Spreading The Gospel to West Africa & Beyond
Hudson Taylor, famed missionary to China said, “There are three indispensable requirements for a missionary: 1. Patience 2. Patience 3. Patience.” The long-term results of mission efforts should be celebrated. For over 40 years, FEC has been planting churches in West Africa. Over time, that labor has resulted in helping to establish the Evangelical Mennonite Church (EMC) of Burkina Faso and, more recently, a partnership with them to plant churches among the Yalunka in Mali.
For over 10 years, FEC’s missionary team worked in West Africa, reaching out to the unreached Yalunka people of southwest Mali. The Yalunka comprise a group of 214, 500 people living in four countries: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Mali (<a href=”http://peoplegroups.org/”><em>Peoplegroups.org</em></a>). Because of the mountainous terrain and distance between villages, groups of Yalunka speak different dialects. Following nearly a decade of the pioneering work of evangelism and outreach in the Yalunka region of southwest Mali, Yalunka Christ followers emerged in several of the Yalunka villages. Through prayer and God’s providence, the FEC team connected these Yalunka believers with church leaders from Burkina Faso. The two groups discovered that they shared a common trade language. The trade language allows communication in a way that would not otherwise have been easy or even possible.
After 10 years of initial pioneering work, FEC now partners with the church leaders from Burkina Faso who now lead the outreach to the Yalunka people in Mali. God has raised up a missionary pastor from Burkina Faso to plant new churches in the region, Yaya Bengali, and his wife, Medina. About the mission effort, Siaka Traore, a long-time leader in the Burkina Faso EMC, said, “35 years ago we were unreached like the Yalunka, now it is our turn to share the gospel among this unreached group.” We celebrate God bringing His work full circle and we are honored to partner with our sister churches of Burkina Faso in this evangelism, discipleship and church planting ministry among the Yalunka people.
Read the latest updates:
Meet the new Missionary Family to Yalunkaland
God called Yaya and Media Bengaly as missionaries to the Yalunka people while planting and pastoring a church in Burkina Faso. The Bengalys are approved missionaries from the Evangelical Mennonite Church of Burkina Faso. In May 2022, they moved to the town of Falea in southwest Mali to continue the pioneering church planting work initiated by FEC among the Yalunka in that region. The Bengalys have experience working among rural people involved in folk Islam and are investing in evangelism, discipling, teaching and training leaders among the Yalunka. In recent months, God is providing a harvest of souls, and the initial Yalunka church in Falea has taken root. FEC works in partnership with the EMC-Burkina Faso to reach the Yalunka people of Southwest Mali.
