Wednesday 11 March

Arrive in Freetown. It's a whole world away from anything we've known. Driving to the ferry with our host, Desmond Thomas, and driver, Pastor David, it's all so dark: no street lights, little electric lighting - but you can see the stars in all their glory.

Then a rather hair-raising drive across Freetown (which stays alive till 3am). Stalls line every street: people making a living in one of the poorest nations on earth where life expectancy is 40. By midnight we're in our hotel beds under mosquito nets. Outside, the noise of the city rolls on - praise God for earplugs! But, we're here and we're on God's business.

Thursday 12 March

Freetown in daylight. Bright costumes, neat school uniforms, little shops everywhere. The city has a distinctive smell - a mix of salty humidity, charcoal smoke and hot refuse. Open sewers run like streams in places, with dwellings next to them. People use mobile phones, but live in corrugated zinc shanties.

We're taken to meet 16 "Multiply West Africa" leaders. Sierra Leone is well represented, plus Liberia and Guinea. After prayer and praise, we introduce ourselves in turn. It's clear Multiply is on an organised footing, with agreed and commissioned supervisors of resources, evangelism and prayer. Steve and I share the Jesus Fellowship's own story plus the prophetic call to brotherhood and to "doing the word".

After lunch we're given a tour. It's a study in rich and poor: The sumptuous US Embassy framed by corrugated shanties without sanitation. We visit David's church, down a rutted track next to some very poor homes. Children clamour to be photographed. Hens run around (short life expectancy there). Everyone laughing, glad to be together.

Finally we reach Lumley, dip our toes in the Atlantic, cooled by the sea breeze, and start to prepare for what may prove to be an arduous three-day conference.

Friday 13 March

We head for Kissy in eastern Freetown, which is densely populated and predominantly Muslim. Here, in a dusty square, we are immediately mobbed by curious children calling "Apoto!" (white man). White men don't come to this part of town.

After praise and worship, African-style, I speak on the kingdom of God; Steve speaks on covenant brotherhood and community.

Over lunch I talk to Timothy, a young single pastor from nearby Grafton, with a beautiful soft heart. Grafton is made up largely of displaced persons, amputees from the rebel war and sufferers of diseases like polio. Eighty per cent of his congregation is disabled, but he's refused invitations to pastor "easier" churches, because he knows God's call.

Between conference sessions, Desmond takes us to see the plot of land earmarked for a church-plant and bible school. It's searingly hot! We shelter under a mango tree and locals crowd round to see their photo on our digital screen. Good to see them overcome the fear and mistrust of strangers which they learned during the rebel wars.

That evening in Kissy, children come in droves. Steve pumps up one of the footballs we've brought with us and offers it to a gang of street boys aged 8-13. They're over the moon! Steve has an instant family! Going home, we find the centre is gridlocked and learn that there has been a political riot with several people injured. We trust this is an isolated incident and won't lead to more violence in this war-damaged land.

Saturday 14 March

What a day - tummy troubles and spiritual breakthroughs.

The morning conference sees a wonderful interaction between me (teaching), Steve (challenging) and Desmond (confirming and applying). I pray for leaders needing God's help in their marriage. Steve speaks on celibacy - a completely new concept over here. Afterwards, several want to know more. One young pastor now sees that he's always had this gift.

Steve builds in our endorsement of Desmond, born of a 15-year relationship. Desmond is so obviously loved and respected by leaders here. He preaches with cut and clarity: "Pastors, how do you respond when the pastor down the road struggles? Do you secretly rejoice, or do you comfort him? When he is blessed more than you, do you rejoice, or are you jealous?"

Both very tired now. We're expecting to go back to the hotel, but instead the car takes us off to BBN Freetown Christian radio station, where we're told we're going live, "to bring what's on our hearts for the churches and the nation". Steve and I look at each other, horrified! Throwing ourselves on grace, we share on the kingdom of God and how we learned to join our lives in the Jesus Fellowship. The other pastors present are one in spirit with us. It feels prophetic, significant for this city's future.

Sunday 15 March

Steve preaches at Pastor Gibson's church, who backs him up and applies the word to the local context.

Meanwhile, I speak at Pastor Lakoh's church, where the two-hour event is led by the under-twelves - praising, dancing, exhorting, giving testimonies and reciting memorized scriptures.

At the finale of the conference, 16 new groups are welcomed into Multiply, which currently has six Chapters: Freetown, Grafton, Bo and Lungi in Sierra Leone, plus Liberia and Guinea - it's going to be hard to keep up with the growth!

Monday 16 March

At 5.30am we set off on the 120-mile run through the bush to Bo, in what was once rebel country. Here we meet Pastor Sonsiama, Multiply coordinator for Sierra Leone South. In good African style, Desmond and the two of us sit under a mango tree to listen to the pastors' concerns.

The main one is poverty: small congregation, unable to finance even its pastor's stipend, let alone the work of the gospel. Desmond turns this into a challenge: "All Jesus Fellowship pastors have jobs to bring in an income; can you come up with some ideas for a viable 'kingdom business,' in which you could all take part and bring money into the Lord's work?"

The evening meeting is in a small church building on a dusty track. It has a very different flavour as Steve brings a serious prophetic word: "Hard times are coming. Don't lose heart, but throw yourselves on God and the brethren." He asks them all to pray for each other and the place erupts! Desmond follows up with a call to come forward for healing and all the pastors are involved in praying.

There's a sense of something special in the air, a strengthening and enfolding of these dear believers, who easily feel forgotten.

Tuesday 17 March

To Lungi by speedboat! Here, Pastor Henry runs the "Great Divine Store" - a kingdom business, selling building materials. With over 60 per cent unemployment in Sierra Leone, having work is vital to generate funds for God's initiatives. Henry's studied business and knows what kind of "micro-enterprise" will bring quick returns. I tell him that he should pass on his experience to our friends in Bo.

Sub-Saharan Africa teems with children orphaned by war or AIDS, or simply abandoned. With no State help, many live rough, selling their bodies to get the next meal. Only the Christians show real care. It's normal for a pastor to have three of his own children and four adopted orphans. The need for African equivalents of Jesus Centres is acute.

So, when Henry speaks of his vision to build an orphanage, we must understand that it isn't a distraction from church - it's a work of the church and an investment in its future: some of these orphans, finding love in Jesus and church, will become leaders. When he speaks of a "vocational school," it's the same as classes given in a Jesus Centre: giving orphan girls skills like fabric dyeing or typing, so they can have work and a future free of prostitution.

That evening, about 100 people join us in a large community centre. The only light comes from two light bulbs and a pack of glo-sticks which we'd taken as gifts for children. Expressive praise, animated preaching and prayer for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The congregation shouts for joy to see their leaders linking arms, praying for one another, jumping for joy and having a holy "rugby scrum" of hugs.

Later, standing under the amazingly bright African stars, we feel privileged to have been part of God's moving (in significantly different ways) in the three Multiply chapters of Freetown, Bo and Lungi. For anything we may have given, we've been amply repaid by the warmth, acceptance, trust and kindness of these dear brothers and sisters in Christ, who have little in outward resources but who rely on God in ways we in the West can only imagine. And now, at last, they have the chance to pull together and find in Multiply a voice of hope and courage for the future.

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