Advent in Burkina Faso: Volunteer Army

Advent is a time of waiting.  Waiting in a time of darkness, a time of longing.  We see a picture of that in Burkina Faso.

Discipling Marketplace Leaders has two very strong leaders in Burkina Faso, a land-locked nation in West Africa, with a population of 21.5 million, one of the ten poorest countries in the world. This country has had a difficult year, to put it mildly.  January saw a coup d'état with an army general taking over from the elected president due to slow-to-no progress fighting the continued terrorism by a jihadi insurgency which has caused the country to lose close to 40% of their land.  This terrorist fight has been ongoing since 2015.

Unfortunately, this particular army general didn't have much success either, and was overthrown in a second coup d'état in September, just three months ago, by another military leader.  Both coups were relatively peaceful, which is quite something.

But this particular army leader has done something different, acknowledging that the army of Burkina Faso does not have the resources or manpower to be successful against the terrorists, and therefore called for volunteer army at the beginning of November.  They were hoping to have 50,000 civilians join but received 90,000 civilians sign up to join the fight.  I'm told they are young men and women, middle aged men and women, and older men and women, from age 18 to 77 years of age.  They were to receive fourteen days of training and then sent out.

Just pause and think about that for a minute.  What would it take for a civilian to respond to such a call for service?  What level of frustration, anger, sadness, despair would cause 90,000 people to put their own lives at risk after just 14 days of training?  It tells you that the frustration and pain run very deep.  

Our DML prayer team has been praying in earnest for Burkina Faso in this last week.  I keep imagining an 18-year-old young woman who signed up under protest from her parents.  She went in with lots of passion and energy, and now may be wondering what she got herself into, especially as she sees people who signed up with her killed in the line of battle.  She is out there in a strange place, so far out of her comfort zone, maybe wishing she had never signed up.  But abandonment is not an option, and so she presses on, wiping tears from her eyes as she feels overwhelmed but what she is doing.  

Oh Lord, how we need you as the Prince of Peace.

This week on of our leaders shared that his home village is being taken over by the terrorists and needs to be evacuated - all 35,000 people that live there.  They were trying to move them as fast as possible to Ouagadougou, the capital.  He was able to get his parents and family out, but then comes the additional challenge of housing and feeding.  More than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced in Burkina Faso due to this ongoing terrorism.

While I wonder at times how to celebrate Christmas in the midst of so much pain, I'm reminded that we are in the season of Advent, a time of waiting.  This waiting happens in the context of darkness, as the need for Jesus is recognized and longed for.  The world wants us to think that Christmas is all about lights and food and gifts, but that was not the environment in which Christ entered.  And at this time, it's okay to sit in lament and ask, "How long, Lord?  Will you forget [them] forever?  How long will you hide your face...?" (Psalm 13)

Please join us in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Burkina Faso, that their voice of longing may be heard by the Prince of Peace and that 2023 may be a year where the citizens of Burkina Faso may return to a time of flourishing, able to do what God has given for them to do. 

Christianity Shrinking - Local Missionaries Increasing

Within the space of about an hour the other day, I received two articles.  One, from LICC, was called, "The Census Results:  Should We Panic?" and the other, from Christianity Today, was entitled, "Finding Your Place in the Global Mission Field."

Both presented the same sobering picture and both provided the same exciting potential.  The sobering picture is that the proportion of people calling themselves Christians is shrinking.  The census data from the UK shows that those who self-describe as Christians dropped from 71% in 2001 to 46.2% in 2021.  The historic role that Christianity has played in politics and culture is changing dramatically and it is obvious to most Christians around the world.  COVID certainly played a part in that, but it isn't entirely the fault of COVID.  

At the same time, both tell the story of the church changing the way we define missions, from global to local.  It tells the story of missions in North America and argues that perhaps the church gathered has made the Great Commission too complicated.  We have emphasized "going" by sending individuals or groups on short- or long-term mission projects to other parts of the world, rather than a local approach.  The article in Christianity Today says this:

Arguably, the most effective missionaries are the local pastors and Christians working day in and day out to minister to their communities. These local missionaries have organic relationships with the people in their care and a built-in knowledge of language and culture that allows them to convey the love of Christ effectually. 

When you are local, you understand the language, the culture, and the protocol in order to be effective.  It is easier and more cost effective to have every Christian be equipped to be the church every day of the week rather than raising support to send someone halfway around the world.  While there is a growing awareness of the need for this equipping of all members, there continues to be a clinging to the old model of missions.  We certainly have seen that in the work of Discipling Marketplace Leaders.  Changing the paradigm of the church gathered to the church scattered is not fast or easy.

But changing this model could reverse the trends that we are seeing of the decline of Christianity in the world.  Understanding that evangelism isn't something you do like a program, but rather it's the life that you live, can be transformational.  We have the opportunity to fulfill the Great Commitment, Great Commandment, and Great Commission every day of the week while at our workplaces.  And we have certainly seen that in Discipling Marketplace Leaders with testimony after testimony of what God is doing in and through His members when they are equipped to be the church in their workplace!

The article talks about the Lutheran Hour Ministries changing the way they do missions to include this.  At DML, we continue to see more churches and denominations recognizing not only the potential but the need for this change, not only for the benefit of the world but also for the benefit of the church, both local and global.  We believe in 2023, there will be significant movement in this direction in several key denominations in Africa.

God is moving His Church and is calling us to remember the purpose of our creation: to glorify Him by bringing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, little by little, day by day, for every person who claims Jesus as Lord and Savior.

As we come to the end of this year, we look forward with excitement to what God seems to be doing in His global church.  Our sixteen local teams are working hard across Africa, Nicaragua, and India to help this word go out.  If you would like to share in this message going further, please consider a year-end gift to Discipling Marketplace Leaders.  We have a generous donor who has offered to match gifts up to $30,000 through December 31st.  We about halfway there right now and need your help to get all the way!  Please join us or email me for more information (renita@dmleaders.org).  

Thank you!