Thank you for your support and prayers. Following my re-commissioning to the work in Burkina, I will be returning there on 20 Oct for four months as I move forward in this new phase of ministry.

Re-conditioned!
After my 2 year sabbatical, I was re-commissioned to the work for Burkina on 30 July at my home church, Glenwood Church in Cardiff. Since my sabbatical had been a necessary time of rest and recuperation, the service became half-jokingly referred to as my re-conditioning service…

A New Phase
This re-start in ministry will take a slightly different shape, as you already know:

• Serving. While I will continue in evangelism and church-planting among the Fulani, I will increasingly try to find ways to support local pastors and Christians in the ministry, rather than the “white guy” being up front. There are some excellent pastors and other Christians now in the north of Burkina – people like Seydou, Moumouni, Pierre, Yusufi, Pascal, Adama, and others – and I want to see them increasingly equipped to be God’s agents of spiritual and social transformation through the Jesus Christ.

• Twinning. At the same time, these guys have much to give to us, from their lives of faith, perseverance, generosity, and community. In the busy-ness of our lives, it is increasingly difficult to develop a healthy spirituality. So, as part of this, I am looking for churches that may be willing to partner with pastors in the north of Burkina Faso – not for a colonial export of western Christianity, but rather for two-way partnerships. I believe we can serve and learn from each other to move forward in God’s purposes, and see our churches and communities transformed through the kingdom of God. I have been to the US and France recently, as well as Wales and England, visiting supporting churches, and meeting up with those who may be interested in this twinning concept.

Gorom-Gorom Flood Crisis.

As you know, half of Gorom-Gorom was destroyed by floods back in August, and I have been co-ordinating a relief programme through Daniel and Seydou in the local church there. This has been taking up a lot of my time and emotional energy. Thank you for all your support for this. The photo shows Pastor Pascal’s church, which was destroyed by the flood. We have managed to distribute 33 tons of food aid, 1000 mosquito nets, 1000 blankets, and 1000 mats, to help over 800 families, which has helped enormously and also opened people’s hearts to Christ.

The rainy season is now over, and people are hoping to start re-building their homes. The Red Cross and UNICEF, working with the government, have apparently recently started a large-scale programme to help people. I will look into this more once I get out there.

Back to Burkina

So, I am heading back to Burkina for 4 months as from 20 October.
• Gorom flood relief. I will of course be seeing how things are for people in Gorom following the flood, and assessing the emergency relief and plans for re-construction, and how we can continue to respond. I imagine this will be an emotional time, as I know many friends will be homeless, having had their houses destroyed.
• Local pastors. I will also be spending lots of time with the pastors and Christians in the north of Burkina, exploring how we can work together in this next phase of ministry among the Fulani in the north of Burkina Faso.
• Church visits. During this period, there are two groups from my church who will be coming out to visit, as we begin to explore how such a twinning relationship work between Glenwood and Gorom-Gorom.

Thank you for all your support and prayers

Keith