Allen and Patty Morell, United Methodist Church of Osterville Partner Church Representatives

​Bishop Yambasu was an extraordinary human being and disciple of Christ.  We first met him at Floris United Methodist Church in Virginia, in the USA, in 1999.  We met him again in Ghana in 2003, before we had ever visited Sierra Leone.  Rev. Yambasu (at the time) and his wife, Millicent, had offered for our daughter, Mandy, to come live with their family in Ghana.  Mandy had been accepted into the Peace Corps, but when their process was a little slow for Mandy’s liking, she decided she was going to go to Ghana on her own for a year.  When we shared this news with our pastor, Rev. Tom Berlin, Tom kindly contacted his friend, John.  Little did we know that the generous hospitality the Yambasus extended to Mandy would result in a beautiful long-term relationship and friendship between the Yambasus and the Morells. 
 
Over the past 18 years we have learned and caught so much from the Bishop.  We learned that no matter how busy one is, always make time for other people.  We learned to be better listeners.  We learned that prayer is the key in any situation and often the solution when there are challenges.  We learned how to be more flexible.  We learned how beloved Bishop was!  We were blessed to experience the CRC resident children’s sheer joy and excitement when they mobbed him whenever he popped into the CRC compound, especially when the children were not expecting him to visit. 

What did we catch from Bishop J. K. Y. ?  We caught his passion for the poor and the vulnerable in Sierra Leone.  We also caught his passion for education and vocational training.  We caught his performance many times over the years telling a West African folk tale.  We caught some of his sermons live and many others we read when John would share the hard copies with us.  His voice was unmistakable, captivating, and powerful!  We caught his huge smile and his whole-body laugh.  We will miss that infectious smile and laugh and never forget them. 

​We caught his supernatural love for his family – his lovely wife, Millicent, and their six children: Rebecca, Adama, John Jr., Emmanuel, Elizabeth, and Janet, plus his two grandsons.  John was a father to hundreds more children and a mentor to many, many adults.  We caught his enthusiasm for being an honest leader, and for always being transparent. 

In March of 2019 Bishop and Millicent came to our home in Massachusetts to relax and rest.  (Bishop was the busiest and most well-traveled person we knew!)  There was a little bit of snow when they came, and Millicent and Allen went in our backyard and made a snowman.  Millicent was so tickled building that snowman.  And John thoroughly enjoyed watching his wife have fun. 
​
We will miss him terribly!  Allen, Mandy, and Patty extend our most sincere condolences to the Yambasu Family, the UMC Family, the Child Reintegration Centre Family, the Mercy Hospital Family and all who loved the Bishop.  His loss will take a long time to process, but we are confident that we will all be reunited with him one day.

I met Rev. John Yambasu in 1997 when I took my first Volunteer in Mission trip to Sierra Leone in the midst of the country’s rebel war. Rev. Yambasu was friendly, efficient, and joyful. He had a remarkable ability to engage people from anywhere in the world in ways that drew us into his joyful circle. During that trip we repaired the Guest House at Leicester Peak, laying block that created new walls for the facility. I was impressed at the way Rev. Yambasu organized the work, motivated the young people who joined our work crew, and talked to contractors and building supply personnel to secure materials. It was obvious on that first trip that he was a man with natural leadership gifts and a deep desire to see the church become a blessing to his nation. It was Bishop John Yambasu who opened the United Methodist University in Sierra Leone in 2017 on this site. His ability to hold hope and patiently work to develop projects over long periods of time was a hallmark of his leadership.
 
Rev. Yambasu invited me to call him John and as the week progressed and I knew we would be friends. I carried his application to the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, my alma mater, back to the United States. He came to Candler in the fall of 1998 and spent Christmas with my family that year. When rebels invaded Freetown in January 1999, John called me and said that he had to gather funds to get his family to a refugee camp in Guinea. I asked members of Floris UMC for their assistance and they offered the funds in one Sunday. Once Millicent and their children were out of danger, I invited John to preach at Floris UMC to share the story of what was happening in his country. His sermon was so powerful that three months later church members asked what we were going to do in response. In December 1999, Floris UMC took up a “Millennial Offering” to mark 2000 years of the Christian faith by partnering with Rev. John Yambasu, who returned to Sierra Leone as a missionary through the UMC.
 
