Remodeling the New Apostolic Church in Tikonko

Abstract

In December 2020, Calvin was invited to attend the service at the New Apostolic Church every Sunday. It was a comfortable church, but lack of funding and support had led to a weathered look on both the inside and outside of the building. The goal was to pursue a project that benefited the entire community and built trust in Growing the Grassroots (GTGR) for future development projects. In January 2022, the GTGR board members began raising money through personal social media posts directed toward friends and families in order to renovate the New Apostolic Church. $850 was raised, with 25% of that consisting of board member contributions. Mohamed, the in-country director for GTGR, coordinated everything that needed to be done over in Tikonko, purchasing paint, tiles, lights, decorations, cement, and tools for the project. After months of renovation and back-and-forth communication, the church was finally finished and ready for celebration by the time the team made it there in May. The whole village was radiating with joy and appreciation, as their beloved church was finally just as beautiful as it was sacred.

Initially Introduced to the Church

For his whole life, Shaka, an RHCI worker and Calvin’s good friend, had been attending the New Apostolic Church in Tikonko. His grandma used to walk there with him every Sunday. When she got too old to walk that far, he attended service alone. Calvin arrived in Tikonko in December 2020, and Shaka invited Calvin to church every Sunday. 

Shaka outside of the New Apostolic Church.

It was a comfortable church; the structure was made of cement, and it was strong. Lack of funding and support had led to a tired and weathered look on both the inside and outside of the building. There were no lights, no electricity, and a broken-up cement floor covered with tattered wallpaper to mask the reparations needed. 

Nonetheless, many of the town's elders and some of the most powerful people in Tikonko attended that church. Calvin made great relationships with the Paramount Chief’s family, Town Chief Moiwo, Reverend Bangali, and Pastor Macavurey through the church. In Sierra Leone, unpredictable things can happen all the time, and it’s really important to have powerful people like them to back you up.  

Outside of church before renovations.

Inside of church before renovations.

Gaining Trust With a Community-Wide Endeavor

Fast forward to early 2022, and GTGR was gearing up to bring a whole new wave of development and agricultural knowledge to Tikonko. But the board members knew they couldn’t just make an entrance into their community and expect to be welcomed. They had to earn that while gaining the trust of the leaders and citizens alike. They knew it would be important to invest in the community with a few preliminary projects first, otherwise, they risked having no support from the locals to teach their classes. If the beneficiaries don’t support an organization, that organization won’t survive for long. 

The first project GTGR pursued in Tikonko in December of 2021 was sending children back to school. While that directly helped roughly 2 dozen families who were grateful and supported the efforts, there were many more people who hadn’t been helped directly. The board knew their second project needed to be a larger, community-wide endeavor. Something which many people could simultaneously benefit from. 

The GTGR board decided the perfect project would be to give the New Apostolic Church a facelift in the form of a new tile floor, painted walls, electricity, and light fixtures/bulbs. This project would certainly grab the attention of the town's leaders and elders. 

In January 2022, the GTGR board began raising money through social media posts directed to their friends and families to renovate the New Apostolic Church. GTGR didn’t have a website yet, so their reach was limited. 

Inside of church after renovations.

Huge Learning Moment for Growing the Grassroots

All in-country operations were performed by their in-country director, Mohamed. When discussing the financial needs for this project, Mohamed quoted the GTGR board members that for approximately $250, the entire church could be renovated. 

Mohamed went on to coordinate the purchase of paint, tiles, lights, decorations, cement, and tools for the project. Several days passed, and the GTGR board continued to receive updates, wonderful progress pictures of the hard work, and everything looked really optimistic. 

At the end of that week, Mohamed sent the board members the final pictures of what they accomplished. The walls were beautiful, the foundation outside had been repaired and painted, the windows were fixed, and there were lights, but there was one large problem. Only 20% of the floor was actually tiled! It turned out the paint and tools were relatively cheap, but the tile was imported from Europe and was of high quality but very expensive. 

Transparency Is Key

Calvin called Mohamed with deep confusion asking how their monetary approximations had been so far off. Mohamed said they weren’t off. It was common for donors to support the starting of a project in Sierra Leone, but not complete the whole thing. Mohamed figured that GTGR just wanted to help the New Apostolic Church get the project started and let them finish it on their own time. 

Our Solution: Unwavering Dedication

This sent panic among the board members. They had exhausted their friends’ and families’ pocketbooks through weeks of Instagram and Snapchat stories, yet there was nothing finalized that they could come back and report on. They needed to raise more money; approximately $600 more. Many board members resorted to emailing their parents' friends who may be able to help, and other board members ended up coming up with the rest of the money themselves to finish the project. That entire stressful process took about 5 months for them to complete. That project suffered a lack of organization, but a lot of learning curves and growing pains were overcome as well. The board members learned they needed to be clearer with expectations and communication, be more hands-on with projects, and engage the whole team.

Outside of church after renovations.

Celebrating the Opening of the New Apostolic Church

By May 2022, the entire church was renovated and looked brand new. It was completed just in time for the board members to see it with their own eyes when they all visited. The community of Tikonko eagerly awaited the arrival of the board members on May 9th, 2022. They had prepared a welcome dance, a special sermon, and a delicious lunch. Every villager was radiating with joy and appreciation, as their beloved church was finally just as beautiful as it was sacred.

The community of Tikonko welcomed the GTGR board members to the newly renovated church.

This project entailed a lot of moving parts and a lot of thought from the in-country director to make sure the work was quality and the second budget was met. Despite the headaches, this project helped GTGR to gain the respect of many town leaders and elders and there was a lot of positive buzz which spread around the town. 

One of the leaders of the New Apostolic Church, Pastor Macavurey, fought for GTGR and helped them purchase land in Tikonko after a huge court case transpired to declare who the true owner of a particular parcel of land was. Read “Our land in Tikonko'' to learn how Pastor Macavurey intervened for GTGR.  

In the end, GTGR took a smart approach by first gaining the trust of the community with this project before bringing in the rest of their long-term programs.