Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN SIERRA LEONE
from the Sierra Leone Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Strategic Plan 2024-2028
and ASAH (https://www.africansdahistory.org/countries-in-africa/sierra-leone/)
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sierra Leone has been in existence for over a century, with a history that dates as far back as 1892. Lawrence C. Chadwick, President of the International Track Society visited Sierra Leone in 1892 during a General Conference (GC) field trip. As a result of his visit, an appeal was made at the 1893 General Conference session that a missionary be sent to Sierra Leone. This vision was realized 12 years later when in 1905, Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hyatt, a Black American dentist lay-couple arrived in Freetown from Ghana, to pioneer the work in Sierra Leone. They held prayer and Bible studies in their home, and Mr. Hyatt was popularly referred to as the Doctor that does not work on Saturdays. He then wrote to General Conference requesting that a gospel minister be sent to Sierra Leone. Before the end of the year, the General Conference sent another American, David C. Babcock, to join the Hyatts to officially establish the gospel work of the church. Babcock became the first public preacher of the SDA message. Through his lectures R. P. Dauphin was converted and became the first African worker. Babcock was also the first to introduce the process of making concrete block in Sierra Leone.
These were used for the erection of the first church building in West Africa. It was built in 1907 on Circular Road in Freetown. Mrs. Babcock began the first elementary school in Freetown, and her husband built the first mission house and office on Pademba Road. Pastor Babcock also started the first sanitarium, next to the mission house. It was under the supervision of Dr. E. W. Myers.
Professor T. M. French arrived from America in 1907. He organized the school at Waterloo into a ministerial training center. Several young men received training for the ministry in this institution.
By 1911 an industrial workshop, fully equipped, was in operation along with the training school. In 1912 the arm of the work was extended into the interior when Pastor Dauphin was sent to Matotoka in the north and I. W. Harding to Gbangbama in the south. Shortly after, the mission headquarters was moved from Freetown to Waterloo, where it remained until the 1940s.
In 1913, the Sierra Leone Mission was organized and it became an important source of denominational workers in West Africa. A school was built at Waterloo (Waterloo Training School) with T. M. French in charge and W. H. Lewis at the head of the industrial education. During this period, workers from Sierra Leone were sent out as missionaries to other countries like Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria.
Shortly after, in 1918, the work in West Africa was organized with headquarters in Waterloo, Sierra Leone. L. F. Langford was made the General Superintendent of the work in West Africa.
On 7th May 1921, at Waterloo in Sierra Leone, J. K. Garbrah of Shama, became the first Ghanaian Minister of the Gospel to be ordained into the Gospel Ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Subsequently, Peninsula Secondary School in Waterloo was established in 1961 as the first secondary institution of learning by the Church. In order to develop a predominantly Seventh-day Adventist boarding facility where future workers could be better trained, the Yele Seventh-day Adventist Secondary School was opened in 1965.
After World War II (1939 to 1945) disrupted Adventist efforts in the country, the Waterloo Training School and other properties at Waterloo were taken over by the Military of the British Government. The church then moved its mission headquarters from Waterloo to Bo and later In 1065, the government of Sierra Leone handed over the operation of the Masanga Leprosy Hospital to the church under special contract with the Ministry of Health. The 140-bed hospital catered to the needs of 15,000 lepers. Presently the prevalence of leprosy has been reduced considerably, and the hospital now treats 1,000 cases a year. Services have been widened to provide effective care for tuberculosis patients.
This was followed by the establishment of Yele Secondary School in the north in 1965 and Milton Comprehensive Secondary School in Bo in the South, in 1967 thereby expanding the educational work of the church with three secondary schools in the country.
In 1973 permission was granted to the mission to set up a radio communication system between the mission office in Bo, Yele School, Masanga Hospital, and Freetown, the capital city. Daily use of the system made communication easier and eliminated delay. About this time Walton Whaley succeeded in putting the Voice of Prophecy and Faith for Today on national radio and television.
In 1973 the work in Gambia was attached to Sierra Leone, and the two became the Sierra Leone and Gambia Mission. The first recognized work in Gambia was begun by Brother Cudjo, a Gambian literature evangelist. In 1976 Gambia became a mission station.
The first national President, Pastor T. J. Roberts, was appointed in 1988. The field has been supervised by nationals up to the present. Since the first Adventist missionary pioneer work in Sierra Leone well over 100 years ago, the church in this part of West Africa remained a mission.
The country’s civil war that spanned from 1991 to 2002 further compounded an already declining and fragile Adventist church system. Large parts of the Masanga Leprosy Hospital were destroyed. However, the local Mission Administration in cooperation with the West African Union Mission built and opened a totally church-owned Adventist Health System on church-land in Waterloo. Dr. and Mrs. Rostan from Argentina were instrumental in organizing the Hospital along with Dr. and Mrs. Robero from Peru. With the help of Mercy Ships they added to and equipped a new wing and also built hostels for visiting student missionaries.
In 2008, the South-Mission Station was carved out of the Sierra Leone Mission during a Special Constituency meeting held in Bo, with Pastor Michael Saidu Koroma as the first Station Director. In 2010, during a regular constituency meeting held at Maranatha Church in Freetown, the Sierra Leone Mission was further divided into the Sierra Leone Mission (with headquarters in Freetown) and the North-east Mission Station with Pastor Edward Kose Turay as Station Director (headquartered in Makeni) consistent with the distinctive ethnic corresponding diversity of needs in administering the work.
In 2009, after a proposal was submitted by the then Sierra Leone Mission President Sannoh A.M Senesie, the General Conference voted a grant of eight hundred thousand dollars ($800,000) to construct a headquarters edifice on an incomplete building site on 24 Savage Street in Freetown. The building was to house the Mission Administrative offices, Adventist World Radio (AWR) FM Station, Adventist Book Centre (ABC), Health Education (Better Living Centre), and Distance Learning & Technology Education Centre.
With a membership of 12,133 as at December 2022; 53 Organised Churches, 75 Companies and 15 Sabbath School Branches. It has a total of 3 Ordained Pastors; 3 Ministerial Credentials; 2 Evangelists; 5 Gospel Outreach Employees; 3 Missionary Credentials and 9 Missionary Licenses. The current Adventist population in Sierra Leone is less than one percent (0.15%) of the population.
At long last, in December 2022, the status of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sierra Leone changed from Mission to the Sierra Leone Conference. The last Mission Officers that led the process were: Pastor Daniel Sahr Sandy – President, Pastor Nyuma K. Mustapha – Executive Secretary, and Elder Abass Pele Conteh – Treasurer. At present, the first Conference Officers are: Pastor Sannoh Augustus Martin Senesie – President, Pastor Edward Kose Turay – Executive Secretary, and Pastor Abass Pele Conteh – Treasurer.
UPDATE: March 2025 ACMS adjusted Membership 10533; Organised Churches 60; Companies 46; Pastors 24 Ordained Pastors 12 Gospel Outreach Workers 10 Pastors in Training 5
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN SIERRA LEONE
from the Sierra Leone Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Strategic Plan 2024-2028
and ASAH (https://www.africansdahistory.org/countries-in-africa/sierra-leone/)
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sierra Leone has been in existence for over a century, with a history that dates as far back as 1892. Lawrence C. Chadwick, President of the International Track Society visited Sierra Leone in 1892 during a General Conference (GC) field trip. As a result of his visit, an appeal was made at the 1893 General Conference session that a missionary be sent to Sierra Leone. This vision was realized 12 years later when in 1905, Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hyatt, a Black American dentist lay-couple arrived in Freetown from Ghana, to pioneer the work in Sierra Leone. They held prayer and Bible studies in their home, and Mr. Hyatt was popularly referred to as the Doctor that does not work on Saturdays. He then wrote to General Conference requesting that a gospel minister be sent to Sierra Leone. Before the end of the year, the General Conference sent another American, David C. Babcock, to join the Hyatts to officially establish the gospel work of the church. Babcock became the first public preacher of the SDA message. Through his lectures R. P. Dauphin was converted and became the first African worker. Babcock was also the first to introduce the process of making concrete block in Sierra Leone.
These were used for the erection of the first church building in West Africa. It was built in 1907 on Circular Road in Freetown. Mrs. Babcock began the first elementary school in Freetown, and her husband built the first mission house and office on Pademba Road. Pastor Babcock also started the first sanitarium, next to the mission house. It was under the supervision of Dr. E. W. Myers.
Professor T. M. French arrived from America in 1907. He organized the school at Waterloo into a ministerial training center. Several young men received training for the ministry in this institution.
By 1911 an industrial workshop, fully equipped, was in operation along with the training school. In 1912 the arm of the work was extended into the interior when Pastor Dauphin was sent to Matotoka in the north and I. W. Harding to Gbangbama in the south. Shortly after, the mission headquarters was moved from Freetown to Waterloo, where it remained until the 1940s.
In 1913, the Sierra Leone Mission was organized and it became an important source of denominational workers in West Africa. A school was built at Waterloo (Waterloo Training School) with T. M. French in charge and W. H. Lewis at the head of the industrial education. During this period, workers from Sierra Leone were sent out as missionaries to other countries like Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria.
Shortly after, in 1918, the work in West Africa was organized with headquarters in Waterloo, Sierra Leone. L. F. Langford was made the General Superintendent of the work in West Africa.
