The Adventist community in the district of Bengbis, Cameroon, dedicated a new church building in Yemedang village. The ceremony took place on Sabbath, November 19.

Nearly 1,000 people gathered in Yemedang, a village located seven kilometers from Bengbis in southern Cameroon for the ceremony. The president of the Central South Cameroon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Pastor Paul-Bernard Ahanda, led the celebration. Distinguished guests, including Mfopou Aliyou, division officer of Bengbis, Janvier Mvoto Obounou, vice president of the National Communication Council of Cameroon, pastors of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon, priests from the Catholic Church, the chief of Yemedang village, and local political elites took part in the ceremony.

Pastoral house and the new church [Credit: WAD]

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It was in 1958, two years before the independence of Cameroon, that the first Adventist evangelist settled in Yemedang village. His name is Jean Obam Oyôn. He did the work of a pioneer there. An Adventist elementary school was opened in 1962. It had about forty students, supervised by two teachers: Gaston Medjo and Mirabeau Evina.

The beautiful flame thus lit did not shine for long. The school buildings would fall into ruin, and the missionary field would remain fallow. This was without counting on the fidelity of God, the Master of the harvest whose decrees are always fulfilled in spite of the duration of the circumstances. Sixty-four years after the arrival of the first evangelist in Yemedang, a church with a capacity of 175 seats and a pastor's house stand proudly in the heart of the village. These gifts from the Melingui Nkolo family were handed over to the Seventh-day Adventist Church on November 19, 2022, during a solemn service presided over by Pastor Ahanda.

1st Photo: Pastors and Members Procession; 2nd Photo: Special Guests [Credit: WAD]

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Beyond the dedication of a house of worship for God, it is the rebirth of the Adventist missionary work in Yemedang—a revival that is a reality, with the baptism of 19 souls after 10 days of evangelistic campaigns held by Pastor Blaise Fewo at the Bengbis prison and Yemedang village.

The original version of this story was posted on the West-Central Africa Division website.