Though these dolls don’t actually talk, they have a message to share with children in Tanzania.
Berea First has made 800 dolls for a mission trip to Tanzania.Ten mission volunteers from Berea First Baptist Church in Greenville -?and three from First Baptist Church of Gowensville in Landrum – will be carrying along more than 800 dolls, made and hand-painted by members of Greenville area churches. Each of the dolls wears a necklace of?colored beads, which team members will use to share the message of salvation with children in the Masai villages of Arusha, Tanzania, where the team plans to visit March 3-17.
Working through the International Mission Board and African national pastors, the team will be evangelizing, planting churches and strengthening indigenous churches in a tribal area where many have not heard the gospel, said Berea associate pastor of missions and discipleship Charlie Barnett. ?
The dolls also tell of the Berea congregation’s love for God’s children in Tanzania. More than 60 people attended one of three recent “Build-A-Doll” workshops at the church, stuffing and sewing the fabric, painting the faces, and making necklaces for the dolls to support the mission team.
“The workshops were truly an intergenerational activity, with three generations working together on a doll, in some cases,” said senior pastor Ronald Vaughan. “And it was both a great fellowship event as well as a mission support activity.”
Youth, GAs, Acteens and adult missions organizations have also joined in the effort.?”We’re sending 13 volunteers, but a team of hundreds have been involved in this mission effort when you put everything together,” he noted.
A commissioning service for the team, where the dolls were displayed in the church sanctuary, was held Feb. 25.
The church began its “Dolls on Mission” ministry following a conference at Ridgecrest at which a missionary had shown a doll that looked like a hat feather. “This is what little girls in Mali play with,” she explained.
Burdened by the image of that makeshift doll, members from the Berea church designed, made and sent about 100 dolls to Mali, said Susan Bishop, a member of the WMU at Berea who was the catalyst for the ministry.
During the last 10 years, hundreds of dolls have been made by Berea members, and the congregation has received e-mails from grateful missionaries, Bishop said.
The “Dolls on Mission” ministry has grown into a churchwide effort. Not only are dolls sent on mission trips sponsored by Berea, but members have also shared the patterns with other churches for mission trips, Barnett noted.
The dolls have undergone several makeovers and have evolved into girl dolls named “Grace” and boy dolls named “Timothy,” with their fabric, faces, and hair reflecting the culture for which they are designed.
Referring to 1 Corinthians 15:58, Bishop said, “The doll-makers have thrown themselves into the work of the Master and they are confident that a little sewing, a little painting, and a little stuffing will not be a waste of time or effort; rather, they will be a blessing to children all over the world as a concrete example of God’s love for them and their families.”