Malagasy place names usually have a meaning. Ambohimandroso is such a place. Ambohimandroso means “The village that’s making progress.”
In 1988 the Association of Bible Baptist Churches of Madagascar (FFBBM) signed an agreement with Africa Evangelical Fellowship to work together in a medical/evangelistic/church planting project in the North-West of Madagascar, that is to say in the Mahajanga province, though no town was specified. This is what has become the “Good News Project.” In 1991 it was decided that the project should be in Mandritsara. The FFBBM agreed to find and purchase 12 acres of land on which to build a 25 bed hospital. They found and bought 12 acres of scrub land, belonging to 3 elderly spinster sisters. The land was next to the small village called Ambohimandroso, a mile outside Mandritsara.
At that time, Ambohimandroso consisted of about 20 simple village houses, one or two-roomed, and mostly with mud walls and thatched roofs. A few had metal roofs, but hardly any were constructed of brick. The people farmed the surrounding land, keeping cattle and growing rice. It looked quite an insignificant village. And yet it bore the name Ambohimandroso – “The village that’s making progress.” At that time the name seemed inappropriate, but looking back it seems to have been prophetic!
The presence and growth of the hospital – which opened in 1996 – has attracted more and more people to Ambohimandroso. Hundreds of houses have been built and most of them are now made of bricks and have metal roofs.
Ambohimandroso - 1994
Ambohimandroso - 2023
Some houses are rented out to the families of patients in the hospital, or to hospital workers. Other people have moved into the village to set up little grocery shops selling basic dry food and other things like candles and matches. Some people have started small restaurants selling soup and rice and bread. There is a public school and also a private school. A vegetable market has opened, and recently a supermarket! Many hundreds of people now live permanently in Ambohimandroso in addition to the changing population of patients and their relatives attending the hospital.
There is no doubt that Ambohimandroso is making progress. In the eyes of the world it is making progress. But there is another realm that is making progress in Ambohimandroso – it is the Kingdom of God. In 1993 Mr & Mrs Radesana began a cell group in the house where they lived in Mandritsara. They were founding members of the Bible Baptist Church in Mandritsara. The late Mr Radesana was to become the first hospital evangelist of the Good News Hospital. In 2002 they moved into the village of Ambohimandroso and continued the cell group there every Friday evening, with singing, Bible study and prayer. Local people began to attend. Also some patients, who were staying in Ambohimandroso during their illness, came along to the meetings, accompanied by family members who were looking after them.
The cell group was progressing, and developing into a church for the village. On 20 December 2015, the first official meeting was held of the Ambohimandroso Bible Baptist Church. For the first 6 months they met in the public primary school building, but then they moved to the courtyard of Mr Radesana’s house where they set up plastic sheeting as a simple shelter under which they placed benches.
But Ambohimandroso is a place of progress, and very soon it became the desire of the church to have their own church building. A piece of land was obtained in the centre of the village and in 2019 construction began. The church members did as much as they were able and workers were hired to do the rest. This is a large building with a Sunday school room and toilets. There was much rejoicing when, at the end of November 2022, the new church building was officially inaugurated, with the mayor of Mandritsara and other officials present to cut the ribbon and declare the building open!
This is progress for which much praise is due to the Lord. But the real progress is not in buildings, but in people. Up to 200 men, women and children attend the Sunday morning and afternoon services to worship and praise our great God. 50 children attend Sunday school, with 7 teachers. There is a youth group every second Saturday and also a ladies’ group fortnightly. There is also a choir. Several baptism services have been held. The church is led, currently, by 7 deacons, with Mr Misa, the hospital director of finance and administration, being the overall leader. The church longs to have its own pastor in the near future.
There is progress in Ambohimandroso, the village making progress. God is building His Church and the gates of hell or the gates of Ambohimandroso will not overcome it.
Praise the Lord for His gracious work in many lives in bringing the Ambohimandroso church into being and in providing them with an excellent church building. Praise the Lord for the testimony this is in the village.
Pray that many people – children and adults, residents of the village and those just passing by – may be brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through the witness of the church.
Pray that God might raise up a pastor to lead and teach the church.
Join us at our next Mandritsara Prayer Day on Saturday 22nd April
Join us at Trinity Road Chapel in Tooting from 2pm-5pm or online, click the button below to find out more.