“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” – Isaiah 43:9a
Our recent trips to Yalunka villages in West Africa were full of new beginnings this year! We encountered several new Christ followers, witnessed the building of a brand-new Yalunka church (the first!), and reached someone from a whole-new people group. All this, plus our first efforts to implement the Simply the Story (STS) oral scripture translation method were highly successful. In fact, our meetings sometimes lasted until late in the night, and everyone who participated laughed, clapped, and shared with great joy.
In one village, after a STS teaching session, one young man who was visiting from another village rose up and declared that he wanted to follow Jesus right now! In another village, 12 believers have been meeting regularly to pray and encourage each other. On this particular trip, one of these believers showed us a new hut he is in the process of building—for the sole purpose of giving the group a place to meet and pray. In reality, this is the first church among our Yalunka of Mali, and they built it completely on their own, with no urging or instruction from us!
Finally, we are thrilled to report that one of the new believers we encountered comes from a Jahanke village. The Jahanke are another unreached people group in Mali! If this weren’t enough, our team continues to grow, thanks to support from the Evangelical Mennonite Church of Burkina Faso (EMCBF) that FEC helped plant nearly 40 years ago. God is doing new things in West Africa—indeed!
