While a military coup in the West African country of Mali has rendered uncertain a South Carolina church’s immediate plans to return there, the church’s continual presence in a Malian village over the last five years means the advancement of the gospel is not in doubt.
Two months before simmering political unrest erupted into a military coup in Mali, West Africa, members of The Church Unleashed @ Beulah traveled to the area to launch a fifth consecutive year of multiple-visit missions trips. Villagers celebrated the anniversary with a “feast.”The Church Unleashed @ Beulah (previously known as Beulah Baptist Church) in Hopkins, near Columbia, planted a church in a village in Mali in 2007 and established a beachhead for spreading the gospel to surrounding villages. Residents of “F-Village,” so named as to protect the identity of converts to Christianity, built a large, permanent mud hut for the visitors from South Carolina and declared them “resident friends.” (Visit http://www.baptistcourier.wpengine.com/1814.article to read the original article.)
In the years since, Beulah pastor Brad Bessent and missionary volunteers from his church have made up to six trips annually to the village, where they have trained new Christians to share their faith orally by telling Bible stories. Beulah volunteers have also worked with villagers to help them adopt more efficient farming methods.
New Christians in Mali have shown a willingness to travel to nearby villages to tell the Bible stories, and Bessent hopes the fledgling Christian missionaries from F-Village will “take ownership of all that is happening” on the ground in Mali during the days of unpredictability following the coup.
Rebellious factions of Mali’s army stormed the presidential palace during the night of March 22, announcing on state television the following day that they had ended president Amadou Toumani Toure’s rule, suspended the constitution and closed Mali’s borders.
At least one Southern Baptist church’s mission team was temporarily stranded in Mali when the national airport was closed, and Southern Baptist humanitarian aid workers in Bamako, Mali’s capital, have endured the sound of nearly constant weapons fire since the coup began.
The United States joined a chorus of voices – including the United Nations, European Union and many of Mali’s West African neighbors – in condemning the coup and demanding return to constitutional rule. Mali’s military pledged to hold elections once national unity is restored.
The American embassy in Bamako advised U.S. citizens in Mali to stay indoors.
A team from Bessent’s church was scheduled to travel to Mali in April, but that trip was delayed indefinitely in light of the unfolding unrest. Bessent said he might not have cancelled the trip if it had represented an opportunity to introduce the gospel in a place where it had not been heard, but Beulah’s five-year presence in Mali (along with other Southern Baptist churches and missionaries) means the gospel has a foothold and will continue to be shared person to person, village to village.
When two Muslim men stopped to observe a farming project at a village in Mali, West Africa, in 2011, Brad Bessent and a team of missions volunteers from The Church Unleashed @ Beulah (located near Columbia, in Hopkins) took the opportunity to share the gospel with them.Commenting on his blog (http://bradunleashed.wordpress.com) the day after the coup, Bessent wrote: “When I heard the news – I could not help but weep. Weep and pray. I have too many friends there. I have seen so many beautiful children and people. I have enjoyed their smiles. I have enjoyed their hospitality, even when they had so little to share.
“The villagers tell me that is my home. So my heart is heavy. I will pray diligently for them.”
In another post, Bessent wrote: “When I was [in F-Village] in early February this year, I told the believers in our village that the day may soon come when we could not get to them, either because of the economy, or, more likely, the unrest in the country.
“I challenged them to continue to take ownership of the responsibility of sharing the Word of God with their family and with the neighboring villages. Was that my last trip? I certainly hope not.”
– With reporting from Baptist Press.