Wolof is the national language of Senegal and is spoken by 12.4 million people, including 4.6 million people as a first language. The language also has a variant that is spoken by more than 160,000 people in The Gambia.

“We’ve got distributors that have been waiting and praying for this for years,” says Helen Williams with WMP.

(Photo from Adeane, Senegal courtesy of Eyelit Studio via Unsplash)

“God is at work even when we don’t see it. If we just wait for Him, He has a plan. He’s got people out there willing to join us and use material. We just need to wait on Him.” 

Exciting new developments like printing in more languages and supplying more partners can be tricky while keeping older contacts well stocked.  

“It’s going to require that we keep producing at a steady rate,” says Williams. “We still produce these booklets for just four cents each.”

Please pray that these booklets will disciple and touch the lives of the believers who receive them. Pray that as demand rises WMP will have both the funding and production capacity to faithfully serve existing and new partners.

If you or your church know missionaries on the field who could use Scripture booklets in their ministry, reach out to them and ask. If they are interested, direct them to learn more about World Missionary Press. 

Header photo courtesy of _____

Greg Kelley with World Mission says, “They are constantly looking for pasture land. And they just go through these farming areas and privately-owned land to graze their cattle. They wind up destroying private property. As you can imagine, there’s a tremendous amount of conflict that comes with that.”

Religious conflict

The Fulani overwhelmingly identify as Muslim, although the herdsmen tend to be less strict in their practice than those who live in cities. The farmers they clash with tend to be Christians. This creates a religious dimension to the conflict.

But many Fulani themselves become Christians. Kelley says, “In most instances when someone comes to know Jesus out of the Fulani, their family entirely rejects them. They’re kicked out in some cases or physically persecuted. We even hear of people being killed.

The Fulani can be a difficult people group to engage with. But Kelley says, “We have really dozens of missionaries, former Muslim Fulani, that are now sharing the Gospel using our solar-powered audio Bibles in the different dialects.”

Fulani groups speak several different dialects, depending on where they live. Kelley says hearing the Biblical texts in Arabic can be powerful for the Fulani as well since that is the primary language through which they engage with Islam.

Ministry

Kelley says it comes down to friendship. “We’re not trying to twist their arm and have some kind of debate with them about why Christianity is better than Islam. It’s about introducing them to Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to work.”

“The missionaries are doing strategic humanitarian projects, like water projects.”

Ask the Holy Spirit to move among the Fulani. You can support World Mission’s work here.

Header photo courtesy of Dan Lundberg, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

In the primarily Muslim country of Senegal, Ibrahima works with Every Home for Christ and World Missionary Press to share the faith he found with his people.

An Answered Prayer

In one night, Ibrahima D.’s whole life came crashing down. His family enjoyed their life in Mauritania, a country in West Africa, where his father worked for the government. However, tensions erupted one night in 1989, forcing the family to flee back to their native country of Senegal.

“My family was forced to leave Mauritania and settle in Senegal in desperate conditions,” Ibrahima remembers.

Ibrahima fled with his family back to Senegal. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

His family’s condition continued to worsen in their home country. His father didn’t have a job, so many of his mother’s relatives believed she should divorce him if he couldn’t find a way to provide for his family. With money so tight, Ibrahima wasn’t even able to attend school. Though he grew up in a Muslim home, Ibrahima turned to God for help.

“As my family situation worsened, I prayed to God, asking that if He would deliver my family from their troubles and potential break-up, then I would testify that He is the only true God and follow Him whatever the cost,” he says. “The Lord answered my prayer.”

Soon after his prayer, Ibrahima’s father found a new job, and his mother decided not to go through with the divorce.

“Since then, my only desire has been to announce salvation in Jesus to all Senegalese,” he says.

Reaching the Lost

As an adult, Ibrahima became a teacher. However, he left teaching to help bring his countrymen the same hope he found as a teenager once he heard about the ministry Every Home for Christ. This is an international ministry that helps equip local churches to share the Gospel from home-to-home, capitalizing on relationships believers have developed with people in their communities.

“The idea of God using me to reach out to my own people with the Gospel, sharing with and encouraging the broken hearted, perfectly matched my deeply-entrenched yearnings,” Ibrahima says.

