my story
My Story
Why am I a missionary?
After I became a Christian in 1982, I pretty soon afterwards became interested in taking the good news of Christ, and the blessing of his kingdom, to what appeared to be the neediest part of the world, which seemed to be the Sahel of West Africa. Increasingly it seemed that this was a growing call from God.
I returned to university to do a post-graduate diploma in "third world" development issues, and made an initial visit for two months to Burkina Faso to visit a pastor supported by a church I knew in England. As the aeroplane door opened, the hot humid air came in, and I could hear the frogs and crickets singing, and as I stepped out onto the tarmac, it was like coming home. I spent two months with pastor Zongo in his village, and loved it. He, his family, the church, and whole village were amazingly welcoming and hospitable. I'm sure I took more away than I gave, but I returned to Britain with a passion to return - if not to Burkina, then to somewhere else in West Africa. I wasn't sure what I had to offer, but my heart was there.
It was actually four years later when I finally returned to Burkina to live. In the intervening time, I spent time doing various menial jobs, as well as some voluntary work with Oxfam in education and campaigning, while I prepared to return. During this time, the sense of call was growing and being confirmed. In 1988, World Horizons began a programme of church-planting evangelism among the Mossi people in the north of Burkina Faso, and the pieces fell into place. I joined World Horizons, and in June 1989, I moved to Ouagadougou.
My first three years were spent with a team of Mossi pastors, on these evangelistic projects in the north of Burkina. During this time, crowds would come to hear the preaching of the gospel, and many responded to the call for salvation. A number of churches were started. Yet in it all, I felt a certain dissatisfaction. I wasn't really needed - the Mossi pastors were far more able to do the job than I would ever be. I wasn't sure that I had yet found my place in God's purposes.
Then, in one of these evangelistic campaigns, we met the Fulani, when preaching in Gorom-Gorom, a largely Fulani town in the northeast of Burkina. The response among the Fulani was dramatically different than among the Mossi. Many came to listen, but none responded. As I prayed and reflected on what had happened, it struck me that there was a big difference culturally and spiritually between the Mossi and Fulani, and that a more culturally appropriate approach was needed. I started praying that God would send someone to Gorom-Gorom to live and reach out to the Fulani. It soon became evident that I was to be the answer to my own prayer, and in June 1992 I set off on my motorbike from Ouagadougou to move to Gorom-Gorom.
It was harder to leave Ouagadougou for Gorom-Gorom, than ever it had been to leave Britain for Burkina. In Ouaga, the capital city, everything was on hand. But in Gorom, there was no running water, no electricity, and no co-workers. Soon after arriving I felt lonely and desperate - what had I done? As I turned to God and the promises he had given me, his presence and comfort filled me. Suddenly my situation was changed from one of desperation to one of tremendous peace.
Over the next years, as I lived in my little mud brick house, there have been times when I have felt completely inadequate, when I have felt humiliated as people laughed at my attempts to learn the language, disappointed as people listened but failed to respond to such a wonderful message, overwhelmed with how to cope with the huge physical need around me so constantly, and discouraged by the decisions of those who had started to follow Christ then for various reasons left that path. There have been times of exhaustion and of battling with loneliness and desire and frustration. And of course there have been times of missing family, friends, food, comfort, and security from "home" in Britain.
But there has also been the thrill of seeing people's lives change as they started to make good decisions, excitement as people began to understand and respond to the message of Christ and find his blessing, satisfaction as individuals and families gained access to health or education or basic needs that would transform their lives. There has been the privilege of friendships and relationships made across vast cultural divides, the honour of being accepted into a culture so different from my own, the pleasure of watching the carnival of colour and humanity at the local market, or of sitting under the vast starry canopy, drinking tea on a mat in the bush among the cows with Fulani herders. And there have been the many unique opportunities for pure fun and wonder that life in Africa provides.
And there has always been God's presence. And the more I have walked with him along that path, the more my perspective has changed on what is important in life, and the more I have got to know God in a way I could not have done if I had remained in the UK.
Life is not found in the amount of stuff you can acquire. Nor is it found in getting the highest high. Nor in the honour and comfort the world can bestow. All those things are temporary and fragile. Life is found in abandoning yourself totally to Christ and his way, living for others and not for yourself. In being willing to lose all we can have in this world, we are given a different sort of life - one that flows from the throne of heaven. It is painful to acquire because it is only found through death - the death of the cross. But it is the life that God gives.
That has been my experience. In spite of my failures and inadequacy, God's faithfulness has been constant and dependable.
I am a missionary, then, because I believe that God has a purpose that he wants to fulfil in the world - that he wants to pour out his grace and love that he reveals in Christ into all nations and cultures through his church. And I believe I have my part to play in taking that grace and love to the Fulani.
It is not going overseas that makes you a missionary. Nor is being a missionary a western venture. In a real sense, the whole church is missionary by its nature, called and sent into the world to bring God's salvation, healing, justice, and blessing. Whether that is among the neighbours on your street, the youth on your estate, the asylum seekers in your town, or somewhere on the other side of the planet.
I just happen to have been called and sent to do that among the Fulani of Burkina Faso. That is my privilege.