Page 240 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

the following story, which is typical of the manner in which miracles
accompanied early Pentecostal missionaries:

King Jufuli had sent one of his sons to the mission school. James was
about 12 or 14 years of age, and he was almost blind from cataracts
on his eyes. One morning in devotions I read the story of how Jesus
healed blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10). James came forward for prayer.…
He knelt down and cried out to God with all of his might—I suppose
much as blind Bartimaeus did at Jericho. When I knew James really
meant business, I knelt down beside him and laid my hands on his
eyes. I asked God for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of James’ father and
for the sake of the people of Gropaka who had asked to see a miracle of
God’s power, to please heal this boy. Suddenly James opened his eyes
and looked up. I saw that the cataracts had completely disappeared.…
Because he was the son of the chief, the news of his healing soon
spread throughout the entire town of Gropaka. (54–55)

As the Lord had promised, signs followed those who believed. However,
the context in which He gave that promise (Mark 16:15) included the
command to “go into all the world and preach the good news to all
creation.” Africa was included in the plan.

In 1934, Florence Steidel was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Shortly thereafter
she went to Liberia as an Assemblies of God missionary. She labored in a
school for girls for several years. Then, in 1946, she began supervising the
construction of New Hope Town, a place for people suffering from leprosy.
In time, the mission built over one hundred buildings in the jungle of Liberia.

Steidel ministered to hundreds of people at New Hope Town. Many
went away free of symptoms and became followers of Jesus Christ. In 1957,
the Liberian government awarded Steidel the “Knight Official of Humane
Order of African Redemption.” In 1959, I heard her humble testimony in
the chapel at Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Missouri and marveled
at the way God was using a gracious, loving, single missionary from
Southern Missouri.

Upper Volta
The story of the coming of the Pentecostal message of salvation,
healing, Spirit baptism, and the second coming of Jesus Christ to Upper

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