NETS president breaks silence, disowns Rev. Jato, says RBC is CBC property

By Ngala Hansel

The New England Training and Sending Center for Church Planting and Revitalization (NETS) which planted Redeemer Baptist Church (RBC) in Mile 3, Bamenda has denied ever giving ownership of the church building and property to Rev. Sam Jato.

In a letter dated May 26, 2022 (which CNA saw today) June 21, 2022, and addressed to Rev. Dr. Nditemeh Charlemagne, Executive President of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC); Wes Pastor, president of NETS, states that:

“This letter is to certify that there was never an agreement between NETS, the purchaser of the RBC parsonage and sole financier of the original Redeemer Baptist Church building, and Rev. Jato to the effect that any of the RBC property would be individually owned by Rev. Jato or that RBC would be an independent church. Quite the contrary – RBC was conceived as a CBC church plant and NETS was committed to partnering fully with the CBC, a partnership finally formalized in June 2019 under (Ncham) Godwill’s tenure as CBC Executive President…”.

The correspondence further clarifies the above assertions in six (6) points as follows, that:

1. NETS has never planted a church in its 22-year history that was unaffiliated; it’s a non-negotiable condition that every NETS plant affiliate with an appropriate denomination as soon as possible.
2. RBC was clearly planted as a CBC church from the beginning as indicated by several meetings with Rev. Tangwa Charles, the CBC General Secretary (as the office of the Executive President was then called) at the time, to pave/clarify the way.
3. The original RBC property was purchased in November/ December of 2004. In February/ March of 2005, Christ Memorial Church organized a large missions team to do major construction on the new building. During that 2005 visit, I met with Rev. Shadrach Vegah, the Nkwen Baptist senior pastor, and it was arranged that his church would become the mother church of RBC.
4. In 2005/2006, NETS purchased the RBC parsonage, a duplex, for the explicit purpose of providing housing for the RBC pastor and for an RBC church planting resident. I hired a Cameroonian lawyer to draw up a title or warranty deed certifying NETS ownership which cost $500. I no longer have that document, but the parsonage was never the property of Rev. Jato.
5. In 2007, I attended the quadrennial meeting in Limbe and donated $6,000 from CMC/NETS for a new radio antenna for the CBC radio station, an indication of NETS’ full and happy partnership.
6. A few years later, NETS decided to replace Rev. Jato, who had shown himself ill-equipped to shepherd the flock and work with staff, by arranging a transfer for him, with his approval to teach at the CBTS in Ndu under President Fon. NETS and RBC hired Rev. Jerry Ndichafah as Rev. Jato’s associate and eventual replacement. However, when Rev. Tangwa was unexpectedly defeated by Jerry’s uncle as the new General Secretary of the CBC, President Fon was fired and the deal was off. All this was arranged under the clear assumption that RBC was a CBC church.

Other examples could be adduced including my regular exhortations to Rev. Jato to attend the Bamenda field meetings, to give financially to the CBC (back then it was 10%) and in general, to engage under the ecclesiastical authority of the CBC, not NETS. Obviously, I was unsuccessful.

The American missionary concludes his epistle by adding that:

“Hence, all the RBC property, both the church facility and the parsonage, was never intended to be the individual property of Rev. Jato. It was always NETS’ intention and assumption that RBC would be fully affiliated with the CBC and that all of RBC plants would likewise be CBC churches, similar to Gospel Baptist Church and GBC’s church plants. Thus, RBC was always a CBC church, and its property governed by the policies attending that affiliation.

It should be noted that previous CBC bosses had tried to resolve the saga between RBC and the Convention to no avail as is indicated by another letter from the president of NETS to the previous CBC Executive President, Rev. Dr. Ncham Godwill. That letter dated May 26, 2020; reads in part:

“First, as a full mission partner with the CBC and in keeping with its own Baptist theology, NETS has no ecclesiastical authority over any of the churches that NETS plants in Cameroon, including RBC, GBC (Gospel Baptist Church) and any of their plants;

Second, NETS churches planted in Cameroon (e.g. RBC, GBC, etc) are under the jurisdiction of the CBC including its policies on property, giving, and the discipline of member churches…”.

It should also be noted that RBC is not the only church planted by the NETS-CBC partnership. Below are other Churches planted or revitalized by the partnership:

Gospel Baptist Church · Bamenda (Mankon)

Grace Baptist Church · Bamenda (Bandjoun)

Good News Baptist Church · Bamenda (Maroua)

Antioch Baptist Church · Bamenda (Essimbi)

New Life Baptist Church · Bamenda (Nitob 4)

Living Hope Baptist Church · Bamenda (Meta Quarter)

Charis Community Baptist Church · Bamenda (Ntambessi)

Transformation Baptist Church · Bamenda (Nitob)

Good News Baptist Church · Bamenda (Mbingfibie)

Ebenezer Baptist Church · Bamessing (Ndop)

Fountain Baptist Church · Bamenda (Mbengwi)

Christ Memorial Baptist Church · Bamenda (Musang)

According to the Baptist World Alliance, the CBC has 1,537 churches in total with a membership of 228,655 baptized Christians; making it the largest Baptist denomination in Cameroon.