Receiving the Message of Hope

"If good works don't save you, what hope do you have?" Steve asked the crowd of Bambara villagers around him. A weathered old man spoke. "We have no hope. No hope! You've got to come back and explain more about this new religion to us. We can't understand it all tonight. You must come back."

Steve had gone to F-village to show it to a group of volunteers from Florida. But they chose to adopt another Bambara village. So when Beulah Baptist Church in South Carolina sent its vision team, Steve took them to F-village, too. He translated for the volunteers' pastor, and at the end, that same old man stood up and said, ""Everyone who wants to convert, follow me!" And about 20 did!

In a nearby village, several men and women also said they wanted to be Christians. But the weeds of persecution soon choked out the initial joy for many of them. A month later, one of the women who had originally prayed to receive Christ said, "I just can't leave" the other world religion. "When the prayer call sounds, I just have to bow down, or I shake. No one will help us if we become believers in Jesus. We'll be all alone."

Beulah Baptist Church, along with its association, has adopted both those villages, and they are praying. Among the villagers who initially converted, about half remain true to the faith. Fifteen of them were baptized in March. "We are just praying that many, many would come to faith," one new believer said. God is answering these prayers. On one occasion, four men walked from a village three miles away to hear Steve teach. Each of them gave his life to Christ. Another night, 10 women in F-village said they wanted to be saved.

PLEASE PRAY:

1. For the South Carolina volunteers that are ministering in F-village this month. Ask God to give them wisdom as they disciple the new Bambara believers.
2. That the new Christian women will remain in the faith and have opportunities for discipleship. Their workload is so difficult that they often cannot meet with the men for teaching. Ask God to raise up laborers to teach them.
3. That a vibrant, reproducing church will be firmly established in F-village and develop into a church planting movement!

Steve and Susan Roach - Bambara Team