Pastor Moses Philie
My name is Pastor Moses Philie of Sierra Leone, West Africa. I am married to a beautiful wife, Abie. We are blessed with three children Raymond, Jimaima, and James. I was born on February 10th 1975 to Pastor Mathew and Ha-saffie Philie. My father was a farmer and pastor of the United Methodist Church. My mother passed away in 2015 and my father is now retired.
I had the typical education that many had, in school some years and out other years. It was all dependent upon the availability of funds to pay for my education. We also moved around a bit, due to where my father was stationed. In the 1990’s the war devastated our country. My family hid in the bush, as did so many others to prevent detection from the rebels. In 1995, I left the villages in the bush to join my uncle in the capital city of Freetown. He had promised to fund the completion of my education. He never fulfilled that promise, but God had another purpose for my being in Freetown. On June 18th 1997, I gave my life to Jesus for salvation and I became a Christian at a local church. Here I studied the Bible and served as the children’s Sunday school pastor.
In 2000, I was recruited and enrolled into the Sierra Leonean Police Force. At our passing out, I was posted to Bo headquarters. After some time, I was transferred to Pujehun District where I served as constable. It was here that I joined the Faith Healing Bible Church. Under the leadership of Pastor Danile Lukuley, I assisted in the ministry work. I served here for 10 months when the police transferred me to Makeni. I continued to be loyal to the police and to the ministry. I served as the leader of praise and worship as well as evangelism in the local FHBC under the leadership of Pastor Andrew Marva. I faithfully served the church and the police for 7 years. When I heard the call from God in 2007 to serve full-time, I resigned my position from the police force. Pastor Andrew entered me into the local missionary training program of FHBC.
On August 12, 2007, Pastor Andrew and I left Sierra Leone for a new mission field. We were called to establish a new work in Monrovia, Liberia. We began evangelism followed by Tuesday Bible study and Thursday deliverance hour. In 2008, we were able turn those ministries into a Sunday Divine Service. The church started in a house parlor with 23 people, mostly youths and children. After 4 years and establishing a strong base at the church, I decided to go home to serve my own people. It was a serious challenge to us serving in Liberia due to the many constraints, but it taught me a great deal and prepared me for future challenges. Thanks be to God the work in Liberia continues today.
In 2010, I returned to Sierra Leone and attended the National Leadership Conference held in Grafton. This is where the decisions were made that I would join Pastor Rogers’ ministries in Moribatown. In Moribatown, Pastor Rogers had begun a great church ministry. Leaders and pastors were being trained and sent out to mission fields. He had also created a Christian school and a feeding program for orphans. Pastor Rogers has the gift of being a visionary and a relationship builder. It is through these gifts that he collaborated with U.S. missionaries and New Hope Initiative to create the children’s home. As the relationships deepened the relationship between NHI’s International Director, Brother Philip, and the pastors serving under Pastor Francis grew. Without the development of these relationships, I would not be writing to you today. God’s kingdom is growing because of these collaborations.
In 2012, Pastor Rogers invited me to a revival program on Bonthe Island at a church called Glory Assembly of God. I went with him and was excited by the success of the program. It was a strange experience to travel to an island. I had never traveled this long on a boat before and the construction of the buildings were different from what I was accustomed. After the program, Pastor Rogers and the others returned to Moribatown. I stayed behind for about a month to conduct a spiritual mapping survey. I was able to gather enough information and stories about the island and the district at large. Bonthe Island has never been an easy place to establish a church.
I returned to Moribatown to share my experiences and the background stories of Bonthe. There had been a principle demon named Kasilla centralizing the district in cannibalism, ritual murder, and secret societies. The evilness of the devil ran rampant upon the land. Later, in 2012, I returned to Bonthe Island to begin the missionary work of bringing the Gospel to these people and create a church. Again, I started with evangelism both one on one and house to house. I established a home caring fellowship which was very foreign to them. I also began Tuesday night Bible study and Thursday deliverance hour. These were all successful. In 2013, the home caring fellowship at my house was converted into a Sunday Divine service. The attendance at the first service was 17 - 3 men, 6 women, and 8 children.
We moved the church service to an open barrie to accommodate more people. This is where Brother Philip from the U.S. came to give his personal testimony of salvation to the people of Bonthe. Soon after, we were met with challenges. The barrie owner gave us notice to leave the premises. By the grace of God, my wife and I were able to move into a dilapidated building where we were able to hold services. However, due to the lack of maintenance, services were cancelled during heavy rainstorms as many windows were broken or missing and the rain would come in on us. There are serious constraints to us on the island of Bonthe. However, God is good. Our attendance has grown to 60-65 on Sunday, 20-25 on Tuesday and 30-35 on Thursday. Salvation of souls and deliverance with miracles followed the preaching of the word of God. Lastly, we have been given a town lot in which to construct a church upon.
To aid in our provisions we have started a back yard garden as well as a small swamp garden. We are thankful to Pastor Rogers and the church family for their concern for us. We are thankful for the relationships we are developing with teams from the U.S. Bonthe Island is a historical town, but because of rejection and abandonment you would only know its’ ancient history by its architecture. There are many more challenges in this mission field and we want to build more churches throughout the district. Everything moves forward in God’s timing and he is helping us each step of the way.
Bonthe Island is known for extreme satanic influence. It used to be known for vacationers but is no longer.