Africa (MNN) – People doing outreach in Africa are steadfast in their work while enduring persecution.
Helen Williams with World Missionary Press recently attended Every Home For Christ’s One Africa Conference, where she connected with national directors from several countries that WMP works to provide Scripture booklets to.
In northern Nigeria, where there is open persecution, ministry work is pivoting to cities to avoid Muslim resistance in villages. But the Nigerian director said people in these villages remain unreached and without access to the Bible.
(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)
“He said, ‘In the cities, they’re able to openly distribute material and minister and have outreach,’” Williams says. “But his heart was for the villages, because they don’t have the Word anyway, and the resistance is so strong that it’s dangerous.”
The ministry in Nigeria is finding new ways to operate, which can involve finding hosts near villages or conducting gospel conversations under a tree.
“There’s a lot of trying to protect the believers, and yet encourage them and continue to do the work,” Williams says.
In the Goma area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, people are losing their homes and fleeing the country, but despite these challenges, the work continues.
The director in the DRC said, “This is a challenge for us, but we know that the Lord wants us to continue the work.”
Williams says, again, the work continues; it is just finding new ways to share the gospel with people.
Williams says the DRC director was very open about how the conflict is affecting them. “He said, ‘This is a challenge for us, but we know that the Lord wants us to continue the work.’”
In other countries, including Somalia, Djibouti, and Eritrea, where it is dangerous to distribute Scripture, the work continues as well.
“These are areas that they’ve not been able to come to us in the open as of late. They’ve been getting their material from Ethiopia, but they came up to us and said, ‘Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you,'” Williams says.
Despite scary resistance, particularly in Eritrea, Scripture is still making its way into the hands of people and changing lives.
Please pray for our brothers and sisters who are experiencing persecution in Africa. Pray for wisdom and protection as they minister to their persecutors and others who do not yet know Christ.
Header Photo Provided by World Missionary Press
