Spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Our Story

Église Baptiste Bethléem, founded in 2020, is a thriving congregation in Cameroon’s capital city of Yaoundé. The church aims to be a wellspring of worship, biblical eldership, and regional church planting.

Bethlehem Seminary operates an accredited Master of Divinity program on-site, while Training Leaders International uses the local church as a base for regional pastor training and encouragement.

This is a Great Commission endeavor that seeks to carry out Christ’s commission through church planting and global sending ministries.

Our Core Values

In dependence upon God’s grace, the desire is for church life to be marked by no less than the following core values:

  • Worship—Enjoying and displaying the worth of Christ in God-centered, Spirit-led, Bible-saturated, gospel-centered expository exultation from all of Scripture, including contextually relevant and biblically informed congregational singing, public reading of Scripture, and celebrating the two ordinances (believer’s baptism and the communion table).

  • Commitment to depend upon God’s grace and mercy in personal, family, and corporate prayer, so that in all our blessings, the Giver will get the glory. Private and public prayer will be central in every aspect of ministry in this church, because anything of eternal significance can only happen by the working of the Spirit of God.

  • Personal efforts to grow and help each other grow in biblical truth, wisdom, faith, and love, which show Christ as our supreme treasure. In addition to educating all the members of the local congregation, we will intentionally equip men who have a call to full-time gospel ministry in a church- based theological school.

  • Corporate commitment to live out the gospel-one-another-commands of the New Testament, to pursue a life together in sacrificial, faith-sustaining care for each other in loving relationships at every level of youth and age, joy and sorrow, comfort and crisis, health and brokenness, poverty and wealth, and beyond ethnic differences.

  • Since Jesus is redeeming people from every tribe and nation, we will make intentional efforts to display his love across ethnic and cultural boundaries and to be a church that models the fruit of that love.

  • Personal and corporate expressions of compassion to lessen human suffering, by means of short-term intervention and long-term personal and structural changes, in order to show the justice, mercy, and soul-satisfying love of Christ, without suggesting in any way that suffering can be completely eradicated until the second coming of Christ. The aim of each act of compassion will be gospel-driven and aimed at drawing attention to the gospel of Christ.

  • Personal and corporate biblically-guided strategies of courageous witness and gospel- infused social actions to show the supreme value of Christ to fallen people and fallen cultures with the hopes of winning them to the liberating love of Christ.

  • Corporate efforts in cross-cultural missions through church planting for the sake of the name of Christ among unreached and unengaged people groups of Cameroon.

  • Humble, biblically-qualified male elders who lead by example, not domineering, and with joy, not under compulsion, who are passionate to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, including aggressive efforts to multiply congregational leaders. Elders oversee all the ministries of the church and also intentionally disciple men who are called into full-time ministry (students of the church-based seminary), modeling with their own love for their wives and families what a gospel-centered family should be and with humble service to the body of Christ while guarding the truth for the present and coming generations.

  • In dependence on the grace of God alone for the miracle of the new-birth and growth in sanctification, the church commits to help parents to train up their children in the instruction of the Lord, passing to succeeding generations of children and youth the vision of the church, the vision of Christ.

Elders/Pastors

  • Dieudonné Tamfu

  • Gaston Mbunwe

Deacons

  • Wusena Njah

  • Kenn Chi

  • Benjamin Poth

  • Estelle Nzesseu

  • Gerard Layou

  • Samuel Yugong

  • I delight in God, and as an elder at EBB I rejoice in the ministry He has given me, and in that joy I aim to:

    1. seek to be a man of the Word and prayer, zealous to continue growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

    2. live a godly life in private and public; faithful to my calling as a minister of the Gospel and as a covenant member of EBB.

    3. be a model of good management and spiritual leadership in my home. I will love and serve my wife as Christ loves and serves the Church; and in partnership with her seek to bring my children up to love God with all their hearts.

    4. live a modest lifestyle, free from burdensome debt and within the limits of my income. I will apply the highest ethical standards, namely God's standards, in all my business dealings.

    5. live a life free from any form of sexual immorality in mind or act with no questionable connections or relationships; taking whatever steps necessary to avoid even the appearance of evil and any situation that might dishonor the Name I bear as a Christian, and the integrity of the office I hold as a minister of the Gospel.

    6. work in harmony with other staff and church leadership to preserve unity in the body of Christ; striving to be a continual source of encouragement with an attitude of honesty, openness, support, and cooperation.

    7. maintain strict confidentiality when handling counseling and discipline cases. I will only share information learned in these private interviews when it is deemed necessary for the physical or spiritual welfare of another.

    Now unto Him who is able to keep me from falling, and to present me faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen

Congregational Affirmation of Faith

By God’s grace, We believe and hold to the following statements of faith:

  • We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

    2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; Mark 13:31; John 8:31, 32; John 20:31 ; Acts 20

  • We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three Persons; that these are equal in every divine perfection, and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence, and redemption.

