Go West Africa Stories

Sun, 24 May 2009 13:43:44 -0500

“Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.” Isaiah 25:1

A neighbor woman often came to the house of an American missionary family. She suffered from palsy and her life was difficult. The missionaries received her warmly, offered her water and practiced their newly acquired vocabulary with her at each visit. On the wall of their home was a lovely cloth that told stories of God’s Word in pictures and the neighbor would ask about the pictures. Sometimes she almost felt too bad to make the effort to go, but she always felt better when they would pray for her in the name of this “Issa” (Jesus) that they talked of so often. One day as they prayed, the heat and tingling left her face, and she felt cool relief. She knew Issa had heard their prayers. Before she left the house, she took off one of the fetish bracelets she wore, purchased from the local healer. She promised to destroy her other fetishes when she went home. Today this lady is studying God’s Word and says she follows the “Jesus Way.”

- Fulbe Futa Toro of Senegal

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

When my husband Clint and I traveled to Bauchi State one day for a couple of tasks, I enjoyed the opportunity to get out of town and see the countryside. I love watching people. Here in Nigeria I especially love watching people go about their daily lives - the way they do things and overcome obstacles. We saw a Fulani man who was migrating to a new area with his cows and a donkey. Now that the rains have started, the Fulani (who are herdsmen) are moving again. This Fulani man had his goods tied on the back of the donkey and one of the cows. The donkey was being uncooperative. The man was wanting to go one way and the donkey clearly had another idea, so she was proceeding in the other direction along with her load. I could just see the little donkey’s attitude coming out in the way she was walking. The Fulani man was smiling and gave us a big wave. God must be as patient as that Fulani man with us when we puff up and go our own way, even when He is trying to send us in a direction that is for our own good.

- Multiple People Groups of Nigeria

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

Salif is a painter, an artist. When I asked him how he learned to paint, he said that it was just something he knew ... un cadeaux (French for "a gift"). His materials are canvas, pencil, paintbrush, acrylic paint, hand, glue, styrofoam, and ... gasoline. He makes three-dimensional paintings of African life. Salif lives in a hovel along a three-foot-wide alley surrounded by goat skins, flies, and lots of family and friends. It is shaded and dark where he lives ... in so many senses of that term. He relies heavily on days with a "good sun" to dry his paintings in a timely fashion and it appears that he rarely gets it. The light of truth (the Good Son) is coming to Salif as we share stories from God's Word. Will he ... can he be saved? God's truth can shine just as easily into his world and heart as it did mine, for faith still comes by hearing.

- Unengaged of Cote d'Ivoire

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

"If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." - 1 Peter 4:14

Quite possibly the most difficult thing about language learning is looking stupid. No one really enjoys looking ignorant, but when you are learning a new language, you appear that way most of the time.

While most West Africans are very kind and helpful, they are also human and cannot help but chuckle as we stumble through our pronunciations. We look and sound ridiculous and so we are often the object of some good-natured ridicule. C'est la vie (French - "That's life").

Some of those who follow the Son will be the object of some serious ridicule and insult. What about them? How do they keep going? According to Peter, with the insult comes a blessing "because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on" the one who is persecuted. Behold, the strength and power of the saints.

"Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won." - Louisa May Alcott

- Multiple People Groups

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

"For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls." 1 Peter 2:25

In West Africa, about the only way to tell the difference between a sheep and goat is the tail; otherwise, they look about the same. A goat's tail is short and sticks up while a sheep's tail is longer and hangs down.

Now, which one is more intelligent? I am not sure, but I have heard that sheep are pretty stupid and if one loses its way, it will remain lost until the shepherd leads it back to the flock.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd (in French - "Le Bon Berger"). He is also the Guardian of our souls. Sheep are a great picture of lost humanity. Those without Christ are utterly lost and in need of a Shepherd.

- Multiple People Groups of West Africa

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

"Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory." - 1 Peter 4:13

Soon after we arrived in our city, we were informed that the country was now requiring U.S. citizens to have resident visas. We, along with five of our colleagues, spent an entire morning at the police station while a member of the staff worked on securing our "Titre Provisoire de Sejour (Provisional Title of Stay)" and visa stamp. If we are stopped by the police (a frequent occurrence in our city), then these documents indicate we are legally in the country.

If someone asked you to provide your "Christian" papers, what would you show them? Why, the glory of God in Christ, of course ... as it is revealed by His abiding joy in the midst of tribulation, trial, and ministry. This is the Christian's "Titre Provisoire!"

