Dano-paris

Check back here often to read stories of the Dano-paris church and fellowship with them in the name of Christ.

We began teaching out in Dano-Paris in the summer of 2004. Although this church plant seemed to take a whole year before it took off, it is now one of our most mature congregations. There are about 50 folks that regularly meet here. Severin is the main preacher in Dano-Paris, has planted the church in ‘Yo and has been instrumental in the Sorian church plant. The ladies on the team started teaching a curriculum for women in Dano-Paris in 2005 and one of the students of that group, Rebecca, has written many of the songs that Dagara Christians sing throughout the movement.

24 - 25 April 2008
We had a good first round of the series on putting Christian love into action. It included a lesson on giving to and helping the needy and on not being prideful about our church but welcoming new members even if they don\'t look like us. Then we read the entire book of I John. All of this sparked a string of "somebody did somebody wrong" conversatons. Rebecca who has been seperated from her husband for a while is having to jump through a hoop in order to get her kids registered with social security and get a small allowance for her kids. The final hoop is that her husband needs to give her a notarized copy of his birth certificate, but he has refused, accusing her of trying to use that to give the kids up for adoption which is ridiculous. Someone that owed Germain about $60 refused to bargain with him in the market and come down $ 0.25 on the price of something the other day. This sparked a conversation about turning the other cheek and going the extra mile and forgiving those who are hard to forgive. I am really seeing God mature all of us as we explore His love for us and the love he has commissioned us to express.

Aaron
Posted: 04/26/2008 10:17 am - GMT

10 - 11 April 2008
We actually successfully were able to meet this week in Dano Pari. Kpe-zuo did an excellent job teaching about the story of David and Goliath and how we can overcome our fears with the power of the holy spirit. Then I taught the lesson about witnessing to friends and family. As a result of this series Severen\'s wife, Jo-elle, came to church. She has been a staunch Catholic and against Severen\'s being a part of this church for a very long time. Also Germain (a potential future elder) brought his wife to church for the first time. Pray that these beginnings will bear fruit in Dano-pari becoming a very strong church for God.

Aaron
Posted: 04/17/2008 2:56 pm - GMT

3-4 April 2008
I was scheduled to go out to Dano-Pari to teach the \"Witness to your friends and neighbors\" seminar, but I made a big mistake. We have had many things to remember lately, and I thought that I had asked Andy to tell Severen that we were coming for the seminar so they could prepare for us, but I didn\'t. So I went to pick Kpe-zuo up and got to Dano-pari to find no one there. We just scheduled for the next week and I spent some extra time on these days getting ready for the leadership conference in Nawile.

Aaron
Posted: 04/17/2008 2:43 pm - GMT

23 March 2008
After worshiping with the village of Sorian early in the morning our entire family headed to Dano-Pari (a few early rains should tame down the meningitis outbreak). Sorion decided to have a very early Easter service for those in their village that would be unable to make it to Dano-Pari for the larger cluster worship. When we arrived, with several folks from Sorion in-tow, there was a vibrant worship service already under way. Over 100 women, 40 men, and 70 children were singing praises to God. It was an honor to worship with representatives from so many villages. The self-starting nature of large worship services like this are an encouraging testimony of God working in the hearts of Dagara leaders.

Chad
Posted: 03/26/2008 9:25 am - GMT

Easter Sunday
We had a fantastic time of worship with the southern cluster of churches out in Dano-pari on easter Sunday. Severin shared a message from Mark 16 and a lesson on Jesus being the power of the resurrection and I shared a short message from Peter\'s Pentecost sermon about how Peter having denied Jesus recently and being a poor uneducated fisherman preached a sermon that started off with people making fun of him and that ended with 3000 joining the kingdom. This was the first miracle that the Holy Spirit performed and it still performs these kind of miracles among the Dagara as we hear poor uneducated preachers preaching even as hecklers pass them on the street more and more Dagara are joining his kingdom. As we celebrated in Dano pari, 26 people were being baptized in Nyi-kpier and people were celebrating the start of the new church in Di-doro where 28 people had been baptized Saturday night because they couldn\'t wait until Sunday morning. Praise God!

