Church Group Back from Africa

The Open Arms Mission Team arrived safely in Bradford, PA late Tuesday night. The team, comprised of Open Arms Pastor Mike McAvoy, Shawn Murphy, Josh Hatcher, Dr. Brad MacNeill, and his two daughters, Bethany and Jennifer MacNeill were in Conakry, Guinea for a week working with New Family Church and Gateway International School.

The team worked throughout the week assisting with a Pastor's conference, which equipped ministers from across West Africa to be able to meet the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs within their communities.

The team also worked students from the school, bringing gifts to the students, and encouragement to the school staff.

"Sometimes you never know what to expect on these kinds of trips. I guess I thought our work would be even more humanitarian, and our work turned out to be more spiritual in nature," said Hatcher, "This is a city racked by poverty, prejudice, and corruption. A lot of the work that we wanted to do would have been like band-aid on a chest wound. What we did have to offer was a hope that the world can be a better place, and we equipped pastors to bring hope to their people. You would be surprised how valuable hope is to them, and how much they appreciated it."

The Open Arms Mission Team will be presenting their stories and sharing their experiences this weekend with an informational and question and answer session during the regular worship services at Open Arms Community Church, Saturday at 5:30 PM and Sunday at 10:15 AM. The public is invited to attend.

Pictured, Josh Hatcher with the students from Gateway International School at their Annual Sports Day Competition; Pastor Mike McAvoy and Pastor David Coker teaching together at the Kingdom Builders' Conference; Shawn Murphy distributing candy and toys to students at Gateway International School.
(Photos courtesy of the Open Arms Mission Team)