{"id":189,"date":"2014-04-05T15:18:46","date_gmt":"2014-04-05T22:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/?p=189"},"modified":"2014-04-05T15:18:46","modified_gmt":"2014-04-05T22:18:46","slug":"village-church-building-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/2014\/04\/05\/village-church-building-update\/","title":{"rendered":"VILLAGE CHURCH BUILDING UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"

From March 9 2014 Rogers Report…<\/em><\/p>\n

We are grateful for the many who have prayed for the village church building project for the Jesus believers among the Landuma people. Thank you!<\/p>\n

While we have been praying for paperwork to get done providing official permission for the land and structure, that construction would begin soon, etc., we have also been asking God for guidance regarding the best course to take. As the believers have pressed the powers that be to sign the needed paperwork, they have run into a problem: no one in authority seems to be willing to give the final approval for the land to be deeded to the church, or for the church building to be built.<\/p>\n

Freedom of religion<\/h3>\n

The Guinea constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and all religions are equal under the law. But in practice, of course, the situation can be complicated by other factors. Those in power locally are responsible to those over them to uphold the law. But of course they are also subject to much pressure from those they govern, and the latter may not want the law strictly adhered to in some cases.<\/p>\n

Also, religious leaders are charged by their superiors with keeping the traditional religion strong. Any competition from a \u201crival religion,\u201d as they see it, must be suppressed. Any gains by the new faith, such as people leaving the traditional religion for the new, or a \u201crival\u201d house of worship being built, are seen as a failure of the traditional religion\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Landumas and Tandas outside the Tanda church building. The Tandas experienced similar difficulties getting permission to build a church building in their village as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most prudent course<\/h3>\n

Initially, the village chief was very agreeable when the believers talked to him about building a house of worship, so they were very hopeful. But then his support for the project waned as he was pressured from those who were opposed.<\/p>\n

With the refusal of those in power to sign needed paperwork, the believers now say that for them to press the matter, insisting on their legal right to have a church building in the village, would result in an ugly fight, and end up antagonizing those they still hope will someday be willing to listen to God\u2019s Word. Also, word of the conflict would spread, and other villages would then be more likely to reject any offers in the future to teach the Bible among them.<\/p>\n

So the door seems to be closed at this time to having a church building in the village.<\/p>\n

o PRAY that God would guide the believers and missionaries as they seek His will in considering other options regarding where to meet for Sunday worship. There are many pros and cons to consider for each of the few choices available.<\/p>\n

Through Jesus you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.<\/span><\/em><\/strong> 1 Peter 1:21<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From March 9 2014 Rogers Report… We are grateful for the many who have prayed for the village church building project for the Jesus believers among the Landuma people. Thank you! While we have been praying for paperwork to get done providing official permission for the land and structure, that construction would begin soon, etc., […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-ministry","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/kirk-rogers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}