Aaron
Posted: 03/26/2008 9:15 am - GMT

20 - 21 February 2008 - Small group leadership seminar
This week I picked up Eric and Sotieru in Nyinyime and Kpe-zuo in Nyikpier. It was an exciting week. I just dropped them off to teach the Dano Pari leaders (this time Rebbecca, and Germain), the seminar I had taught in Nyinyime and Nyikpier for the last two weeks. I was not sure what would happen. My teammate was scheduled to come and teach a lesson on elderships Thursday night. Andy and I talked about this and we saw this as an opportunity to do a surprise inspection. As it turned out, when Andy showed up, they had just finished that day\'s lesson. He had them review what they had learned. Andy, having never heard the lesson, was both impressed by Eric and Kpe-zuo\'s teaching styles, but at Rebbecca and Germain\'s retention level. This is the end of the first round of the new leadership program that we have begun. Much prayer and thought has gone into both the content and method we are using. There will be lots of practice, modeling, and room for growth in this program. When we phase out, it will be these guys that will help carry the movement forward. This stuff is so important if we want this work to continue after we go back to the states permanently. Praise God that it has begun well. Pray that it can continue well. It will take approximately the next two years of ministry to get through the program.

Aaron
Posted: 03/01/2008 1:11 pm - GMT

20 January 2008
This Sunday morning was very encouraging. We arrived early (unaware that it was a \'cold\' morning) and visited with a couple of church leaders (Basil & Severin) inside their small church building. Our discussion centered around visiting and praying for \'backsliders\'. This is part of a new focus on encouraging churches to be more active in discipling members, even those that have been absent for a while. Currently they have 83 names as church members and have planted five to six daughter churches over the past three years. Though they have seen great growth more than 35 of the 83 people listed have been absent for quite some time. We discussed approaches to caring for members and prayed for their new efforts in this area. Two very interesting things happened during service: we heard the first Dagara Christmas Carol (though it is late January) and I gained a new appreciation for personal space. Apparently it was cold enough that we needed to huddle for warmth. Inside a simple four-walled hut of 7 ft x 12 ft there were 26 adults and 14 kids (also taking up floor space was a 2 ft x 2 ft communion table). This must be what the Dano fire marshall has recommended because the next lady, Odeti, sat in the doorway.

Chad
Posted: 02/13/2008 9:31 am - GMT

Sunday, October 28
Our first Sunday in a village with four in our family went very well! It was such a privilege to get to introduce the newest addition to our family, Amelie, to this church. They have long joined in fasting and praying for us that God would give us a child from our own bodies, and it was so great to see them revel in welcoming her to their village. Before we had even made it to their circled benches, Amelie had been whisked away by one of her Dano-Pari grandmothers, only to be returned to our arms much later after several others had their chance. The singing was great, the selection from Mark was well read, and the communion service was particularly moving to me. It was good to be back among the Dagara Christians!

Andy
Posted: 11/04/2007 9:14 pm - GMT

31 May 2007
Dano-Pari is one of our most active and most mature churches. One of their recent problems that Severen has asked for prayers for is encouragement for its local members. Many of the original members have fallen away and Severen has many theories why, but the Dano-Pari church would like prayers that they return. He also asks for prayers for Basil, one of the men that was recently baptized and one of their older members. He is sick. Please pray for his healing and for others who are sick around Dano-Pari.

Archie
Posted: 06/09/2007 3:17 pm - GMT

08 April 07
Easter Sunday was an encouraging event because over 100 people came for worship. They came from the different villages of Dano-pari, Lawgawn, Yo-bagawn (a new preaching point) and many others. â€œIt was great to see so many people thereâ€, said Severen one of the Dano-pari church leaders. There were also 4 people baptized. One of whom is an older man, Basil. He is someone that the church has been praying for a long time. Please praise God for the expansion of his Kingdom in these great ways.

Archie
Posted: 04/13/2007 10:21 am - GMT

8 April 07
Five folks from Dano-Pari were baptized at the baptism