinced] that God was on my side. I want to say thank you to the Bible Society of Nigeria, and thank you, FCBH.” — Issah K. Ehada, Evangelical Church of West Africa, Bukan Sidi, Nigeria