Rev. Yambasu used these funds to start the Child Rescue Centre, whose initial mission was to care for children whose lives were severely impacted by the civil war. Rev. Yambasu gathered 40 children and began feeding operations that served many more. His work was driven by a deep calling of Christ to care for the vulnerable. His ongoing passion for this ministry inspired and convicted us to continue the work and sustain this vital ministry over the past 20 years. Later, as the Bishop of the Sierra Leone Annual Conference, he led the transformation of this ministry and renamed it the Child Reintegration Centre. It now serves over 600 children in family-based care that offers education and medical care for future leaders of Sierra Leone.
 
Following the fractious called 2019 General Conference of the UMC, Bishop Yambasu brought together a global group of leaders in the UMC to create the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation. I was a part of the mediation team, whose work was sometimes tense. I appreciated the way my friend’s faith and leadership called us to do our best work in keeping with our shared love of Christ. While it is yet to be seen if the Protocol will be accepted by the delegates of General Conference, it is commonly agreed that it is the best hope for the UMC that he loved and served.
 
I will miss my friend John, who opened my mind to both the needs and joys of the larger world. His friendship was used by God to further my sanctification, grow in empathy and compassion, and find the joy of a deep and lasting friendship that I will treasure throughout my life, even as he has found his heavenly reward. 

Mohamed Nabieu, Assistant Director for Mission Advancement and Partner Church Lead

A big tree has fallen. This mighty tree had grown and expanded and had many branches, once of which was me. I came to be part of Bishop’s tree at the age of nine. After I was picked from the streets during Sierra Leone’s eleven year long civil war. I was withering away but was given a second chance and the nurturing I desperately needed. This was all due to the influence and the care of Bishop Yambasu.

He spent his life running after the lost, the lonely, and the desperate. I was fortunate enough to spend 20 years of my life under his care. He treated me like a son during a period of my life where I had lost my entire family. He mentored me, coached me, and taught me leadership principles. But most importantly, he believed in me.

Not only was he my father figure, but when I started my career, I was able to work with him on a daily basis and receive even more of his mentoring and wisdom. Together, we worked with the key stakeholders and Helping Children Worldwide to reunify the children living in the orphanage with their families.

He was excited by this opportunity to reach even more children and families and continue his vision of helping the most vulnerable populations in Sierra Leone. We walked together throughout this process and continued to grow and nurture even more branches together.

He dedicated his life to improving the lives of others. He was the best example I knew of servant leadership. Although he had many responsibilities and positions of power, he never forgot about caring for the people in his life. He often rearranged his busy schedule in order to be available for important events. He made it a point of duty to be available for my engagement and performed my wedding ceremony himself.

He often made time to call and check in. We talked about the expansion of the CRC and Mercy Hospital programs and his dreams for the future. He never stopped dreaming and planning. He always had a big vision for what the future could be. The last time I spoke to him on the phone, he asked me when we would be seeing each other next.
 
Daddy, you may not be around today physically, but I know that you are watching us. You mentored, you led, and you changed so many lives. Be rest assumed that this work you started will continue and this vision that you started will continue to transform so many lives. We shall see you again on the beautiful shore. ​

The founder of the Child Reintegration Centre, Bishop John K. Yambasu, was tragically killed in a road accident in Sierra Leone on Sunday, August 16, just days before his 63rd birthday.  ​Just last month the CRC joyously celebrated 20 years since Bishop Yambasu appealed to fellow Christians in the US to come to the rescue of thousands of children left homeless by the civil war, and the mission of the CRC was launched to transform the lives of vulnerable children and families in Sierra Leone.  Read more about Bishop Yambasu here.