Imagine waking up tomorrow in the heart of West Africa. You find yourself in a village of farmers whose language you don’t speak. As you open the wobbly, tin door of your mud hut and step out into the warm morning air, you hear several things: the call to prayer at the Muslim mosque, chickens clucking nervously, and the voices of your neighbours beginning their day. You wonder what the neighbours are saying.

This is a snap-shot of how Carol and I began our time among the Nanerige people 20 years ago. Our hearts yearned to open up the meaning of the Bible for villagers who had never heard it before. We plunged ourselves into the challenge of learning to understand our neighbours. Today, we have the thrill of listening to some of these same neighbours as they share with each other, with great enthusiasm and conviction, what God is talking about in the Bible!

Last spring I listened to one of our Nanerige teammates read highlights from the book of Genesis to a group of villagers who were eager to hear God’s Word. Having done the translation himself, Pastor Maliki Ouattara had spent many hours thinking about its meaning for his people. Now, as the group listened, they were struck by God’s grace as our ancestors (“children-of-Adam” as people say here) did terrible things that should have brought on the death penalty. But each time they repented, God let them live!

When Maliki got to the story of Noah and the ark, things turned in a different direction.

Having first heard the Noah story in Sunday school, I have carried with me visions of bunnies and rainbows. Yet, that’s not what the Nanerige people imagined as they listened. The ark story is a very dark episode, and these people ‘got it.’

After finishing the story, Maliki put down his book, looked into the eyes of his listeners, and said something I wasn’t ready for. “The way that people made fun of Noah as he built the ark is just like the way that people today make fun of the Church. God gave it to us to save us. This is what the scriptures will explain – if you continue to listen. We can ridicule the Church for being a tiny minority in this town right now. We can even hurt those working to build it, but we can’t change the fact that what is going on today is exactly like what happened in Noah’s time. We need to be saved and God is making a way. If we join Jesus and help build the Church, then when God ‘shuts the door,’ we will be safe inside and come out into the new life that God has for us. This world will end.

But God is gracious. He has given us Jesus and the Church.”

I was in awe of Maliki’s clear-sighted summary. I was re-inspired to love and build Jesus’ Church; as our team is now doing – even though people are criticizing this ‘new religion.’ The Church is the apple of Jesus’ eye, and the tool that God is using to save anyone who wants to be rescued from death and the emptiness of this world.

There are 80,000 Nanerige living in one of the most ignored corners of the world, but God knows them well. And He is reaching them in a way that he had not done before. In Isaiah 55:10-11, God speaks about the way his Word works in the world: “I send it out and it always produces fruit. [My word] will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper wherever I send it.” Because we believe this, we translated that Word. For years we wondered if people would accept it. Now we see two growing church plants among the Nanerige! God has sent his Word.

Unity among believers is extremely important here. The spread of Christianity is causing divisions in families and communities. Some believers have lost jobs and financial security because of their faith. Yet, small groups are beginning to form around Christ. They are often ridiculed. Their small size seems like a sign that they are wrong.

It is hard for new believers to remain faithful under these conditions. But they are holding on. And they are forgiving their enemies, not insulting them. They continue to offer help to those who reject them. The believers are also taking care of each other in new ways, partly because of the persecution they face. They used to support only their extended family. Now they help one another. Others are surprised by the loving care that reaches across family and ethnic divisions.

Imagine what God could do through your church if the believers saw themselves as “Noah’s” on assignment from God to build Jesus’ Church!

By Phil Bergen