Monday, August 10. Tolagnaro (Fort Dauphin).
Between Vistas and Feast! I sat down with Deacon Donné to talk about his ministry, with Bishop Todd serving as our translator. (I took this picture the day after our interview.)
I began by asking Donné the first thing he did when he came to Fort Dauphin, and he said that he had stressed from the beginning that evangelism is crucial for churches to grow and for Christians to mature.
I then asked him how he came to be the deacon-in-charge of the new parish in Fort Dauphin.
Last November Todd had talked to his clergy and evangelists about starting a new congregation in Tolagnaro, and three persons had expressed an interest: Deacon Donné and the Malagasy Evangelist TomboasyAndriniaina Soa Beltesazara and the Kenyan Evangelist Captain Duncan Macharia of the Church Army.
Then, in March, Donné had discussed the possibility with Todd, and in April Todd confirmed that he would go to Tolagnaro. Soon thereafter a team of twenty people arrived in Tolagnaro to begin the new work.
Donné and his team stayed with some Christian families in the town, and they immediately began visiting people. Also, on April 21, Donné began advertising on the local radio station, announcing that "The Anglican Church has arrived!" He called on all of the Anglicans in town to come to a meeting, giving a date and also his cell phone number.
He discovered that half of the Anglicans in town, lacking their own Anglican church, had joined other denominations, but the other half (including one man who'd been praying for 15 years for an Anglican presence in Fort Dauphin) came to the meeting. During that meeting, Donné made his first pitch for every Anglican to evangelize, inviting their neighbors and friends to come to the first church service. More radio announcements were made with information about the service, and there was door-to-door canvassing with invitations to attend.
On Sunday, April 26, they held the new congregation's first service at Tolagnaro's Antanabao Primary School (you can see a picture of the school in this post). Seventeen adults and eight children attended, and once again Donné exhorted them spread the word about the new church after talking to them about Jesus, and also about the Four Spiritual Laws.
(Do you know the Four Spiritual Laws? If so, post a comment with your answer. And tomorrow I'll share the answer with everyone!)
Tomorrow: Part 2 of my interview with Donné.
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