Laboring Together

Imagine standing in a dusty West African village in the bush as a mission volunteer for just a week. Imagine the steady "thump, thump" of the mortar and pestle as the women pound millet in the morning. You would stare at the grass huts, hand-dug wells and cooking fires. You would see babies tied on their mother's backs and old men fingering prayer beads from the local religion. To duck into a house, you might pass under bone and feather fetishes tied above the door. Children would swarm around you, giggling at your white skin. Everything about you would be different from the people around you except your common need for Jesus. You would want to tell them about a God who loves them. It would be the sole purpose for your visit.

Missionaries in West Africa depend on volunteers to co-labor with them to accomplish the urgent task of spreading the Gospel message. There is also a great need for volunteers to work alongside West African Baptists who will in turn use what they have been learned to go into the farthest corners of West Africa with the message of Christ. Ministry opportunities for volunteers abound: prayerwalking, evangelizing the unreached, providing medical clinics, teaching in Bible schools and seminaries, leading Bible studies, counseling and encouraging pastors and their wives, conducting "True Love Waits" abstinence seminars, working with youth, and much more. God calls each volunteer to fulfill a vital role. One missionary recently shared, "How excited I was to greet the chief and have him ask about the recent volunteer teams that had visited. Each team that comes to the village makes an impact and plants a few more seeds."

Summer is an especially busy time when many volunteers of all ages travel from the U.S.A. to minister in West Africa. Pray that each of these volunteers will be faithful and obedient to accept every witnessing opportunity that God provides. Ask God to prepare the hearts of the West Africans to receive the Gospel message. Pray that God will convict the hearts of thousands of Southern Baptists to serve as volunteers in West Africa. Pray about your own willingness to come and share the love of Jesus with those who do not yet know Him.

Learn more about ministry opportunities in West Africa.