Category Archives: International Missions

Niger, West Africa - A New Beginning
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 5, 2018

Posted under

International Missions, Niger

Niger, West Africa – A New Beginning

by Kris Yeomans – Missionary to the Philippines and Niger

She thought it was safe. It had been quiet for a few days. No harassment. No mockery. No abuse. No threats. Yes, it had been quiet for a few days. Peaceful. Farra decided it was time to travel out to a village to collect 5000 francs owed to her. She needed money to buy food for her four children that remained in her custody. They were down to the last bit of millet they owned, and she knew that after they gathered around 2:00 pm to have their one meal of the day, they would have no more food. So she got up from the ground where she had slept, and walked out of the hut into the bright morning sun.

Upon arriving in the village on the outskirts of town, she went to the home of her friend, the one who owed her the money. She reached the old wooden gate of the home where her friend lived. She greeted the three children working in the front yard, and called out to her friend who was still inside. “Annekke….Annekke!” Annekke came out of the house, and the women began to chat, first spending five minutes greeting one another and asking about family, etc.

Niger, West AfricaAfter a few minutes of casual conversation, Farra asked Annekke if she had the 5,000 francs owed to her. “Yes, I have it. I will go inside and get the money,” Annekke replied. As she got up to walk inside, she noticed a large group of people a short distance away. Dust was all around, and the crowd was very noisy. Annekke called over to Farra and said, “Farra, what do you suppose is happening?” Before Farra could respond, she heard a voice that she had hoped she would never hear again. Over the noisy crowd, she heard the voice of her husband call her name loudly – “FARRA!!!!!” Her heart sank as her pulse increased. “OH NO,” she thought. “Someone has alerted my husband that I am here.” As Farra stood from the bench she was seated on, her husband quickly approached her, along with her own mother, and began to physically attack her. Her mother grabbed her by the throat and began choking her, and her husband grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her to the ground. “How could you, FARRA??!!,” her mother shouted. “How could you do this to our family?! You are a disgrace!” Her husband moved closer to her, as she sat on the ground, weeping. “If you choose to remain a follower of Jesus, you will never see your children again!” With that, he attempted to kick Farra. Thankfully, she got up from the ground quickly and avoided the foot that was aiming for her head. With tear-filled eyes, she looked at her husband and mother, as she was walking away, and said, “You can do whatever you like to me. You can kill me. I am now a follower of Jesus, and I will never turn back.”Niger, West Africa

Welcome to the life of Nigerien believers. Stories like this are common in the desolate, hot, sandy nation of Niger, where a vast majority of the people are Muslim. While it is now legal to convert to Christianity, it is anything but easy. Yet in spite of the persecutions, people are switching their allegiance to Christ. The Spirit of God is blowing thru the Sahel.

God is leading us to minister and serve among the people of Niger. Who are the people of Niger? They are some of the kindest and most generous people you will ever meet. They live in the harshest environment we have ever experienced, yet they always seem to have smiles on their faces. They have needs. Real needs. Needs that you and I cannot even begin to imagine. How are they are going to feed their children as they live in a country that is consistently ranked one of the lowest on the human development index? How are their children going to get an education so they can rise above the 29% literacy rate, or keep them out of the hands of the terrorists’ recruiters, or how to manipulate the spirits to keep them safe? In the midst of their sufferings, they need Jesus. They need the hope that only He can offer, not only in the life to come, but in this current life also. Continue reading →

Niger - A New Mission Field
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 4, 2018

Posted under

10/40 Window, International Missions, Niger

Opening a New Mission Field – Niger

By Mark Powell, GBIM Director

Kris and Nicole Yeomans have long had a burden for Muslim evangelism and outreach. Kris spent some time in Niger, West Africa as an intern during his college days, and together he and wife Nicole had explored and prayed concerning God’s apparent call on their life to reach Muslim people. The answer they continued to receive from God was a call to reach people in the West African, French-speaking, country of Niger.

The Yeoman family approached General Baptist International Missions (GBIM) about this call after leading several Mission One teams to Niger and experiencing confirmation of God’s call on their life. But what does it look like to open any new field, especially one that is so predominantly Muslim?

Part of the attraction to Niger is that it is a Muslim nation, yet has managed to maintain a secular government with freedom of religion. In other words, it is possible for a denominational mission agency like GBIM to legally register and do ministry in Niger without the typical use of “creative access” that Christian missions must use in other Muslim nations.

The process of legal recognition and legal status as a Christian mission is not always an easy one. It certainly implies finding the right contacts and lawyers who will represent us and our interests well.

Fortunately, the oldest Christian mission in Niger is SIM International. SIM began as the Sudan Interior Mission with an original focus on mission work in the Sudan of Africa:

“Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) began in 1893. Canadians Walter Gowans, Roland Bingham, and American Thomas Kent had a vision to evangelise the 60 million least-reached communities of sub-Saharan Africa. Unable to interest established missions—most of which said reaching the Soudan was impossible—the three set out alone.

Illness overtook all three. Gowans and Kent died of complications in 1894, and Bingham returned to Canada. On his second attempt, Bingham caught malaria again and was forced to return home. Unable to return to Africa, Bingham sent out a third team. They successfully established a base 800 kilometers inland at Patigi, Nigeria in 1902. From there, the work of SIM began in Africa.” (1)

The fortunate part is that SIM has been willing to work with other Christian organizations who want to minister in areas where they are active, including Niger. This means that the Yeomans will be able to go as missionaries with GBIM, sign a memorandum of understanding with SIM, and SIM will help both the Yeomans and GBIM wade through the muddy waters of registration with the government of Niger. The arrangement will offer many benefits for all involved: SIM will gain new volunteers who will help their ministry; GBIM will have a partner to guide us through the difficulties of the registration and immigration process; the Yeomans will benefit from making many great contacts in addition to their children attending the Sahel Academy (a missionary kid school) sponsored by SIM.

