A certain village suffered greatly due to a lack of food among those who lived there. A farmer who lived in the village was prepared, because he had brought new seed from his father’s village many miles away. There was even plenty of available land surrounding the village. However, the farmer was only one man. He could not sow enough seed by himself to eventually feed all the villagers. Though the villagers were hungry, they did not understand the importance of what the farmer was trying to do. The farmer had even sent word to his father’s village that he needed help. Yet, because his father’s village had already begun harvesting a good crop, they did not grasp the urgency of the farmer’s request. They planned on sending a few farmers, but not until they finished their own work.
This parable illustrates the challenge that faces missionaries among the Maninka people in one area. Village upon village fills the landscape of this region, yet presently there is only one IMB couple trying to plant seeds in a vast area. Thank God for four new villages that were recently visited by a volunteer team from Tennessee who was able to present copies of Genesis and Luke in the local language to the village elders in addition to helping missionaries share the story of Christ. Pray for wisdom as they plan on how to proceed in working with these villages and following up on these visits, and pray for more “farmers” to come and share the task.
This was a recent prayer request found at www.gowestafrica.org from the Maninka Team of West Africa.
Please pray as our team for the February trip is being put together. Pray for more "farmers" to catch the vision for these four new villages.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Special Focus Prayer Items for November 2008
These requests come from our West Africa Regional Prayer Advocate. Thank you for joining us in prayer over this region of the world.
God Opens More Doors
God continues to pour out his blessing on a new strategic ministry to distribute Bible stories in an oral format to truck drivers in West Africa. The missionary who is heading up this project gives another amazing report of how God is at work: “What a wonderful time when eight African brothers in Christ and four missionary colleagues met together, working for five days into the night to learn Bible stories and craft them into a format that can be retold in an understandable way. You prayed that an accurate telling of these stories would be recorded on tape for the truck driver ministry, and this prayer was answered. You prayed that the vision could be captured and here is the response of one African brother: ‘...Madame, we were going to surprise you, but since you asked...When we returned to Togo, we met together again. We've found several contacts at the ports...We're meeting again to divide the work, and we've been given one hour of free air time on the local radio every Tuesday. We're going to tell the stories and ask the questions in three different languages! The listeners can call in while we are at the radio station. We also have another number they can call when we're not on the air. Please pray for us as we meet and choose our stories...’ May God receive all the glory! Pray that the truck drivers will begin to spread the Gospel throughout this region of the world.”
“Multi-tasking” for God
Business Facilitators are responsible for many logistics such as housing and transportation so that other missionaries can have more time to share the gospel. This fall, three business facilitators attended a church planting conference with several of their missionary colleagues. God showed these business facilitators how to be involved in church planting while continuing their office work. Ask the Lord to give business facilitators in West Africa wisdom to know how to manage their time so that they can accomplish their business-related tasks and also share the gospel with unreached people groups.
Being Accountable
More and more West Africans are discovering that they can lead a chronological Bible storying group and are taking this responsibility seriously. After a missionary couple introduced the concept of keeping track of the Bible Stories that are shared with others, one believer created his own accountability system. As he walked from the first chronological Bible storying workshop one Friday to the second workshop that was held on Monday, he made marks to indicate the stories that he shared and how many people had listened. Then he explained this simple method to the participants in the Monday group. As you pray for West African believers who continue to spread The Word, remember that we are all accountable for sharing Christ with others!
A Child Shall Lead Them. . .
A positive attitude is vital on the mission field, especially in areas with limited amenities. Living in basic conditions over an extended period of time can wear on the body, mind, and spirit. A new missionary couple shares this recent experience about their four-year-old son: “Last week became unexpectedly difficult when the weather was hot and the electricity spent more time off than on. One evening the electricity turned off and Lucas, the ever-optimist, shouted, ‘YES! No electricity! Can we have our glow sticks now?’ Not much could dampen his spirit except when the electricity turned back on about 15 minutes later. Lucas looked about ready to cry. We quickly assured him that we could still turn off all the lights and continue playing "Hide the Glow Stick." Pray that missionaries and “missionary kids” living in West Africa will exhibit a positive attitude as they face challenges in their daily lives.
God Opens More Doors
God continues to pour out his blessing on a new strategic ministry to distribute Bible stories in an oral format to truck drivers in West Africa. The missionary who is heading up this project gives another amazing report of how God is at work: “What a wonderful time when eight African brothers in Christ and four missionary colleagues met together, working for five days into the night to learn Bible stories and craft them into a format that can be retold in an understandable way. You prayed that an accurate telling of these stories would be recorded on tape for the truck driver ministry, and this prayer was answered. You prayed that the vision could be captured and here is the response of one African brother: ‘...Madame, we were going to surprise you, but since you asked...When we returned to Togo, we met together again. We've found several contacts at the ports...We're meeting again to divide the work, and we've been given one hour of free air time on the local radio every Tuesday. We're going to tell the stories and ask the questions in three different languages! The listeners can call in while we are at the radio station. We also have another number they can call when we're not on the air. Please pray for us as we meet and choose our stories...’ May God receive all the glory! Pray that the truck drivers will begin to spread the Gospel throughout this region of the world.”
“Multi-tasking” for God
Business Facilitators are responsible for many logistics such as housing and transportation so that other missionaries can have more time to share the gospel. This fall, three business facilitators attended a church planting conference with several of their missionary colleagues. God showed these business facilitators how to be involved in church planting while continuing their office work. Ask the Lord to give business facilitators in West Africa wisdom to know how to manage their time so that they can accomplish their business-related tasks and also share the gospel with unreached people groups.
Being Accountable
More and more West Africans are discovering that they can lead a chronological Bible storying group and are taking this responsibility seriously. After a missionary couple introduced the concept of keeping track of the Bible Stories that are shared with others, one believer created his own accountability system. As he walked from the first chronological Bible storying workshop one Friday to the second workshop that was held on Monday, he made marks to indicate the stories that he shared and how many people had listened. Then he explained this simple method to the participants in the Monday group. As you pray for West African believers who continue to spread The Word, remember that we are all accountable for sharing Christ with others!
A Child Shall Lead Them. . .
A positive attitude is vital on the mission field, especially in areas with limited amenities. Living in basic conditions over an extended period of time can wear on the body, mind, and spirit. A new missionary couple shares this recent experience about their four-year-old son: “Last week became unexpectedly difficult when the weather was hot and the electricity spent more time off than on. One evening the electricity turned off and Lucas, the ever-optimist, shouted, ‘YES! No electricity! Can we have our glow sticks now?’ Not much could dampen his spirit except when the electricity turned back on about 15 minutes later. Lucas looked about ready to cry. We quickly assured him that we could still turn off all the lights and continue playing "Hide the Glow Stick." Pray that missionaries and “missionary kids” living in West Africa will exhibit a positive attitude as they face challenges in their daily lives.
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