This is an article from the March-April 1990 issue: It’s Happening Worldwide!

Exciting News from the Frontlines

God Turns Mali Upside Down

Exciting News from the Frontlines

Clair Longuevan, a veteran Gospel Missionary Union missionary, told an audience at the U.S. Center for World Mission that Mali, West Africa, is undergoing a spiritual awakening.

"When we went to Mali 25 years ago, there was just one Protestant church in Bamako [the nationâs capital], spiritual work was slow, and the country was under a strong socialist regime," he said.

"Now, Bamako has 32 Protestant churches. In villages where, ten years ago there hadnât been a single congregation, there are now six, seven, eight.... In the last three or four years, over 10,000 people have come to know the Lord as Savior ö an unprecedented harvest in this Muslim country."

What are some of the things God used to ripen this harvest? Longuevan described several contributing factors. The following is an edited transcript of what he said.)

A Communist Radio Station

While the Communists were in Mali in the early â60s, they built a radio station large enough to target the whole northern half of Africa. Its purpose, of course, was to propagate communism.

Christians had prayed far years that they could buy time on national radio for preaching the gospel. They were always refused. Then Mr. Moussa Traord came to power.

His government nationalized the Communistâs radio station, came to the Christians and said, "Because this country believes in religious freedom, we are going to allow you to have half an hour of radio time each week, bee of charge."

So we have been preaching the gospel on Mali radio for almost 25 years now, free of charge, every week ö and all because the Communists built that radio station! This is just one of the things that helped lay the groundwork for what is taking place today.

Drought and Famine

One of the things God allowed in order to lay the groundwork was the drought and famine that took place several years ago. lee Malian government, instead of taking over distribution as the governments of other countries did, turned it all over to the church. Even the aid that came from the United States government was channeled through the church. Malian Muslims were stunned when the Christians distributed the food evenly. Villages that went predominantly Muslim got just as much food as those that were predominantly Christian. This seemed so unbelievable that many villages began to open up to the gospel.

When they saw how equitably the Christians distributed the food, one village that had rejected the gospel several years ago asked some Christians to tell them about Christianity.

A team went and preached the gospel. During the closing prayer, the man who led the meeting asked God to send rain to the village.

No one responded to the invitation to become a Christian, but that night God sent three inches of rain. Immediately, people began debating whether it had come from Allah, from the Christian God, or as a result of sacrifices to the fetish gods.

Finally, after two years of debate, a large group decided it was, indeed, the Christiansâ God who had caused the rain. So they called the team back to share the gospel again.

The Christians returned and, as they had done the previous time, closed the meeting with an invitation: "We believe that the Lord is speaking to you. We will spend the night here, and tomorrow, if anyone wants to respond, we will be glad to talk to you."

Since the drought was still severe, they again prayed for rain.

That night, God sent five inches of rain to the village and the next morning, the villagers came, one by one. As the missionaries counseled with the people, they felt that the majority really did understand what they were doing and, overnight, a village that had been Muslim became Christian.

This story is not an isolated experience in Mali. Many villages have come to Christ through similar means.

Colonel Muammar Qhadaffi and His Anti-Christian TV Station

Not so long ago, Libyaâs president, Muammar Qhadaffi, became alarmed at the Malian Christiansâ rate of growth. To counter it, he offered to build the Malians a television station. Its purpose was to propagate the Muslim faith and to counter Christianity.

The first programs aired were exactly what Mr. Qhadaffi desired: very much anti-Christian and very much pro-Muslim. Christmas came a few months later, however, and the station manager thought it would be good to air something about the Christian religion.

It happened that the Jesus film had just been translated into Bambara, the language of Maliâs dominant people group, so the station showed the entire Jesus film ö on national television, free of charge. The film was so well-received that the station manager came back to the Christians and said, "Weâd like you to have two programs a month... at no charge, of course."

One Man Makes the Difference

There is one man who seems to play a major role in the way things are going for Christians in Mali. His name is Moussa TraoW. He is Maliâs president.

Even though Mr. Traor5 is a Muslim, when he entered office, he opened the way for missionary work as it had never been opened before.

For instance, a little over a year ago, Malian Christians were allowed to hold a congress on national evangelism. It was held in the countryâs largest Protestant church at Shou. Christian leaders came to the meeting from all over West Africa. Furthermore, it was televised on national TV.

The top mullah (Muslim leader) in the country was alarmed. He went to Mr. Traorb to complain: "I am concerned that the Christians are getting so much coverage in our country."

"Why are you concerned?" Mr. T~ asked. "You know we have freedom of religion in Mali."

The mullah replied, "I am afraid there will be bloodshed between the Christians and the Muslims in Mali."

Mr. Traord responded: "The first time that I hear of bloodshed between Christians and Muslims in our country, I will send soldiers to arrest you."

More recently, Mr. Traor6 affirmed that, as long as he is president, Christians will be welcome. Why? First, because "we Malians were here in Mali long before Islam came to our country." Second, "The constitution guarantees freedom of religion; I am sworn to uphold the constitution." And third, "When our country had the famine and our people were dying, it was not the Islamic nations of the world that came to our rescue; it was the Christians."

Prayer Needs

  • Pray for Mr. TraorFs salvation (he has expressed more than passing interest in the gospel).
  • Pray for his personal safety and continued willingness to allow gospel work to flourish in Mali.
  • Pray for Maliâs unreached peoples. The majority of missionaries in Mali work among the Bambara people. Very little is being done among the other groups: the close to 1 million Malian Fulanis, the almost 600,000 Soninkes, 500,000 Songhays, etc.
  • Pray for continued success and even greater opportunities for the radio and 7V ministries.

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