Mark Griffiths, a Kiwi doctor in West Africa, has got to know an African pastor with SIM who has had an amazing impact. It wasn’t always like this.
“Pastor K* and his wife have a heart for the unreached tribal groups in the Sahel region, including the Manga, the Tuareg, the Fulani and the Hausa. There is a rich mixture of these tribal groups where he now lives who have never heard the gospel,” Mark says.
“Pastor K has established a discipleship school in one of the towns near us and has planted a number of churches around this area.”
Yet he grew up hating followers of Jesus as infidels.
In K’s original hometown in Nigeria, Christians were actively persecuted; people didn’t want to hear about Christ.
K takes up the story: “So when two mission workers came to teach at the secondary school, people gave them a hard time. I was one of those telling them they weren’t welcome and rejecting their friendship and their efforts to share the gospel, saying, ‘We are Muslims — you shouldn’t be living here amongst us.’ For a long time we continued to tell them this.
“Then one night I had a dream. In our area there are lots of high sand dunes surrounding the town. In my dream I took these two men up one of these. We came across an old man on the side of the road. When he saw I was with the two men the old man asked me what I was doing. ‘Taking them up this hill to show them the area, as they are strangers to this place,’ I replied. The old man said, ‘That’s great! You stay close to these men as they are men of God. You need to listen to them — what they are saying is from God.’
“I woke and immediately prayed to Allah. I washed and prayed the kind of prayer one prays as a Muslim when he is being attacked by Satan, who I thought was wanting me to befriend these men. I said to myself, truly, I don’t want this and went back to sleep.
“But something happened to me that I couldn’t expIain. When I woke in the morning I had mixed feelings. While a part of me didn’t want to relate to these men, I could feel love for them in my heart!
“So one day, after selling fruit at my stall in the market, I went and knocked on their door. They were surprised I had come to their house but invited me in. I gave them some fruit. They were thankful and they then told me about Jesus. But I wasn’t happy when they talked of Jesus as the Son of God. Muslims believe God doesn’t have a son and is without equal. I argued with them about this claim and became very angry and left.
“Yet even so I still had a love for these men and I would secretly visit them at nights to chat with them. They kept telling me the news of Jesus —
I would agree with some things and disagree with others. It was like this for a long time. Then during Ramadan, on the 15th night, I had another dream. This time I didn’t see anyone but I heard a very loud voice saying, ‘K, get up and become a Christian!’
“I replied…’Who are you?’ The voice repeated this again and a third time, with a loud powerful voice.
“So I woke…what is this…? I heard a voice in my heart…go and become a Christian. So I got up and went to the house of the missionaries. It was around 2 a.m. I knocked on the door several times. They came to the door, nervous about who I was.
“‘It’s K’, I said. They asked if everything was all right. ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘everything is fine….’ They were not willing to open the door because they feared an attack at night. I insisted, ‘Open the door. I want to become a Christian.’
“Surprised, they asked why. I told them about my dream and said that in my heart I wanted to become a Christian. When they started to share the Word with me, this time I didn’t argue — instead I felt a delight with what they were saying. So they prayed for me and I became a Christian. That night I felt so happy. My heart was full of a joy I had never felt before.
In the morning I didn’t do our normal Muslim prayers with the family. I stayed in my room.
When my family asked if I was sick, I assured them I was well but didn’t tell them then I had become a Christian. During the day I stayed in my room. I knew something had happened in my life. I felt so happy, and for a few days I would secretly go back to my friends who would continue to teach me. I still hadn’t told my family but it dawned on them that I wasn’t attending to the Muslim prayers so I finally shared with them that I had become a follower of Jesus.
“They beat me. They even took a knife and cut me, threatening my life. They withdrew food from me. My father was no longer alive, but my mother cried every day, giving me a hard time, wanting me to stop being a Christian. I told her that I couldn’t leave Jesus since He had given me eternal life.
“The mission workers who had brought me to Christ were in danger. I was able to warn them and they escaped the town. Finally, I also escaped to live in a pastor’s house in another part of the country, and eventually went to a bible school in Jos.
“I am so thankful to the Lord for the salvation that He gave me that now I am the one doing the preaching. In fact I preached to my family after I left the bible school. There are now six members of my family who have become followers of Jesus.”
Since moving to a neighbouring country K disciples young people from a Muslim background and has a pastoring and evangelistic ministry shared by his wife, whom he met there.
Pray that K and his wife get the resources they need to fund their ministries, and for safety in what can be a dangerous setting.
Pray that others in the Sahel tribes praying for guidance will hear God’s voice in dreams, and find believers to explain the gospel.