- Multiple People Groups

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

      Malnutrition joined hands with disease, and a little Bambara boy died. Last year’s harvest just didn’t stretch all the way to this year’s, and children are hit the hardest. But that boy’s father found Jesus a few months ago when they were all hungry. His neighbors had been slandering him ever since. He hadn’t wavered in his new faith. He wasn’t wavering now, even after his child was buried.
      Steve drove up to the family’s village a few days ago with “Hama,” a Bambara Christian musician. They were there to teach, but as soon as they stepped out of the truck, other believers told them about the child’s death. “We need to go greet the family,” Steve said. “Hama, leave your ngoni here.” (An ngoni is a guitar-like instrument made from a tree limb attached to a gourd.) Hama is an expert. He had come to play for the believers, but music just isn’t appropriate for a grieving family in Bambara culture. “No, take it! They need it,” the others urged them. Steve and Hama shook their heads. No, they were going to comfort, not to sing. But then another spoke. This time, it was the boy’s father. “Take it. We need to praise Jesus today. Take the ngoni to my house.”
      And so, sitting on benches and bamboo chairs in the dusty courtyard, they sang. More than a dozen new Christians shooed the chickens out of the way, lifted their voices above the bleats of the goats and praised Jesus, accompanied by Hama’s ngoni. All over the village, people stopped to listen. Women put down their pestles, left their pounding and came to gawk. Men stood up from conversations around hissing tea pots to go see who was singing in the face of death. Boys pocketed their sling shots and leaned on the low mud-brick walls around the courtyard. And so when Steve began to teach about a Christian’s victory over death, they all heard.
      As Steve and Hama walked away, another believer told Steve, “He needed that. That family really needed the encouragement. His neighbors have given him nothing but grief about his new faith.”
      Praise God with us that new Bambara believers like this father are standing firm in the face of tragedy and persecution. Ask God to encourage them all deeply! Pray that this family’s witness to their neighbors will bring many to Christ. Pray for the farming cycle in Mali. Each year Bambara farmers wonder if the rains will last long enough to provide sufficient millet for the year. Pray that God will supply their needs.

- Bambara of Mali

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

     During a recent phone conversation, one of our close pastor friends in Benin shared, “God’s work is growing very rapidly in our area and it’s because of the Biblical education by Bible stories that we’ve been teaching in Fon (the local language). The men who have been in training have been returning to their towns and villages and using what they’ve learned to teach people what the Bible really says. Many people are saying that they are understanding what God is trying to tell them in the Bible, now that they are being taught by trained men who themselves have been taught how to glean what God is saying to them in the Bible, through learning the stories and learning how to analyze them in their heart language. People are realizing that the Bible has a lot to say to them, and they’ve been coming to our Bible studies and young churches to hear more. It’s very exciting. And it’s all because of how we’ve been training these men. God is working mightily here..”
      We worked in Benin for 12 years in the early part of our missionary ministry in West Africa. Oh, how we worked to try to show our young pastors and leaders how Chronological Bible Storying could help them get God’s word out more effectively. There was a lot of opposition from men who had been taught only in French, and used only American methods of teaching. These men were convinced that Bible storying was a step backward and was an embarrassment to Baptist work. But we persevered, asking the Lord to open their hearts to this new idea. A few men began to realize that there was potential for kingdom growth in storying. In recent years, a small Bible school was established, that taught an organized series of several hundred Bible stories to pastors and leaders using only their local language. An important part of their education has been to learn how to thoroughly analyze what God is saying in each story. They come to the school for one week a month, returning to their homes with lots of homework and memorization to complete before they return to the school three weeks later for their next week-long training.
      Although we’ve been keeping up with our dear friends and God’s work in Benin since we left it to minister in other West African countries, it was particularly thrilling to hear the excitement in this pastor’s voice as he described the growth of God’s kingdom in the Zou region of Benin. Please pray for God’s continued help and guidance for the young men who are involved in this program of Biblical education by Bible stories. God is truly at work, and it’s a great blessing to us to see the fruit that is beginning to ripen 20 years after the first seeds were planted.

- Multiple People Groups of Benin

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

Mitch – a newly arrived journeyman among the Bambara people of Mali - sat down for lunch on Thanksgiving day. His hostess brought him the meal and set it before him – not on a table, but on the ground. Goats wondered past. Chickens had to be shooed away. And there, in the midst of mud huts, an ocean away from his family, Mitch dipped his hand into the bowl of rice with his host. Both of them shoveled it into their mouths with their fingers – the Bambara way. Mitch looked around the village at the women pounding and the babies crying. Shea nuts were roasting on the fire, and their sickening odor filling the air. Shea nuts are great for making skin cream, not so great for aromatherapy. “So, this is Thanksgiving in Africa,” Mitch thought. And he was satisfied.

