God answers prayers for Yalunka people in a big way
An update from the West Africa Initiative
When Steve Nelson, FEC West Africa Director, promised Yalunka village chiefs in 2011 that he would return with a team to give the people a message of reconciliation from the Great Creator, he had no idea when or how he would be able fulfill that promise. No one was in the West Africa mission pipeline, let alone even considering the possibility of working with the Yalunka people. “God, please raise up your servants for this kingdom-building opportunity among the Yalunka people,” he prayed as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean, mere days after making those promises to village chiefs.
Fast forward nearly four years to Kedougou, Senegal, where that prayer is being answered in a big way. And when we say, “big,” we do mean, “Big!” Not only are Steve and Pat Nelson newly arrived on the ground in Kedougou, where they’ll manage the team full time from a mission base at the edge of Yalunka territory; but they actually have a full team to manage, with three members advancing in intensive language immersion training and two more wrapping up French studies and gearing up to learn the Yalunka language soon.
What does this mean for neighboring Yalunka tribes? Simply this. They’ll finally hear that message of reconciliation from their Great Creator, a message they’ve been anticipating for the last four years. From January to May of 2015, Steve, along with Troy and Gerri Masters and Ashley Freytag, will enter villages and begin the process of relating scripture in the Yalunka language for the very first time to village chiefs and storytellers.
It’s important to note that the team is going only where they’ve been invited—and that until now not one village has rejected them. Working hard to respect the tribes’ political and cultural traditions, the team is focused on one goal: teaching God’s word exactly as it appears in scripture. “Our strategy is to reach a people group,” says Hal Lehman, FEC’s international director, “not just plant churches or preach to the people. We’ve realized that in order to reach that goal, we have to use a method that is completely indigenous, sustainable, and reproducible. Otherwise, we would have to find and train scores of missionaries.”
A relatively new way to communicate scripture with pre-literate people groups, oral translation of scripture has proven to be an effective and speedy way to establish multiplying indigenous churches that develop from changed hearts and lives as villagers respond to the message they hear. These churches reproduce as believers retell the Gospel story to others. “These village storytellers are very good at keeping the story accurate,” says Hal. “That’s why it works. They are very good at keeping precise details.”
Before heading out for this first round of storytelling, the team is pausing in early November for retreat, strengthening, and renewal, thanks to Hal and a team from Grace Community Church in Newton, Kansas. Pastor Dave Reimer and his wife Marilyn, along with Hal, his wife Suzie, and the Grace team, will offer our FEC oral translators opportunities for worship in their own language, along with spiritual challenges to feed their spirits, and focus on team building and strategy refinement as they unite in their efforts to reach this people group.
Please continue to pray for all our workers in West Africa, along with this retreat team, that God will unite their hearts and continue to equip them for the work that lies ahead.