But what does the future of GBIM look like in Niger? That is a difficult and complicated question. Freedom of religion does not guarantee success or growth in any country. Protestant missions began in Niger in 1924. Fifty years later, in the late 1970’s, there were 12,000 Catholic and 3,000 Protestant converts. Current estimates place the number of Christians at about 56,000 with projected growth to about 85,000 by 2025. The Joshua Project puts the Evangelical growth rate at 3.7% with Evangelicals making up on 0.19% of the population.

We do not think for one moment that this is an easy task. Christian growth in this country that is 95% Muslim is slow at best. In 2015 Muslims protesting the depiction of the prophet of Islam in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo destroyed 72 church buildings and killed at least 10 people in attacks that began in the city of Zinder on January 16 and hit the capital of Niamey the next day.

SIM has been in Niger since 1924 and today they are represented by three independent Christian organizations with 100 congregations, 65 pastors, and over 6,000 adherents.(2) The struggle for Christian groups in Niger is very real. But the fact remains that Niger also has 15 people groups in which less than 20% of the population has any possible affiliation with a Christian church. That means the potential is as great as the call to preach the gospel to all people.

But God has not only called us to reach those who are easy to reach. Rather He has called us to go into all the world to preach the gospel. Niger will be the second ministry area for General Baptists in the 10/40 window, an area of the world between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator where most unreached people live. We have been blessed to serve in India for several years now with two associations and nearly 100 churches in that 10/40 window country.

Our goals will be to facilitate a church planting movement with Nigerien Christian leaders through leadership development and outreach. The Yeomans already have several contacts in Niger and have worked hard to establish a base of relationships upon which we plan to build. As in all areas, discipleship and leadership development will be an essential to the success of our work in Niger.

First, we must have the Yeomans well established in Niger. That means immigration, housing, transportation, education for their children, language school, just to name a few essentials. We believe the Yeomans are up to the task. We also believe that General Baptists are up to the task, but it will take committed ministry partners to make it happen and an army of prayer warriors praying for spiritual victory in the individual lives of Nigeriens.

(1) https://www.sim.org/about
(2) http://www.simusa.org/about/where-we-work/africa/niger/

International Ministries - Honduras
Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 1, 2018

Posted under

Executive Office, For His Glory, India, International Missions, Jamaica, Philippines

For His Glory – Ministries Together

by Clint Cook, Executive Director GAGB

Since I have been Executive Director, it has been an honor to visit many of our mission fields, visit many churches abroad, and get to know many of our national pastors. It is humbling to see firsthand how training institutes at the General Baptist Bible College and the Matigsalug Bible Institute in the Philippines are making such a difference in training our Filipino pastors and church leaders.

In India, Prakash and Jemima Pamu oversee the Dorcas Sewing Centers and assist local pastors in ministry on the eastern coast. In the central region, Jesse and Brittany Vemula work with local pastors and oversee the Lydia Sewing Centers. Who would have ever imagined that a simple tool like a sewing machine could be used as a pathway to spread the gospel? The local pastors make sure these women are not just taught how to sew. The sewing lessons include the clear presentation of the gospel. As a result, scores of Hindu and Muslim women have stepped over the line of faith and accepted Christ, changing the eternal course of precious families!

Our churches in Jamaica are on fire for Jesus! They are working diligently to gather funds to build an administration center and daycare so the gospel can be shared with families by caring for their children. In Honduras, Faith Home is thriving despite political tension. The local pastors are excited because they are now receiving essential leadership and pastoral training from our California Hispanic coordinator, Rene Rodriguez.

As I saw these ministries in action and dreamed of the potential our fields hold, I became overwhelmed with joy, and then immediately burdened with the need to do more! Can you imagine the number of souls that could be won if every General Baptist church partnered financially with our international work?

There are so many opportunities for you and your church to get connected with our international work. Have you ever sponsored a student at GBBC or MBI? We have scores of young people in the Philippines that need sponsors so they can receive training in ministry to pastor, lead worship, teach and plant churches. They have the passion and call, but not the means.

Would you like to make sure that the children at Faith Home receive the best care and education possible? You can do so through child sponsorship! Would you like to partner with our work in India and provide funds to buy more sewing machines and resources for the children and pastors there? Would your church contribute to the campaign in Jamaica to help a community hear the gospel through a daycare? There are ongoing needs in Mexico, Saipan, Guam, and Niger as well.

Please get involved today with International Ministries. Our Unified Giving provides general support for International Ministries. Special project support by your church, a Sunday School class, a small group, or a youth/children’s ministry could make an eternal investment in the Kingdom by sponsoring a child at Faith Home, a student at GBBC or MBI, or funding one of our other ministries throughout the world. We can do far more together than we could ever do alone.

When I stand before God one day I do not plan on standing there with my personal bank statement displaying a lot of zeros behind a dollar sign. I want to meet Him with a harvest of souls – many that I have never laid eyes on or met, but touched through my financial gifts. How will you and your church stand before Him one day? I pray it will be surrounded by souls.