Mandritsara Bible Baptist Church
This local evangelical church in Mandritsara is a member of the FFBBM -
Association of Bible Baptist Churches of Madagascar. There are about 70
churches in the association.
The Mandritsara church has around 85 baptised members. Julien Ranivoson is
the pastor. Dr Adrien and Jimmy Raneantoandro are elders, and Mr Radesana is a deacon. Sunday morning services are held in the hospital waiting room and are followed by communion each week. There is also an afternoon service at Pastor Julien's house and a midweek Bible study/prayer meeting.
The church has purchased a site in Mandritsara and is currently constructing a church building. The main structure is now complete. An annexe with 3 rooms and toilet facilities is being built. The inauguration of the church is due for August 2005.
Sunday school
See also Jane's Sunday School page.
This began at the end of 1993, when Jane Mann started training three women as Sunday school teachers. At that time there were just 15 children of varying ages who were all taught together in one class. Jane began to write the lessons in Malagasy, taught these to the teachers, who then taught the children. From those early beginnings the Sunday school has grown considerably and now has about 150 children and young people in 12 classes, and there is also an adult class. Consecutive "through the Bible story" lessons have been prepared - covering the whole of the Old Testament, part of the Gospels and the whole of Acts. Some of these are currently being revised. These lessons are written in Malagasy. Dr Francis is jointly responsible for Sunday school with Jane Mann. They meet to discuss the lesson each week and then Francis leads the preparation lesson with the teachers. Different lessons are prepared for the very small children and Tantely is responsible for these.
Holiday Bible club
During the long school holidays, in July and August, the Sunday school is
closed. A Holiday Bible Club is held instead. This takes place each Saturday
afternoon. A different village has been chosen for this club each year with
the aim of reaching new children. It takes the form of games, followed by a
doctrinal lesson and a missionary story, each done in instalments. There is
often an impact not only on the children, but also on the whole village. Two
of the villages now have teams which visit once a month for follow up in the
hope of eventually forming a church in these villages.
Women’s meeting
A women’s meeting is held each week as an outreach to outsiders.
Young people
Two young people's groups meet.
The older teenagers and 20's group meets on Sunday afternoon under the name
"Jeunesse pour la Bonne Nouvelle". They go out once or twice a month to
nearby villages for evangelism. Dr Francis leads this.The younger group
"Ados pour la Bonne Nouvelle" is led by Dr Adrien and meets on Saturday
afternoon.