Wolof women are known for their dress and beauty.
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

He reached out to World Missionary Press for help obtaining the much-needed literature to make home-to-home evangelism possible. With their help, he obtained booklets of Scripture, including some specifically written for a Muslim audience.

“In Senegal, people avoid being seen publicly with Christians,” Ibrahima explains. “Having literature allows them to look for the truth without persecution from their parents or family. [It] allows people to teach themselves and discover truth and grow in their spiritual life.”

Even though the ministry in Senegal has had great success with the literature they’ve received in Arabic and French, challenges still exist. The Wolof, an almost entirely Muslim people group comprising a large portion of the Senegalese population, are especially a concern for Ibrahima since they can’t currently read the Gospel in their own language. However, a translation of a World Missionary Press booklet, “How to Know God”, and a Bible translation are underway.

Ways to Help

Please continue to pray for the ministry Ibrahima leads in Senegal and for the translation being done for the Wolof people. Donations for literature and translation work in Senegal can be made to World Missionary Press here.

Header image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Some analysts attribute these traits to the widespread influence of Sufi Islam; Muslims comprise 90- to 95-percent of the country’s population. Among the Wolof people, one of Senegal’s largest ethnic groups, that percentage is even higher.

While these factors support stability, they also challenge Gospel growth.

“The literature really is the major way of sharing the Gospel individually,” Helen Williams of World Missionary Press says about New Testaments and Scripture booklets in widely-used languages.

“[However], one of the things about Senegal – because it is so closely tied to Islam and the Muslim culture – you have to develop relationships with people before they will trust you to accept something,” she explains.

“Much of it has to do with people not wanting to be seen with a Christian.”

Reaching the Wolof for Christ

World Missionary Press partners with Every Home for Christ and one of the few evangelical believers in Senegal to make God’s Word known. More about that here; the “partner profile” is at the bottom of the page.

“He’s from the Wolof tribe and he came to Christ after some family issues and struggles,” Williams says of WMP’s national coordinator.

Wolof women are known for their dress and beauty.
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The Wolof people remain highly unreached. There are many efforts underway to introduce the Wolof to Christ, but they have little known progress. WMP is striving to equip their partner so he can prayerfully make inroads in the Wolof community.

“We don’t have any literature currently in the Wolof language,” Williams says.

“So, we have been working with [our partner] over the last two or three years to get our booklet, How to Know God, into that language because [the booklet] was written with a Muslim in mind.”

Now, that translation project is nearing completion. “It’s currently on the field again with the Bible Society [in Senegal] for some reviews and clarifications in certain areas,” Williams says. Mass printing can begin once translators finalize the text and send it to WMP.

Next steps

Help send Scripture to Senegal here.  “Just designate [the gift] for printing for Senegal, and that will help us get this Wolof piece printed. It will also help us print more New Testaments in Arabic and French to send, as well as other literature,” Williams says.

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press via Facebook)

Last year, World Missionary Press sent Arabic copies of the Gospel of John and a Bible study on Genesis to their field partner. Williams also coordinated the shipment of 40,000 New Testaments in Arabic and French.

“People will receive it [because] they are anxious to read the whole New Testament,” she explains.

“They have an interest in the person of Jesus Christ; they see Him as a prophet, but they will read [the New Testament].”

Most importantly, pray for WMP’s translation project and for the Gospel to penetrate the entire Wolof community. “[Pray] that this project would soon be completed and we’d be able to get it in print and onto the field for Every Home for Christ to use among the Wolof,” Williams requests.

“99% of them are Muslim and they’re a great part of the 16.5 million people in that nation.”

Find more ways to pray for Senegal here.

Header image is a representative stock photo obtained via Unsplash.  Photo credit: Francesca Noemi Marconi.

However, contacts in Kazakhstan, Northern Nigeria, Senegal, and other areas are now giving WMP the green light to send in Scripture literature.

“[Contacts are] seeing opportunities for people to receive the literature, and we hear from people all over the world that Muslims are responding to the Gospel,” WMP’s Helen Williams says.