- Bambara of Mali

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:08:53 -0500

A member of the Maninka Team shares: “When we first moved to our city several years ago, I asked a young Maninka woman to explain her understanding of Christmas and its customs. She saw it as a time when we Christians prepared food as a sacrifice and then shared it with our friends as gifts. A worker had once given her baked goods at Christmas and that is how she interpreted the gift, even though the worker had shared the Christmas story with her. Often the message we share is seen through a cultural lens. Maninka Team has many opportunities to share the story of the Savior’s coming and the hope that it brings during the Christmas season. As we talk about Christmas with our friends and with university students, pray that our message will be clear and God’s Spirit will speak across cultural barriers.”

- Maninka of Guinea

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

I made a visit to the Mamprusi women in a local market this week and had an interesting conversation with the taxi driver on the way home. After about 10 minutes of silence, we talked about the upcoming Presidential election in Ghana, and I told the driver that we needed to pray for a peaceful election. He said that he did pray, that he was a member of a prominent evangelical denominational church here, and a student of a local Bible college. So I asked him, “I was in your taxi ten minutes before you started talking. Why didn’t you tell me about Jesus?” The driver seemed embarrassed, but told me I was correct in reminding him that he should have witnessed to me. I reminded him that God put people in his taxi who might never go to church, and he agreed.

How many of us are like this Christian taxi driver? We know the Lord and we are faithful to pray for the lost, but we lack boldness to share our faith. May the Lord continue to remind us of this incredible privilege and responsibility we have, to know Jesus and share Him with others.

- Multiple People Groups of Ghana

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

In July 2008 IMB missionaries Pat and Peggy Ozment joined one of their former students, a graduate of the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, in an outreach endeavor. Pastor M. was so excited to introduce his teachers to his family and friends! While in southeastern Ghana, the Ozments did training in the "Creation to Christ" presentation, Peggy taught the women using the chronological Bible storying method, and during one short weekend, three churches were planted.
Pastor M. recently reported that the membership in these churches is growing. In the village of Gidikpui, up to 30 people now attend; in Srekpe, more than 20; and in Ahunda between 25 and 35. Another exciting development is that these new believers are planning to plant even more churches in the surrounding villages. Pastor M. said that he is compiling a list of the names of those who are actively involved in chronological Bible storying groups.
We serve an awesome God! Look at all He did with one couple, one weekend, and His truth. As you pray for these new believers, ask God to continue to give them a heart of evangelism, a burden for the lost, and boldness to share His message.

- Ghana

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:14:17 -0500

"I don't want to die, so please tell me how I can be taken to heaven, like Elijah, without dying," the African man said, one Tuesday while we evangelized on the streets of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. We told him Bible stories in French and, with another missionary's help, talked to him about other spiritual matters. He is just one of the many people we've met while evangelizing. Many people here hunger for spiritual things.

When we arrived in West Africa six months ago, we spoke no French, but now we can carry on long conversations with people in French. We are learning first hand that Africans are aware of spiritual matters, but are also blinded by their tribal religions or Islam. We continue to form friendships with Africans and enjoy their hospitality. We work with an African pastor and his new church. These things are possible as the grace of Christ works through your prayers.

Continue to pray for new and experienced missionaries to be bold in their witness. Ask the Lord to give them ears and hearts that are sensitive to the Spirit’s leading as they share Jesus with those who are so hungry to hear His story.

- Multiple People Groups of West Africa

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

Recently a missionary couple, serving under the IMB’s International Service Corps (ISC) program, went to a small village in Northern Ghana. The husband said he didn’t have a sermon to preach, but he had a story to tell. But before he could begin to share what God had put on his heart, one of the men in the group stood up and said he’d had a dream. In his dream he asked God to send someone to help the people go out and tell others about Jesus. He said that the missionaries were the people in his dream! As this ISC missionary told the story of the demon-possessed man, translated into the local language by the pastor, the man who had shared his dream was radiant. The man did a great job as he repeated the story.
These missionaries have been asked by this pastor in “Village K” to return and teach their people how to tell the stories of Jesus so that they can share them with others. Pray for these missionaries and for the members of the church in “Village K” as they go out to share the wonderful stories of Jesus. Pray also that God will prepare unbelievers’ hearts to hear the message.

- Multiple People Groups of Ghana

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:31:39 -0500

An IMB missionary has been teaching refresher courses at a pastors’ school in Northern Nigeria. He will return there in October to do some follow-up to see if the pastors have been using the information that he previously shared about teaching their people God’s story through the Chronological Bible Storying (CBS) methods. This missionary’s dream is for these students to begin CBS groups among the unreached people groups near the school, but so far, this has only been done on a limited basis. Pray for this missionary as he goes to teach, and ask the Lord to open the minds and hearts of these student pastors so that they will catch the vision of presenting the gospel in a way that oral preference learners will understand.

- Baptist Convention of Nigeria