TOGO February 2011
Delron returned to Togo in January of 2011 as members of the Every Home for Christ team that is developing a new discipleship program and curriculum to be used in the worldwide ministry of Every Home for Christ. The trip to Togo was to introduce the program and materials to leaders from approximately a dozen French-speaking nations in Africa. All the delegates welcomed the new program, immediately expressing that they recognized its unique value and that they were excited about using it in their nations. One pastor said that the lessons had actually “invaded” him. The lessons are based directly on Bible stories that have been carefully picked and arranged to portray all the fundamental doctrines of the Bible and the foundational principles of Christian living. Since most of the material is quoted directly from the Bible, the materials can be easily translated–an excellent way to overcome a constant problem which occurs as we attempt to disciple people from many different nations and ethnic groups.
After each lesson, a set of standard questions help the students discover the truths in the lesson and begin to apply those truths to their own lives. Since the same set of questions is reused in each lesson, they do not need to be re-translated for each class–again, making it easy to transfer the materials into many different languages in a shorter period of time. Because stories are more easily understood and memorized than point-by-point doctrinal lessons, they are readily grasped by less trained instructors and more easily understood by semi-literate or even illiterate members of the Bible study groups. “Many times I planned to commit suicide. Gradually, Bible stories changed my wrong attitudes. Now, I am encouraged to live an exemplary Christian life.” Wow! What an exciting testimony!! Simply having a new approach to reading the Bible saved this lady’s life and has given her a new motivation to live for the Lord. Other testimonies from Nepal where this new curriculum and Bible study method have been introduced include stories of believers who had not been regular in their attendance in church or Bible study, but have now found the Word of God so fresh and alive that they are no longer missing any of the sessions.
One pastor wrote that almost every believer in his village has become a regular member of his study group since the story-telling approach has been introduced. One other believer wrote about the life-changing impact the lessons have had on him, “I had almost given up my faith in the Lord because I wasn’t well equipped in the Word of God. My Christian life was totally dried up, but I found a new direction to live a life in the Lord Jesus Christ when I joined the Bible story telling fellowship. Now, I am continually attending the fellowship and have even started a fellowship at my home in addition to the one I attend in the village.”
TOGO 2009
At the first of August, I was in Togo where I met with the top leadership of Every Home for Christ from eleven French-speaking nations in central Africa. The objective of that mission was the introduction a new discipleship program which will eventually reach to hundreds of thousands of new believers in approximately ten thousand Bible study fellowships in their nations.
Much of August, I was in Togo in Africa were I met with the top Every Home for Christ leadership from the eleven nations of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Out of this meeting will come a new thrust of training and ministry throughout French Africa. Three huge shipping containers full of discipleship materials were brought to be distributed among the nations represented.
In addition to the training program, Every Home for Christ also provided a solar panel to supply electricity to a mission hospital located in the nation of Togo. Since this clinic is located in a village where there is no electrical service, the solar panel will be a very significant improvement, allowing them to replace their costly gasoline-powered generator with free electricity generated by the sun. The hospital is located in the home village of the national director for Every Home for Christ. His father had been the chief witchdoctor of this village and had kicked the son out of his house when he became a Christian. As the director stood at his father’s grave and shared his testimony of having to hide in the bush to escape his father’s wrath and how the gospel finally was able to penetrate his village, I marveled at how unshakable he had become even as a brand-new believer and how this unmovable faith eventually changed his world. As he showed us around his village, we stopped at a witchcraft shrine to see the altar containing the “holy” water which the people drink for blessing from their gods. The water was the most polluted liquid I had ever seen; it was absolutely green and made me want to gag just looking at it–much less thinking of drinking it! A few minutes later, we visited the first humanitarian project which Christians had done in the area–a clean water system. How powerful it was to contrast the work of God and the work of the enemy. The devil came to bring corruption and defilement, but Jesus came that we might have living water.
Thank you to all who support us with your prayers and gifts as we continue to give ourselves to teaching all nations.