“There’s an openness and a hunger… that these people feel is open and the opportunity is there. The Spirit seems to be drawing people that are living under Islam.”

Opportunities in Kazakhstan

WMP recently received a request from a sister ministry in Kazakhstan for scripture booklets. They sent their contact several copies of their Russian booklets, and he took them to the government office and received approval for shipments.

“Now, they’re in the process of getting the needed licensing for importation, and we’re in the process of getting Russian material ready to send to him.”

Williams says this will be WMP’s first large shipment of booklets to Kazakhstan ever, which stirs excitement and the need for prayer.

WMP hopes to have this first shipment into Kazakhstan sent before the end of Summer 2019.

However, Williams says the ministry knows that they have to be careful in the area and must follow as the Lord leads so that even when the shipment arrives, the receiving and distribution of literature will proceed smoothly.

Contacts in Kazakhstan are assembling teams to distribute the literature once it is received, and Williams says she believes these scripture booklets will make an impact.

“I believe the Lord’s not going to send this material just to sit. There’s a harvest there to be reaped and we need to pray for that harvest, that the Spirit would use the Word. It doesn’t do us any good to print them, and send them, and then just have them sit there. We need the Spirit’s power to use the Word because the whole point is reaping the harvest for the Kingdom.”

While this shipment will help change lives, it’s the first step in establishing a long-term presence in Kazakhstan.

Translation Projects

WMP’s contact in Kazakhstan wants to help translate some of their booklets into the Kazak language.

In other Muslim-majority areas, including Northern Nigeria, WMP wants to develop their booklets into main local languages as well.

“Northern Nigeria, where it’s a Muslim-dominated territory, it’s an open doors that they didn’t have before, and so, they need more languages for that and more booklets,” Williams says.

(Photo by Alexander Serzhantov on Unsplash)

“We do have one booklet that was written with a Muslim in mind. The way it’s laid out is to introduce Jesus Christ as the Son of God, as the One True God, to the Muslim mind, and that’s our booklet How to Know God. It’s very effective.”

WMP is planning on sending Arabic booklets into Senegal, Mali, and Niger.

With all these planned shipments, WMP needs your support. Pray for the shipments, for the Lord’s wisdom and guidance, and for safety.

Also, help finance the shipments. One scripture booklet that can help change lives costs just five cents. Help support the shipments here.

Your support, both financially and in prayer, are helping to share the message of Truth amongst lost people who are ready to know Jesus.

Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press via Facebook

Take Senegal, for instance. According to Operation World, about 91 percent of the population is made up of Muslims. But while many people might assume these nearly 12 million Muslims are closed off to the Gospel, what Christians are finding in their door-to-door outreach is encouraging them to keep talking about Jesus.

You see, everything changes when followers of Jesus step out to meet the individual — to learn their story, their needs, and their heart.

World Missionary Press has a major distributor of their materials in Senegal. This same group is organizing home-to-home campaigns, open-air evangelism, and street films, and they’ve seen a great impact from the JESUS Film.

Williams says that right now in Senegal, their distributor is awaiting 40,000 New Testaments to hand out. Christian workers have been going house to house to leave biblical literature and booklets and to talk about Jesus.

She says, “The Muslims will accept the New Testament. So [this distributor has] asked for 20,000 in French and 20,000 in Arabic. And one of the things about this that we’ve seen is that there is a growing responsiveness.”

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)

In fact, many of the distributor contacts of World Missionary Press have shown a desire to focus even more on Muslim areas.

Williams explains that to live in some of these countries is to be considered Muslim, but it’s more about cultural influence and lifestyle than a personal faith. That means Christians on the ground often find that nominal Muslims are willing to discuss faith openly.

But that doesn’t mean this kind of outreach isn’t met with opposition or risk. That’s why Williams says these believers in Senegal are asking “…for prayer for their staff for safety, for boldness, for open doors, and we really believe that this is a time for this.”

World Missionary Press already has Arabic New Testaments in stock and is finishing up preparations forFrench New Testaments. But Senegal is not the only country in Africa in great need of God’s Word.

