Basic and Brief Mission Facts

The young Aribo Conteh was then led to Christ whom he wholeheartedly accepted as his Lord and personal Savior. Upon his acceptance of the Christ, he was baptized and he took the name, ‘Daniel’ and was from then called Brother Aribo Daniel Conteh. He was made Elder at the Ambrose Street and there until the arrival of other Missionaries from the States.

In 1952, the Kennedy family arrived in Freetown as Missionaries, Rev. John Kennedy and family were then asked by Rev. George G. Herminger to start their own Church probably because he was not prepared to share prominence with Rev. Kennedy at the Ambrose Street which he had struggled to raise to its feet and was advised to start his own Church with possibly the Limbas. With the help of Pastor Aribo Daniel Conteh, the Limba Church of the Assembly of God Mission was established under the leadership of Rev. John Kennedy and family supported by Pastor Aribo Daniel Conteh as the Church’s Pastor in charge. Pastor Aribo then witnessed to many of his compatriots including but not limited to; Bro Sheka Konday Kemoi. Bro Morlai Kamara, Bro Bankole Sesay, Sis. Yealie Koroma, Ya Memuna Samura etc… (all deceased).

As time progresses, there was need for two services at the Assembly of God Church at Ambrose Street, one for the Themnes and the other for the Limbas. When the Limba congregation became large and was showing signs of significant increase in their number due to the evangelistic approach of Rev Kennedy and his faithful Pastor Daniel, who had identified a spot at John Lane in the west end of Freetown where the Limbas often converged to exhibit their social and cultural skills for the purpose of socializing under the auspices of Pa Manso Ntha who was leader of the “Taransis.” At John Lane several souls were won to Christ. This increase in their number provoked the need for a bigger space for worship. The desire for a bigger worship space brought the Limba congregation to the Assembly of God Kroo Church at Campbell Street also in the west end of Freetown. It was while at the Kroo Church that the Limba Congregation met and interacted with a kind man named, Mr. Thompson who provided the Limba Church with a parcel of land at 12 King Street which he consciously put under the use of the Limba Community for church worship with the wordings of the agreement reading thus:

“Whereas on the 14^th January 1955 an agreement was signed between the Assembly of God Church and Mr. Thompson for a quarterly payment of ten pounds ten shillings.”

The agreement was approved and a makeshift tent of meeting made of corrugated iron sheets locally referred to as “Pan Body” was erected and subsequently opened in 1955.

The addition of worthy and influential brothers and sisters into the church gave the new church a sound footing as it helped Pastor Aribo Daniel Conteh to use his men to fused recognized Limba social groups, including the social group that was meeting at 12 Malta Street in the east end of Freetown under the leadership of Pa Sumunu Conteh assisted by Pa Sembeka Conteh with Samfa Sesay as their vocalist into a single church community or organization.

When the King Street Church facility was no longer able to accommodate its growing membership, it became necessary for the establishment of another branch. As a result of the above, a branch was opened at Fourah Bay in 1958 since most of the members attending service at King Street were from the east end of Freetown. To get the operation of the Fourah Bay Branch up and running, a meeting space was required. The Church in that light, sought the help of Mr. Frank Wood, a European Christian who was Principal of the then Grammar School where the Bishop Johnson Memorial Secondary School is situated requesting him to give them a space in the compound to be holding church services. Without delay, their request was granted and the church at Fourah Bay started immediately.

When the church in 1962 saw that their King Street facility could no longer accommodate its growing membership, they opted for a bigger facility. It was at that time that Rev. Kennedy and Pastor Daniel through the help of an Army Officer at Tower Hill negotiated with the Surveys and Lands Department for a parcel of land, that was how the land where the National Pentecostal Mission Headquarters at Fort Street was secured, once the lease documents were processed, the construction of a bigger facility started in the same 1962. Members of the building committee included the following:

1. Wusu Sanu – chairman
2. F. M. Kamara – secretary/church secretary
3. Morlai Koroma (Chief Morie Brima II) – member / church translator
4. Pa Alie Sesay – member
5. Momoh Sankoh – member
6. S.K Kalantu – member and
7. Grundy – member and builder (all of blessed memories).

Whilst the church was been constructed, Rev. Kennedy and family bade farewell and left for the United States of America. The church was however completed in 1963 and the much larger congregation kissed their final goodbye to the King Street facilities which continued to remain an integral part to the Church’s history and permanently transferred to the Fort Street facility.

 The Limba Church which started as an Assembly of God Church at some point had issues with its parent church due to the principles of Rev. Berry who had taken over the administration of the Assembly of God Church in Sierra Leone. The Limba Congregation under Rev. Kennedy bought a piece of land at Campbell Street and wanted to develop it so Pastor Daniel Aribo Conteh approached him (Rev. Berry) to obtain loan to be able to develop the land. Rev. out rightly refused granting them the needed loan, if he was going to grant the church the loan, they were to pay interest, this Rev. Daniel did not yield to because they were one church and so asking them to pay an interest rate was bad and unaccepted. It was that situation that led to the Limba congregation parting ways with the Assemblies of God Mission and changed to the name, National Pentecostal Limba Church. From a humble beginning, the National Pentecostal Mission today has over forty-two (42) churches countrywide. In the western area, there are sixteen (16) churches, eight (8) churches in the South/Kenema, North Kono region has eighteen (18) churches, and a total membership of over about twenty thousand (20,000). The successes made so far could not have been achieved without the selfless and dedicated services of the people that sacrificed their peace and compromised the livelihood of their respective homes to making sure we are what we are today, these people include but not necessarily limited to;

  Rev. Aribo Daniel Conteh (Founder)

  Rev. Bankole Sesay

Rev. Sheka Konday Kemoi etc … may their souls rest in peace.

The church is aware of the fact that for the gospel of the risen Christ to reach the unsaved, its membership needed to be enlightened and exposed to western civilization and education. In that light, the National Pentecostal Mission has a total of seventeen (17) schools, thirteen (13) Primary Schools and four (4) secondary schools.

The National Pentecostal Mission’s external relations