Covenant News
Strategic Plan Unfolding in Ministry to Fulani Population
BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (July 31, 2001) - Work continues on a number of ministry objectives identified during this spring's strategic planning session. A total of 27 individuals representing several ministry organizations participated."We considered the current state of ministry to Muslims in the Central African Republic (CAR)," said Pete Ekstrand, Africa region coordinator for the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). "We also considered trends within those communities that indicate ministry opportunities or obstacles and our own gifts as they relate to those opportunities."
Two major goals and a number of strategic objectives emerged from the discussion, focusing on outreach to the Fulani population and Muslims in other regions. "Following the clarification of a mission-vision statement, we began to work on the strategic areas of ministry," Ekstrand said. "Then we worked on the goals and objectives for each of those ministry areas."
Participants included 12 ECC missionaries, seven missionaries of the Evangelical Free Church, two from Grace Brethren International Mission and five central Africans. Cathy Barsotti served as the facilitator.
The new mission-vision statement reads as follows: We commit to the establishment of reproducing communities of disciples of Jesus Christ by introducing Muslims to the risen Christ. These communities will be attractive to other Muslims because of their contextualized worship and because Christ's love and power are evident in every aspect of their lives.
The group agreed that Fulani ministry objectives can best be achieved by pursuing four areas of focus:
- Evangelism and pre-evangelism: sharing God's word so that the Fulani people may hear, understand, believe and become disciples of Christ
- Contextualization: pursuing a culturally appropriate means of reaching the Fulani people so that they may be transformed by the word of God and the Holy Spirit
- Compassion ministries: showing God's love to people through health, agriculture and education in order to evangelize and support the body of Christ
- Partnership: partnering with those who may have different distinctives, but who share the same vision so as to pool gifts, personnel and resources
"As we were doing this, the Grace Brethren International Mission (GBIM) wanted additional missionaries to support their desire for Fulani ministries in CAR," Ekstrand continued. "Our leading to enter this ministry and GBIM's desire for personnel for it dove-tailed and in 1997 the Covenant began to partner with GBIM. One of the things that GBIM had that we needed was an infrastructure - housing and vehicles. We had personnel available when GBIM did not.
"Both the Free Church and the Covenant were able to place former Zaire missionaries in Fulani ministry based out of GBIM stations in CAR," Ekstrand explained "The first task for all those involved in the ministry was learning the Fulani language and culture - it's a tough language. Now, three years later, as people have learned the language and begun to build relationships with nearby Fulani, it is critical to have the joint Fulani team work on their strategic plans for the ministry."
As with most ministry efforts, the vision is long-term with respect to the desired impact on individual lives. "Only time and God's work through us as instruments will tell," Ekstrand said. "We are excited about the vision we have for this ministry. We believe that as we implement this strategic plan, God will honor our efforts and Muslims will come to accept Christ as their Savior and Lord."
Printable version of this page.