Going Through the Open Doors in Burkina Faso
By Gwenda L. Trapp
About four years ago, Togo SLM Branch Director, Sika Yawo, met Pastor Iria Charels, from Burkina Faso, at a pastors’ conference in Togo. Sika introduced Iria to the SLM courses and he began studying them. This created a thirst to use the SLM courses in his own ministry. Sika provided him with a small quantity of lessons, but he desires to use them to a greater degree in Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso’s national language is French; however, it is a multilingual country with over 69 languages. It is a land-locked country sharing borders with six countries: Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast. The Bukinabé people number over 19 million. Only four percent of the population are protestants; the predominant religion is Muslim.
Pastor Iria is a second-generation Christian. His father was born into a Muslim home. Iria’s father heard the Gospel and surrendered his life to Christ as a teenager. He faced persecution from family members, but he persistently followed Christ and became a pastor. Iria was born into this Christian home, however, he did not accept Christ and gain full assurance of his salvation until he was 34 years old. After accepting Christ, he desired to see souls come to Christ and eventually surrendered to full-time ministry. He attended a Bible institute and is currently serving as pastor at New Covenant Baptist Church.
His church is in a hostile area of Burkino Faso where churches and Christians are becoming the targets of radical opposition groups.
Having exhausted Sika’s abilities to meet his needs with literature, Pastor Iria desires to establish his own SLM Branch ministry in Burkino Faso. This will be SLM’s first Branch in this country. He longs to use the Bible lessons to strengthen local churches and minister to schools, military camps, and men’s groups, but needs to raise about $150 a month to do so.
Benin, A Door Ready to be Opened
Pastor Tomety Yao is of dual nationality; he is Beninese and Togolese. He grew up in the village of Agbodrafo in the south of Togo bordering Benin. His family gloried in idol worship. He remembers accompanying his father to annual ritual ceremonies where they would sacrifice animals to idols. When he married his wife, Abigael, she was of the same background.
After his father’s death, an evangelistic campaign was organized by a church in his village. Tomety and Abigael approached the service. Fear gripped their hearts as they heard how hell was awaiting those who were idol worshipers; they asked how they could avoid this hell. The Gospel was shared with them and, immediately, they gave their lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Tomety continued to serve in this church and was actively engaged in evangelism. He met Sika Yawo, Togo SLM Branch Director, who introduced him to the SLM Bible lessons. As he studied the lessons, he questioned the doctrinal beliefs of his church. He left that church but continued to serve Christ with zeal, evangelizing villages in Benin and Togo. Pastor Sika helped him attend the Bible Institute in Lomé.
Working with Pastor Sika, Tomety began serving in prison, hospital, and church planting ministries. “My wife and I helped Pastor Sika to establish the Joseph Project Orphanage and Bethania Baptist Church,” Tomety shares. “We are excited about serving with Source of Light in Benin. We understand the task will not be easy, but we know that God is in control.”
Please pray as Source of Light seizes this opportunity to reach Benin (considered the birthplace of the Voodoo religion and the only country where Voodoo is an official religion) with the Gospel. Pray also for Tomety and Abigael as they establish the first Source of Light Branch in Benin and that SLM can raise $200 for their support.