    Genesis 1: 1.26; John 1: 1.3; Matthew 28:19; John 4:24; Romans 1 : 19,20 ; Ephesians 4: 5,6

  • We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. We believe that He infallibly foreknows all that shall come to pass, that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

    Luke 10:21, 22; Matthew 23: 9; John 3:16; 6:27; Romans 1: 7; 1 Timothy 1: 1.2 and 2: 5.6; 1 Peter 1 : 3 ; Revelation 1: 6

  • We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, and teachings. We believe in His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal visible return to earth.

    Matthew 1: 18–25; Luke 1: 26–38; John 1: 1, 20:28; Romans 9: 5, 8:32; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2: 21–23; John 20:30, 31; Matthew 20:28; Ephesians 1: 4; Acts 1:11; Romans 5: 6–8 and 6: 9,10; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:28; I Timothy 3:16

  • We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ, and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide.

    John 14:16, 17, 26; 15: 26.27; John 16 : 9 14.

  • We believe that man was created by God in His own image; that he sinned and thereby incurred physical, spiritual and eternal death, which is separation from God; that as a consequence, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners by choice and therefore under condemnation. We believe that those who repent and forsake sin and trust Jesus Christ as Savior have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and so become new creatures, delivered from condemnation and granted eternal life.

    Genesis 1:26, 5: 2; Genesis 3; Genesis 2:17, 3:19; Ecclesiastes 2:11; John 3:14, 5:24; John 5:30, 7:13, 8:12, 10:26 ; Romans 9:22 ; 2 Thessalonians 1: 9

  • We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, work, and fellowship. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.

    Ephesians 2: 19–22; Acts 1: 8; Ephesians 5: 19–21; Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10: 23–25

  • We believe that a Christian should live for the glory of God and the well-being of his fellow men; that his conduct should be blameless before the world; that he should be a faithful steward of his possessions; and that he should seek to realize for himself and others the full stature of maturity in Christ.

    1 Corinthians 10:31; Romans 12: 1–3; Hebrews 12: 1–2; John 14: 15,23–24; 1 John 2: 3–6; 2 Corinthians 9: 6–9; 1 Corinthians 4: 2; Colossians 1: 9–10

  • We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in water into the name of the triune God. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Matthew 28: 18–20; Romans 6: 3–5; 1 Corinthians 11: 23–26

  • We believe that every human being has direct relations with God and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority; that therefore Church and State must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from dictation or patronage of the other.

    I Timothy 2: 5; Romans 14: 7–9,12

  • We believe that local churches can best promote the cause of Jesus Christ by cooperating with one another in a denominational organization. Such an organization, whether a regional or district conference, exists and functions by the will of the churches. Cooperation in a conference is voluntary and may be terminated at any time.

    Acts 15: 36,41; 16: 5; 1 Corinthians 16: 1; Galatians 1: 1–3; Revelation 1: 4,10,11

  • We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of His kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal felicity of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked.

    Matthew 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 14: 3; Acts 1:11; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Timothy 4: 1; Titus 2:13; 1 Corinthians 4: 5; 1 Corinthians 15; 2 Thessalonians 1: 7–10; Revelation 20: 4–6,11–15

  • We believe that marriage is exclusively the joining of one man and one woman—genders as God sovereignly assigned from birth to reflect his image and nature—in a covenant commitment to one another for a lifetime. Marriage is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the only context for intimate companionship, the only context for sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the only means for procreation of the human race. Any form of sexual intimacy outside of marriage (including fornication, adultery, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, the use of pornography, and polygamy) is sinful and offensive to God.

    Genesis 1:26—28; 2:23—24; Matthew 5:31; 15:18—20; 19:1—12; Mark 10:2—12; Luke 16:18; Romans 7: 1–3; 1 Corinthians 6:9—10, 18; 7:2—5; 11:11—12; Ephesians 5:22—33; Hebrews 13:4.

Church Membership Covenant

Jesus has redeemed us to be in community—Christians living out the gospel with other Christians in a local church

  • Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord, Savior, and, supreme Treasure of our lives, and, on the profession of our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence of God, angels and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter into covenant with one another as one body in Christ.

  • We commit, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love, to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness and peace; to promote its spirituality and fruitfulness; to sustain its worship, ordinances, and discipline; to welcome, and test biblically, instruction from the Scriptures by the elders of the church which accords with the Elder Affirmation of Faith, seeking to grow toward biblical unity in the truth; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministries, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations.

  • We also commit to maintain family and personal devotions; to educate our children in the Christian faith; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our behavior, to avoid all gossiping, backbiting and excessive anger; to seek God’s help in abstaining from all drugs, food, drink, and practices which bring unwarranted harm to the body or jeopardize our own or another’s faith.

  • We further commit to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.

  • We moreover commit that when we remove from this place, we will, if possible, unite with a like-minded church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant.