The atmosphere was jubilant as the entire Abidjan Church of Christ met for its end of year service in the church property in the area of Angré. Not only because the holiday season, not only because of the high expectations of this special contribution service, but mainly because for the first time in over a year, the church and Francophone Africa would finally be able to unite under the direction of a new lead evangelist.
Since the end of 2007 the Abidjan Church has undergone difficult times as the entire ecclesiastical corps went through an overhaul with the departure of our former lead evangelist and a few members of staff. This shook the fellowship to its core and we lost members during this very painful time. This experience called the leadership to re-examine the whole organization of the church and the roles the leaders played at every level.
The church was left with three remaining evangelists and many experienced ministry leaders, each one examining his motivations and convictions. By mid 2008, the staff decided to put the French-speaking African churches under the leadership of an interim Evangelist, Eric Le Berre and then under a collaborative leadership of the three evangelists, Eric Le Berre, Daniel Déroux and Francis Dassé.
After many months of prayer, deliberations and fasting, the ecclesiastical body came to the conviction that in order to be a truly united church, it would be necessary to name one man to stand as lead with the others uniting faithfully behind him. The entire church was associated in this decision and through prayer and fasting, we were able to help our leadership come to a clear vision of which man among this very talented and zealous group would be the one to lead the church powerfully into the next decade.
It was very moving to see the whole staff come on stage as one man to announce to the congregation that the choice has fallen on Francis Dassé as new lead Evangelist. It was clear to see the humility and unity as each of the other two evangelists Eric Le Berre and Daniel Deroux spoke of and prayed for Francis in his new role. With great modesty and emotion, Francis thanked his wife, Paule, his fellow leaders and the congregation for our support and asked for our continued prayers for him to accomplish the task before him.
To complete the charge of maturing the leadership, two other men of faith and experience were ordained evangelists on this day also: Fulbert Senemeho, Central Region leader and Emmanuel Kinimo Koffi, West Region leader.