Nigeria and Ethiopia

Williams explains a scenario that happens constantly in her line of work: “We sent a container to Nigeria and we got a response within just a matter of months and they said, ‘That shipment is all used up but we need you to send us another shipment, but send us more material in Hausa.’”

In Nigeria, Christians are finding openness to the Gospel in Northern Nigeria, where the heaviest concentration of Muslims is in the country. This is also the area plagued by terrorist activity from groups like Boko Haram.

According to the Joshua Project, only about point-one percent of the Hausa are evangelical Christians.

There’s a similar need for New Testaments and biblical literature in Ethiopia, where a group of Christians is working hard to reach their neighbors with the Gospel.

Williams explains, “From their base there, they’re reaching into Somalia and Djibouti and Eritrea, countries that are, for us, kind of locked in terms of being able to get materials directly in.”

It’s an exciting time, especially for those who have prayed for openness in these parts of the world for decades.

“There is a movement in that area, a movement in the Church being willing to, ok, let’s go. Let’s try. And a movement of the spirit opening doors and opening hearts. So, this is an exciting time, I think, and we just pray for boldness, we pray for protection, we pray for harvest. But this is a great opportunity for World Missionary Press help the believers reach these areas where they either have had limited access or limited opportunity before. It does seem that the doors are opening even more.”

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press).

Williams emphasizes that what they hope to accomplish through this outreach is not just to introduce people to a different religion. It’s really about showing how a relationship with Jesus changes everything.

“People seem to be not at peace or not completely spiritually satisfied, if you will, with what they’ve been given all their life. And we know that that can even be true with nominal Christianity in our country. If the relationship with the Lord is not there, the form doesn’t fill the void.”

Do you want to be a part of this exciting moment in the history of the Church? There are a few ways you can get involved.

First of all, you can pray for World Missionary Press. Ask God to give the team discernment and wisdom. Pray for them to make the right connections around the world with people who love God and love telling others about Him. You can also pray for the safety, protection, and wisdom of the distributors, as well.

Secondly, you can help financially. World Missionary Press is constantly under the weight of requests for more material. While this means that people really want to hear about Jesus, the ministry wants to be able to increase their production.

Williams says right now they have requests for about 90 million booklets with large orders coming in every day. They can produce about seven million booklets each month, but would love to be able to increase production to 10 million a month. To learn how you can contribute financially, click here.

Finally, if you live in the region of World Missionary Press’ headquarters or feel like taking a road trip, you can visit them for a tour or to volunteer. Go to the website to learn more.

You can contact World Missionary Press here with any additional questions.

Header photo courtesy of pixabay.

Not long after this decision, you have questions, but no one to answer them. You have trials, but no other believers to help you through. You’re ready to learn more, but you have no one to teach you.

That’s the pitfall Greg Kelley of World Mission says happens in many ministries around the world. There always seem to be new ways to reach people, through apps or audio or films or tracts, but who follows up?

(Photo courtesy of World Mission)

“My concern is that the Body of Christ is getting so concerned with what’s the latest greatest piece of technology that we can reach these people, and we’re not paying attention to the need to raise up leaders who are that flesh on flesh discipleship-making machine that we have to have in place.”

Kelley says it’s important to remember that the Great Commission calls us to make disciples, not converts.

“Being a convert in the 10:40 Window, you won’t survive. It’s the most hostile, spiritually-speaking, areas of the world, and if you just kind of have a teaspoon-full of Jesus, so to speak, you won’t survive because of the hostilities,” he explains.

“We need to be committed to make disciples, and that requires raising up effective, trained, competent leaders who can then bring the Gospel to life and pour themselves into these people who are new in the faith”

The specific target World Mission is chasing are the countries of Nepal and Senegal. Nepal has a population of about 28 million, and 80 percent of them are Hindu. Meanwhile, Senegal has 12 million people, and 90 percent of them are Muslim.

(Photo courtesy of World Mission)

“There’s some five million pastors who have no access, zero, to any kind of training. So what World Mission does is we invest in what we call the Shiloh training center.”

A Shiloh training center is requested and run by local believers. Dozens, even hundreds of pastors from the country can come to be equipped and “receive training from nationals who are mature from their own walk with the Lord, and they pour into their life.”

