At least 53 Questions to Ask New Workers to West Africa
re Strategies and Adaption to New Cultures:

Is there a written strategy document?
Do they understand contextualizing the gospel?
Do they understand that not all methods work in all places?  That not all media is appropriate for all situations?
Can they tell Bible stories?  Do they know the seven key characteristics of God useful in SLM evangelism?
Can they do personal witness in another culture setting?
How does their agency train workers for ministry here?  How many months?
What cross-cultural training is done in the home country? 
What training is planned to be done in West Africa?  What cross-cultural orientation will be done?  How often?
Is continuing education encouraged?  Will they be studying while on the field?
What kind of supervision is planned?  What model?  How often? 
Do they have a mentor for spiritual life & growth?  Would they like one?
What kinds of evaluations and debriefing will be conducted?  How often?
How often will they leave the district for conferences and vacation?

Benjie holding a ....... ?

 What language learning method will be used?  Have they had specific training in this method?
Can they learn a language in the field without direct supervision?
Do they understand social structure issues?  Have they had any anthropology courses? 
Do they have any plan for understanding the social structure of the culture in which they’ll work?
Have they considered what effect the discovered social structure will have on their strategy?
Do they understand the stages of culture adaption and culture shock? 
Have they looked at all the possible ways to educate their children?  Would they accept far away MK dorms for their precious ones?

Can they suspend judgment of a culture for the first year or more?
Can they settle beforehand the question of trust in relationships?
Have they studied working on conflict resolution in team relations and also in relations with nationals?
What do they know of spiritual warfare?  Do they practice fasting? 
Have they studied animism and folk Islam?
What is their understanding of revelation, dreams, visions, and God’s healing?
What kind of lifestyle do they expect?  Can they live simply?  What transport?
Do they understand the issues of bonding?  Who will they bond with?
Will they want a village house and also a base house in a larger city? Or just one place?
Have they studied Islam?  Have they studied the varieties of SLM in West Africa?
Have they studied well the concepts of the Trinity, Jesus’ incarnation, God’s grace, inspiration of the Bible, & destiny/fatalism to answer common SLM questions?
Have they read on West African history and current politics?  How many of these 18 countries’ current presidents can they name?  Which ones are French or English?  Which ones are Christian?
Do they have a personal holiness commitment?  Are they intimate with God?  Would there be testimonial references for this available?
Are they able to feed from the Bible and God directly?  What is their practice of study and worship and prayer?
Will they be able to freely worship in other orders of service, sing in other forms, and use other forms of prayer?
Do they practice absolute dependency on Jesus Christ in all areas i.e. relationships, money, protection in bad places, health, travel, family, kid’s education, ministry results, language & cultural ability, etc.?  

Do they understand servant-leadership roles?
Are they comfortable with, do they respect people of other races, languages, education, & economic levels? 
If they are African-American (or African-European), do they understand the special expectations & challenges on them in Africa?
If they are African, do they understand the special challenges on them in Islamic West Africa?
Have they studied issues of poverty and community development? 
Have they worked out concepts & strategies of outreach via development?
Have they studied issues of church dependency?  Are they committed to circumventing it?
Have they worked out how to handle beggars, scammers, the truly needy, and pan handlers in a gracious way?
What skills/jobs/vocations have they trained for?  Business? Farming? Health care? Accounting? Teaching?
How flexible and adaptable are they?  Can they tolerate significant changes in their assignment while on the field?
Do they value networking and partnering with other agencies?
Do they see the value of using the OT in SLM evangelism for redefining God for the Muslim?
Can they tell the difference of a sheep and a goat? 

and here we have two ......  ?

After thirty years in the business, Jenn & I are still learning.  We have some notion of answers on these, and others unasked, but we have yet to answer all fully.  New workers must consider these and set a goal of attempting to answer them as they live and minister among our friends.

prayer updates April 2011

I want to update pray-ers on how things are coming with previous requests.

