A rescue shop within a yard of hell

This is the view from my hotel window in Abidjan. It doesn't look much like hell does it? And the truth is that it is a beautiful city, with many fine buildings and compared with many African countries is prosperous. It is rich with natural resources and was once known as the Paris of Africa. A coup d'etat a few years ago rocked its stabilty and recovery has been difficult but now it is peaceful and confidence has grown.

However the view from my window does not tell the story of the poor or of the spiritual strongholds over the city. There are prosperous people in Cote d'Ivoire but for the poor the cost of living is high and wages are low. The fact that this country is the second most expensive place to live in Africa means that it is hard to get out of the poverty trap.

I was accompanying Reverend Kingsley Armstrong on a visit to the Living Foundation International Church led by Pastor Solomon Kwasi Ansah. The church was started 8 years ago and is situated in one of the poorest areas of Abidjan. It has a membership of about 300.

Despite being advised by some other pastors that if he moved to a better area he would get better collections and be better paid Solomon and his wife Armande pictured below are passionately committed to the poor and to the broken.

This is a church that combines revivalist preaching with practical action and lives are being transformed. The church supports about 30 women who were previously prostitutes, or who were in immoral relationships to give them financial support. Others were rescued just in time to save them from going down that route. Some trafficked women from Nigeria have also been able to return home with the churches help. The girls who haven't got their own homes are housed with church members and the church pays for them to go to a local training centre to learn skills that will give them employment. A number of young men are also supported in this way and live in the church.

But it is not just material help that is offered. New converts have been freed from the bondage of immorality, sexual perversion and a background of Animism. It is Jesus who has changed their lives.

This is a Pentecostal church but in reality feels like primitive Salvationism. Who is doing this work? It is the local church. They are not paying non Christian professionals to do social work they are operating a rescue shop within yard of hell and they are relying on the power of the Spirit to do it.

It is a very special place that has the hand of God upon it.

More tomorrow

God bless

Carol