Walking With Church Planters in West Africa: A Vision Trip That Led to Impact

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to witness the work of MTW through the West African Reform Mission (WARM) in Senegal and The Gambia. As I have been collecting my thoughts after trip, I was reminded how God is indeed the master storyteller who weaves our lives together in amazing ways.

Over two years ago, my wife, Sandy, and I attended the MTW West Coast Ambassadors Weekend, a donor gathering highlighting MTW projects, where we met MTW missionaries Jim and Karen Weaver, their son Roman, and Pastor Mamadou from the Presbyterian Church of Senegal. My wife and I were familiar with the African continent as we had lived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for three years serving with the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS). Although we were sent through a sending organization other than MTW, we were very close to the MTW missionary community in Ethiopia and were well acquainted with their church-planting efforts. However, this was our first time hearing about church planting among the Wolof people in Senegal, a Muslim-majority nation in West Africa.

Moved by Stories of God’s Faithfulness

Sandy and I were struck by the testimony of the Weavers, which included trials involving their adoptions, a home invasion robbery, and a horrendous traumatic injury leading to amputation, yet they were still moving forward with the assurance of God’s calling and the hope of planting Reformed churches in West Africa.

We were also moved by Pastor Mamadou, a towering yet gentle figure with a soft humble voice, telling us about the Timothy Houses where young pastors and church leaders are being trained and discipled. That was also the first time we heard about Teranga Village, the evolution of the safe girls home started by Pastor Mamadou and his wife, where at-risk girls grow in gospel understanding through a caring group home environment. My wife was particularly touched by the vision of Teranga Village, as it will literally move this community of girls into a new village on the outskirts of Dakar, to be a living witness of gospel hope to the neighboring Muslim villages.

When I heard about a MTW Ambassadors donor vision trip being organized to visit Senegal and The Gambia, my initial thought was “My wife would really want to go and see how the Teranga Village project is going. Sign us up.” As the date drew near, however, my wife’s pressing responsibilities as women’s ministry director at our church prevented her from going. That is how I found myself traveling to Dakar on my own, meeting up with MTW Director of Partner Relations Jim Miller and two other gentlemen at my transfer in New York’s JFK airport, and MTW Western Director Robin Lee and his wife, Irene, on the ground in Dakar.

The next 10 days were a whirlwind of travel between Dakar and Banjul, the capital cities of Senegal and The Gambia, meeting laborers in Christ serving with MTW, RUF Global, and WARM. After an adventurous border crossing into The Gambia and a harrowing ferry trip to Banjul, we met up with Pastor Bob Davis, a retired pastor who appeared to be working pretty hard, but with great joy, to support the Timothy House in The Gambia. The thing that really stood out to me was that all of these missionaries were not there to take center stage, but doing everything they can to empower the Senegalese and Gambian pastors and leaders to serve their people in gospel truth and humility.

It was this spirit of humility and sacrifice among the young men being trained and discipled at the Timothy Houses that really struck me. Their stories of conversion from Islam to Christianity, often initiated through healing of a significant illness, and the subsequent rejection by their Muslim families, clearly revealed how God had pursued these men and were using them for the sake of the Church. Their method of training, which combines theological studies with vocational preaching and real time feedback from their teachers and peers, reminded me of the model of graduated responsibility which I had gone through many years ago in surgical residency. In this setting, this model aims to develop real life skills in preaching and conflict management for these young pastors among the fledgling churches in the WARM network. On several occasions, we got to pray with these men, and also visit pastors who had graduated from the Timothy House, and share a traditional meal of thieboudienne(pronounced “chebu jen”) around a large communal bowl.

A Classic Car Helps Build the Church

In this part of the world, it seemed like there was a mosque in every small dusty town that we passed. One day our bus pulled up to such a village to meet a pastor and his family living among the people. The church we visited had walls, but a flimsy corrugated roof and dirt floors. Through their testimonies, I knew that God was working among this village through this church. Seeing what I saw as a member of the body of Christ, it didn’t seem right for me not to do something to assist this congregation when I had the means to do so. At that moment, I thought of the extra cars that I have in my garage, and I felt a clear nudge in my heart to sell my 90s classic car to help the church planting efforts of WARM.

I cherished that car (BMW E36 M3 5-speed for any car buffs out there) and I hadn’t said anything as I wasn’t sure I could go through with the commitment upon my return. So I decided to share my pledge with the group from the recent vision trip to keep me accountable. After a few false leads and time taken by some young buyers with big dreams and small budgets, a fellow car guy and amateur racer from San Diego drove up to buy the car. It was bittersweet to see my beloved car go, but I knew that my donation through the sale would bring much more lasting joy than driving this car on the weekends and waiting for the next oil leak. Jim Weaver let me know that I could double the impact of my gift by giving to certain MTW projects and Ambassador funds which had matching grants. This multiplication effect was made possible by the generosity of other anonymous donors and I thank them sincerely.

I hadn’t known much about this part of the African continent before this trip. I realize that their respective French and British colonial histories are complex, however it seems that Senegal and The Gambia have been overlooked by much of the world. Seeing the work of WARM reminded me that our faithful God has not overlooked this place and its unreached peoples. Just as the semi-arid Sahel (the transition zone between the Sahara Desert and the more tropical savanna to the south) can still grow crops, I believe that these young churches planted by WARM, will grow and bring living water to these unreached nations, to the glory of God.

Encourage your church to coordinate a vision trip by contacting missionaries they support. Or visit mtw.org/trips to browse upcoming trips.