1/  Digging at the well in Fulani nomad village of Duduya has progressed to 26 yrds deep, but blasting in the very hard rock is slow, and not much more water has been found.  We will stop in a few days and wait until after the coming rainy season. Pray for God's provision of funds to reach 30 yrds deep.  btw:  It is very hot and dry here now, it was over 120 degrees the other day (in shade) with promise that Easter will be celebrated on a very hot day.

2/ Our good friend Hasel Sow, an older Fulani nomad, is very sick with a cancer, and Jim hopes to visit him in Assoum soon with some other Fulani believers to encourage him and to be encouraged in the word and faith.

Hasel on left ready to pour his tea,
Oumar on right, one of the Bile school students

3/ The reconciliation process of the Malian church association, AGEMPEM, is moving, but slowly.  The next meeting, where we expect good progress, is not until June!  It is critical to achieve much more progress before assembly meets again in September.  Pray for wisdom for the reconciliation committee members:  Pastors Dondo and Kalan, Ruth, & Jim.

4/  Some missionary coworkers have been hit by severe challenges of health and culture adaption, pray especially for new workers Andrew, Sherry and Eva.  Andrew spent three months with us in Kayes and is now hosting as Chinese team from Hong Kong in Dakar.  He will return to Canada in June before Mary and he come back to Kayes in September.

5/ Two Fulani brothers are studying in Bible schools: Ousman in Cameroon is writing his final thesis, on polygamy in Senegal, and Oumar is back in Benin for his 2nd year of studies.  UWM is helping partly with their scholarships.

6/ The Malian Malinké pastors will be helping churches in the Nyagala and Bafing areas with evangelism campaigns.  Pray for hosting pastors Toma, Joel, & Yousouf, as they work with Pierre, Sekou, Eli, and Jacques.  Also, Pastors Founeké and Pierre will be conducting a dry season preparatory school for mountain village kids in Kenieba in May.

What we did in 2010: by the numbers

1: woman of the Soninké tribe discipled through weekly Bible studies and baptism preparation. (Jennifer)
1: Christian FM-radio station launched by a Malian Christian NGO with help from UWM (we have provided facilities and electricity, and helped them to find equipment); they currently broadcast about 18 hrs/day.
1: semester served on board of Dakar Academy. (Jennifer)
1: graduate class for education degree. (Jennifer)
1: son graduated from Dakar Academy, with honors.
2: new missionaries recruited for MALI, in a seconding agreement with WEC.
2: evangelism and medical teams to the Moors (about 15 participants all told, to 8 villages altogether).
5: meetings of the Malian Assoc. of Evangelicals attended by Jim, where he is serving on the Committee of Reconciliation to head off a split in the organization.

6: men taught in Bambara language Bible school (in partnership with Norwegian Lutheran Mission).

10: meetings with the local Christian school committee (see pix).
10: ESL teachers whom Jennifer observed and trained in Bamako during 2 weeks in January.
15: meetings in churches last summer, and we were featured at the Missions Night of the Annual Conference of the Church of Christ (Holiness), an African-American denomination, in St. Louis.
22: visits to disciple new Fulani believer in Kayes (who came to Christ through the controversial "Common Ground" method of evangelism). (Jim)
27: women trained in leadership seminars (in partnership with Marcie Harris). (Jennifer)
28: years celebrated married to same spouse!
35: Christian Fulani leaders hosted in MICCAO annual conference in Kayes for one week
30: visits to Fulani villages for outreach and supervision of the well project in Duduya. (Jim)
40: meetings with the Kayes Pastors' Cooperative for prayer and planning of joint evangelistic events. (Jim)
49: shows of original Star Trek watched!
52: beggars helped on our front porch by prayer, food, Bible reading, cash, work, clothing, loans, empathy, medicine, counsel, etc.

75: visits drinking tea to do friendship evangelism among mostly Fulani friends, often playing Bible story cassettes or mp3 players like the Megavoice. (Jim)

150: radio broadcasts managed in the Fulani & Moor languages (on 2 different stations).

12,000: miles traveled June-August in the USA & Canada to facilitate partnerships, raise funds, promote ministry, and keep in touch with supporters including many visits with churches and dear friends.