Great Hope In Liberia

An update from Bruce Chick, Senior Pastor of Sovereign Grace Community Church, Roanoke, Virginia, USA... 

In February 2023 I had the privilege to visit Liberia and Dyonah Thomas for about 16 days. Dyonah is the senior pastor of Grace Life Church and headmaster of Grace Life Ministries. Both Dyonah and his wife Mai serve the students and their wives heroically and endeavor to see the Name of Jesus lifted high in their home country of Liberia (and boy can Mai cook some delicious chicken and fried rice!).

While in Liberia I was able to teach both Old Testament 1 and Old Testament 2 to about 10 church planting residents in the Pastors College. This is the first year of the Pastors College in Liberia and it was a thrill to be able to interact with these humble, godly men for over 2 weeks in the classroom (yes, we even had classes on Saturdays). Many of these men are not only enrolled in the resident church planting program but are also taking classes in the Grace Life Seminary (graduate level) or in Grace Life College (undergraduate) while also being assigned specific overseeing duties in serving the children’s school (about 300 students) or the ministry at large, plus being involved full-time with surrounding churches (many are preaching/teaching regularly both at Grace Life and surrounding churches)!

These men have broad shoulders … but more than that, they have hungry hearts and an eagerness to establish gospel centered churches both in Liberia and in their neighboring home countries in Western Africa. Some of the students have relocated for the year from surrounding countries while others travel upwards to an hour to reach the school grounds each day. In God’s kindness, Grace Life is positioning itself to be a training center and launching pad for future gospel expansion for all of Western Africa, not just Liberia.  

I knew upon my arrival, after hearing Dyonah preach that first Sunday, that something special was happening in this place. It wasn’t just the fact that Grace Life was providing hope and new opportunities for numerous young people, or that they were tangibly meeting the needs of the surrounding communities through the local church, what was most encouraging was the fact that the gospel was the center of their theology and practice. Unfortunately, this is not normal. Even in places where there is a Christian witness in Liberia, a biblical understanding of the gospel and its application to Christian living is severely lacking.

A downtrodden people (Liberia is still recovering from a 14-year civil war and Ebola outbreak and thus are listed among the poorest countries in the world) are especially susceptible to the siren calls of temporal prosperity at the expense of eternal Christian transformation. The notion that God sometimes uses suffering, endurance, and difficulty to shine Gospel light in dark places and to magnify His glory through faithful disciples is something that Liberia desperately needs. Grace Life and the associated ministries are providing this light and are eager to both preach and provide a tangible witness to the difference that gospel centered living can provide. This was such an encouragement to me and bespoke of the tremendous privilege and opportunity to come alongside these brothers and sisters.

I watched and listened to the class minister in prayer to the now widow of Grace Life’s first church planter (William, who was the first man sent out to plant a church from Grace Life was intubated while I was there and eventually died of Tuberculosis shortly after I returned to the US); I rode in the car as Dyonah counseled and dropped off a mother of a sickly child to receive medication at a nearby pharmacy; I partook of a glorious pastor and wives dinner of about 25 individuals involved with Grace Life; I saw poverty all around, I shook the hands of transformed men, women and children; I met some who were converted in old age and others who had hope for the first time; I sang along with the joy filled congregation; I smiled and stood in awe counting the many children dressed in their uniforms awaiting for their Christian school to start; I was acutely made aware of the terrible reality of death and lack of health care for so many and I was there when Dyonah received a cancer diagnosis (he is getting treatment in Ghana and seems to be in good hands and both he and his wife are trusting the LORD for provision and health).

In all my experiences in Liberia over those 16 days it became apparent that Dyonah and the Grace Life elders were in the trenches of life in Liberia - experiencing both the joys and trials that come along with living in a fallen world. However, most prominent was the hope and the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in that place where our brothers and sisters are called to minister and give gospel witness. It was a privilege to learn from them and to partner with them in February.

It was a special honor to eagerly share with my local church community in Roanoke, Virginia upon my return regarding all that God is doing in Liberia (and soon to our region at our April Regional Assembly of Elders). Our local church is sending another elder and former missionary to the country of Senegal, to Liberia in late June of this year in order to continue to invest in the Pastors College and to explore how we can continue to partner and support the strategic ministry of Grace Life and its elders. What a joy it is to know that at the conclusion of this school year a number of new church plants with gospel values and gospel practice are by the grace of God going to be established in Liberia and beyond!