On 7th May 1921, at Waterloo in Sierra Leone, J. K. Garbrah of Shama, became the first Ghanaian Minister of the Gospel to be ordained into the Gospel Ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Subsequently, Peninsula Secondary School in Waterloo was established in 1961 as the first secondary institution of learning by the Church. In order to develop a predominantly Seventh-day Adventist boarding facility where future workers could be better trained, the Yele Seventh-day Adventist Secondary School was opened in 1965.
After World War II (1939 to 1945) disrupted Adventist efforts in the country, the Waterloo Training School and other properties at Waterloo were taken over by the Military of the British Government. The church then moved its mission headquarters from Waterloo to Bo and later In 1065, the government of Sierra Leone handed over the operation of the Masanga Leprosy Hospital to the church under special contract with the Ministry of Health. The 140-bed hospital catered to the needs of 15,000 lepers. Presently the prevalence of leprosy has been reduced considerably, and the hospital now treats 1,000 cases a year. Services have been widened to provide effective care for tuberculosis patients.
This was followed by the establishment of Yele Secondary School in the north in 1965 and Milton Comprehensive Secondary School in Bo in the South, in 1967 thereby expanding the educational work of the church with three secondary schools in the country.
In 1973 permission was granted to the mission to set up a radio communication system between the mission office in Bo, Yele School, Masanga Hospital, and Freetown, the capital city. Daily use of the system made communication easier and eliminated delay. About this time Walton Whaley succeeded in putting the Voice of Prophecy and Faith for Today on national radio and television.
In 1973 the work in Gambia was attached to Sierra Leone, and the two became the Sierra Leone and Gambia Mission. The first recognized work in Gambia was begun by Brother Cudjo, a Gambian literature evangelist. In 1976 Gambia became a mission station.
The first national President, Pastor T. J. Roberts, was appointed in 1988. The field has been supervised by nationals up to the present. Since the first Adventist missionary pioneer work in Sierra Leone well over 100 years ago, the church in this part of West Africa remained a mission.
The country’s civil war that spanned from 1991 to 2002 further compounded an already declining and fragile Adventist church system. Large parts of the Masanga Leprosy Hospital were destroyed. However, the local Mission Administration in cooperation with the West African Union Mission built and opened a totally church-owned Adventist Health System on church-land in Waterloo. Dr. and Mrs. Rostan from Argentina were instrumental in organizing the Hospital along with Dr. and Mrs. Robero from Peru. With the help of Mercy Ships they added to and equipped a new wing and also built hostels for visiting student missionaries.
In 2008, the South-Mission Station was carved out of the Sierra Leone Mission during a Special Constituency meeting held in Bo, with Pastor Michael Saidu Koroma as the first Station Director. In 2010, during a regular constituency meeting held at Maranatha Church in Freetown, the Sierra Leone Mission was further divided into the Sierra Leone Mission (with headquarters in Freetown) and the North-east Mission Station with Pastor Edward Kose Turay as Station Director (headquartered in Makeni) consistent with the distinctive ethnic corresponding diversity of needs in administering the work.
In 2009, after a proposal was submitted by the then Sierra Leone Mission President Sannoh A.M Senesie, the General Conference voted a grant of eight hundred thousand dollars ($800,000) to construct a headquarters edifice on an incomplete building site on 24 Savage Street in Freetown. The building was to house the Mission Administrative offices, Adventist World Radio (AWR) FM Station, Adventist Book Centre (ABC), Health Education (Better Living Centre), and Distance Learning & Technology Education Centre.
With a membership of 12,133 as at December 2022; 53 Organised Churches, 75 Companies and 15 Sabbath School Branches. It has a total of 3 Ordained Pastors; 3 Ministerial Credentials; 2 Evangelists; 5 Gospel Outreach Employees; 3 Missionary Credentials and 9 Missionary Licenses. The current Adventist population in Sierra Leone is less than one percent (0.15%) of the population.
At long last, in December 2022, the status of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sierra Leone changed from Mission to the Sierra Leone Conference. The last Mission Officers that led the process were: Pastor Daniel Sahr Sandy – President, Pastor Nyuma K. Mustapha – Executive Secretary, and Elder Abass Pele Conteh – Treasurer. At present, the first Conference Officers are: Pastor Sannoh Augustus Martin Senesie – President, Pastor Edward Kose Turay – Executive Secretary, and Pastor Abass Pele Conteh – Treasurer.
UPDATE: March 2025 ACMS adjusted Membership 10533; Organised Churches 60; Companies 46; Pastors 24 Ordained Pastors 12 Gospel Outreach Workers 10 Pastors in Training 5
