Mali or Azawad—Religious Freedom or Oppression?

For many years, Mali, West Africa, has been one of few predominantly Muslim countries offering some degree of religious freedom, but the opportunity has been seldom utilized by servants of Christ.

So, others have seized control of the country. In January of 2012, an alliance of fierce Tuareg separatists (another mostly unreached people group) and Al-Quaeda affiliated rebels, armed with Qaddafi’s left-over weaponry, took control of the northern two-thirds of the country, renaming it Azawad. The provisional capital was Gao, but the intended one was Timbuktu (yes, it does exist!). The few Christians who had moved to the area from the south were forced to flee—a Bible school in Gao was closed.

France has continued to help its former colony over the years, and when the rebels crossed their own boundary in January of this year, it was too much to take. French military units assisted the Malian army in driving rebel forces into the mountains, where they continue to mount guerilla attacks.

Despite the uprising, methods of evangelism and discipleship are still available—radio broadcasts, literature distribution (alongside of literacy work), even street evangelism. About 75% of the population is illiterate, so audio cassettes, MP3 players, and SMS cards for mobile phones—all are useful tools in telling the Story.

Not too long ago, one of our workers was traveling with a Malian pastor, visiting individual believers in the wide, sandy diaspora that is typical for the Sahel zone. They visited a little group and began to study the Scriptures. ‘Safwan’  was keenly interested, so ‘Stephan’ (a ReachAcross worker) gave him some Bible study helps, which he devoured. But where had Safwan got his Bible from? There aren’t any bookstores in his tiny village, and even if there were, the Bible certainly wouldn’t be available.

The mystery was soon solved as Safwan told his story: His father had become a committed Christian during his stint in the Malian army. Service completed, he had returned to his home village, where nobody else knew about his new-found faith. He remained the only Christian in his village until the day he died, but some time later, his son brought his father’s old Bible to our meeting. The seed that had lain dormant for a few years began to bear fruit.

With the equivalent of a fourth-grade education, Safwan had trouble reading some passages, but his comprehension is improving. He likes listening to cassette tapes of Bible portions—especially when he can follow along in his New Testament—the Old Testament isn’t available yet (a team of translators is working on it). God is working in the life of this soldier’s son.

Please pray for Mali. Safwan himself gathered in a good harvest of peanuts last year—most families are not so blessed, and if the rainfall isn’t sufficient in late summer, famine will again be just around the corner, as happened in 2012. More important still is the spiritual harvest that is just as meager. Neither type of famine—peanuts or the Bread of Life—is necessary, if God’s people will respond to His call.

Pray that God’s Kingdom will prevail in Mali.

Translated, with additions and revisions, from the German. 

Update from South East Asia: Who Is Teaching Whom?

These are not our participants, for security reasons we cannot photograph those brave brothers,
 but it is simple working men like these that are leaders of house churches in South Asia

As we have been teaching this church planting seminar to South East Asian Muslim background believers, we are continually impressed with their faith, and with just how much we from the West have to learn from them.

‘Samuel’ is a grandfather in the faith. He led ‘Simon’ to faith in Christ, and Simon did the same for ‘Ruha.’ All three are currently attending the training sessions here in South Asia, and all three are pastors of house fellowships.

They don’t necessarily use the word ‘church,’ or even the word ‘Christian’, because both terms are associated with negative ideas. The main problem is that the old wineskins just aren’t the right fit for the new ‘wine’ of God’s transforming power. They don’t want the buildings, programs, or entertainment of Western Christianity, they want a real life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ for themselves, their families and their communities. They spent their day Saturday looking for Muslims in the local area and sharing God’s love with them.

Even as we teach them, they are teaching us. Here’s what I mean:

We are teaching them theories and principles. For example, we taught them Jesus’ parable about the houses built on the rock and sand: ‘Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock’ (Matt 7:24-25).  We analyzed the story with them using the education we've been blessed with. We looked for the key words and ideas, and stressed that the rock is obedience to Christ, not simply knowledge of Christ.

They are teaching us the practice. These are, for the most part, farmers, fishermen, and handworkers, who labor by day, and minister to others at night. They left their jobs in order to come here for this three weeks of training, and at the very least, they will lose their whole monthly income (maybe around $200) in order to be here. They might get their job back when they go home, but they will struggle to feed young families. The ‘winds’ of persecution and hardship are slamming against the ‘house’ of their lives and families all the time.

Most of them pastor at least two fellowships of Muslim background believers who meet in homes at least once a week, and some more often than that. All know what it is to suffer rejection for Jesus.  Some can never go back to their extended families.

So who are the real teachers here, us or them? Sure, we have perhaps more knowledge and resources. We come from a part of the world where Christianity has a long history of dominance and we are the heirs of this history. They live in a land dominated by other religions and live in constant danger of persecution. They aren’t yet acquainted much with principles of Bible interpretation and background information, but they are experienced in the area of spiritual warfare, and have seen many people delivered from demonic oppression. They know Jesus personally (many have had first-hand encounters in dreams or visions). As we have shared with them, we have learned amazing lessons in faith, obedience and trust.

Even if I were to never come back to this place, I will never forget these brothers: Samuel, Simon, Ruah, Nehemiah, Philip, Samson, David 1, David 2, Silas, Abraham, Pontus, and Timothy. Then there are the new ones who came just this week: Peter (also a father in the faith), Philemon, Titus, John, and Barnabas. 

Thanks for praying for them, and for us:—Joshua, Titus, Eric, Miriam, and John—we have five more teaching days with them. Pray that the Lord would use us to fill them and encourage them for the last five days of teaching. Also pray that God would use these men to teach us what true obedience and faith looks like.

-Eric Adams

P.S. You may wonder how all of these men are named from the Bible. For security reasons, no real names are used in this post. These South Asian brothers each chose a name from the Bible to identify with. Please keep them in your prayers.