Kelley says he wants to be sure to involve the national believers in the project, coming to them and saying, “We recognize that you are the most strategic element that is gonna make disciples in your community, and so how can we come alongside you?”

But what about you? What part can you play?

“[If] someone wants to help World Mission put more Shiloh training centers into places like Senegal and Nepal and places where there’s five million pastors with no access to training, we’d love for them to partner with us.”

We’ll connect you right here, but the biggest way you can help is through prayer.

“We need to pray that the Lord would help us be strategic as the Body of Christ to raise up leaders who can make disciples.”

World Mission distributes their audio Bibles called ‘Treasures’. But as Greg Kelley explains, they also recognize training believers in leadership is vital. This is especially obvious in places where it’s difficult to be a Christian.

World Mission recognizes that while the Treasures are extremely valuable in aiding the spread of the Gospel, people-to-people contact is needed to make disciples. (Photo courtesy of World Mission)

Kelley says, “Being a convert in the 10/40 window — you won’t survive. It’s the most hostile, spiritually-speaking, areas in the world. But if you just kind of have a teaspoon-full of Jesus, so to speak, you won’t survive because of the hostilities. We need to be committed to make disciples.”

In the 10/40 window, Kelley says there are five million pastors without access to training. So how can they bring the Gospel to others if they can’t be trained?

In other places, pastors go through seminary where they can learn about the Bible and collaborate in discussion with other pastors.

Shiloh

World Mission has invested in building Shiloh training centers in this area of the world. The name, Kelley says, references the place where Shiloh grew in knowledge of the Lord.

“The Shiloh training center really represents the location where pastors from these closed areas can come and receive training from nationals who are mature in their own walk with the Lord.”

He talks about two locations which have been in especial need for these centers.

Senegal and Nepal

(Photo courtesy of World Mission)

“Nepal represents about 28 million people, and over 80-percent of them are Hindu, and virtually nine out of 10 people have never heard the Gospel,” Kelley explains.

In Senegal, he says, it’s very similar. Most of the population is made up of Muslims.

To accomplish the training, World Mission connects with a network of national leaders who help them identify strategic locations to build the centers. The nationals own and operate the building and bring in trainers from the community.

World Mission relies heavily on nationals as they better know the needs of believers in the country.

As mission organizations work to further the spread of the Gospel, Kelley says, “We need to be praying that the Lord would help us be strategic as the Body of Christ to raise up leaders who can make disciples.”

Pray also for believers and those who have never heard about Jesus in the 10/40 window. Kelley asks, what resources do you have to bring to God’s mission?

If you would like to support the building of Shiloh centers, click here.

(Photo courtesy Wycliffe USA)

Senegal (MNN) — Fourteen years ago in Senegal, Africa, a Bible translation project was started for the Bandial people group. Now, after much hard work, it’s coming to a satisfying close.

The project was financially supported by Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, but Wycliffe France missionaries helped with the logistics. Wolfgang Berndt was one of these missionaries.

“When we moved to Senegal, we had no idea in which language we would be working,” he says.

“There was a choice of about fourteen languages. And, quite soon it became clear by several criteria: we visited some projects and interviewed people about the attitude. It became clear that Bandial would be the project where the Lord wanted us to work.”

The Bandial People Group

According to Wycliffe, there are about 11,200 Bandial people in Senegal. Berndt says that religion is split into thirds. “A third call themselves Muslims, another third call themselves Catholics, and another third would say frankly, they are animists, which means the traditional religion.”

Berndt stresses many of the people didn’t know or follow ceremonies that were a part of their religion. “In reality, the people are almost 100% animist, and there are very few evangelical Christians–maybe about 50 altogether.”

After much work and much prayer, missionaries started seeing results. Berndt says, “[The Bandial New Testament is] very much used by the Catholics already. They appreciate the written translation.”

Pray that the translation will have a great affect and will be used widely.

The Project

The translation project itself wasn’t for the impatient.

Like many African languages, Bandial was only available in oral form. There was nothing written about the language.

Wycliffe missionaries started the long translation process by analyzing and language learning. “We started with writing the phonetic, the pronunciation with phonetic symbols, and very quickly we developed orthography, which was then changed a little bit later due to some special requests,” Berndt says.

From there, it took a lot of time to learn and sort out the language and grammar. “The Bible translation actually started in 2004, and finished in 2014,” Berndt adds.

In fact, the Joshua Project said the language was “Doomed to disappear.” After working with the group for years, Berndt says the Bandial language may be threatened because younger people go to town to study, where the national language, Wolof, is spoken. Once back at the village, they continue speaking it, and children tend to pick it up.

However, Berndt believes it’s unlikely the language will die out.

“There are very few people now who are able to pronounce a whole Bandial sentence without a Wolof or French lone word in it. The style is somewhat threatened. [But] the language will not die out, I think: not this one.”

The translation of the New Testament will likely help in its stabilization.

What’s Next?

The launch of the New Testament is being marked with a celebration thrown by Wycliffe on May 16.

“We pray that people are touched by God’s Word themselves and they see the contradictions with their syncretistic lifestyle,” Berndt says.

Pray with Wycliffe that the Bandial people will be touched by the Gospel, and that they will become strong believers in Christ.

Around the same time Wycliffe finished the New Testament translation, Faith Comes by Hearing suggested a partnership so the Bandial could listen to Scriptures in their heart language. Berndt says, “They have done actually the oral recording this year in February. So, they had people coming over from Ghana, based of course on our New Testament texts. And, it was done with the translators and some other key persons they chose afterwards.” The recordings have been finished but are being edited, adds Berndt, which will take several months.

Keep an eye on this page for updates!

A final verdict is expected soon for Pastor Jose Dilson, who is allegedly connected to the conversion of a Muslim leader’s son. This persecuted pastor and his family are asking you to pray they will not be fearful, and for God’s will to be done.

Rewind

Pastor Jose Dilson
(Photo courtesy VOM)

Dilson is a Brazilian missionary who has served the Lord in West Africa for the past 25 years. In November 2012, he and another missionary were arrested for “Christianization” and imprisoned for five months without a hearing.

But, as He often does, the Lord turned hardship into something beautiful. While in prison, Dilson was able to distribute 350 Bibles. The persecuted pastor also “witnessed to many fellow prisoners,” VOM reports.

Technically, Senegal is a secular state that allows for freedom of religion. However, reality on the ground is a bit different.

According to VOM, Senegalese Christians face discrimination in the workplace and the educational system. Believers from Muslim backgrounds are shunned by their families, and sometimes they’re even beaten and poisoned.

Churches in Senegal have been attacked in various ways, and many have been closed. In addition, Pastor Dilson and his cohort aren’t the only ones who’ve been targeted by police. Other pastors and congregation members have been arrested, too.

Fast-forward

In April 2013, Dilson and his fellow missionary were released from the Senegalese prison on bail. They have been waiting for the final ruling on their case since then, as it keeps getting postponed and pushed to a later date.

However, it appears judgment day is finally approaching. At VOM’s request, more than 100 believers worldwide have been interceding on Dilson’s behalf at icommittopray.com.

“Lord Jesus, lift Pastor Jose Dilson to new heights with Your love, grace, and mercy, bringing him the strength and endurance he needs to continue to share and bring Your good news to the lost.”
Cindy S – Vietnam

(Photo courtesy Leland Francisco via Flickr)

“Lord, thank You for Pastor Dilson’s faithfulness in being a light even in prison. May his testimony and his bold witness bear much fruit. Protect him and allow him to be released to continue his ministry. Comfort and strengthen his family as well. Bring about a speedy positive result to this case, and let it not continue to drag on or discourage them.”
Sunita J – Japan

“Dear Lord, I pray for Pastor Dilson, that he and his family will not be afraid but will be a powerful witness and testimony for our Lord Jesus. Please bless them and keep them in the shadow of Your wings of protection and blessing. I pray that many will become saved because of his life and witness. Amen.”
Carrie P – USA

You can add a prayer here.

Along with prayer, you can help a persecuted pastor like Dilson by supporting the work of VOM. The ministry provides a safe house and distributes Bibles in Senegal.

Learn more about VOM’s work in Senegal.