Joy! Thanks to your partnership with the Holy Spirit, an isolated and almost forgotten people receive and accept the good news of salvation. Enthusiasm! You partake in unique experiences, such as baptisms in leech-filled rivers where crocodiles lurk. Delight! Fresh new churches spring up under your guidance through prayer and determination. These are the experiences of AFM pioneer missionaries as they strive to reach the unreached.

Like the apostle Paul in Romans 15:20-21, I have made it an aim and a passion, “to preach the good news, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another’s foundation.” As it is written, “They will see, to whom no news of him came. They who haven’t heard will understand.” Our Dendi project offers me a full opportunity to see this happen by faith among our Dendi Muslim people.

For the past seven weeks, we have been compiling data for our cultural scrapbook in preparation for Phase-Two Training, AFM’s additional training session designed to assist missionaries in developing evangelism strategies. These weeks have been rich with insights and new convictions. For example, we have made the studied decision not to move too quickly. People are interested in studying and praying with us, and it is tempting to start a company right away. But herein lies one of the important challenges of pioneer missionary work: We must maintain their interest while not launching into evangelism prematurely. Doing so would close doors rather than opening them. Our Lord himself followed this principle in John 7:6: “My time has not yet come.”

Humanly speaking, this timeliness principle can appear foolish. However, it is critically important that we first gain deep knowledge of our people so we can be equipped to lead them to complete joy in Christ.

By faith, we bubble with joy for the excellent understanding our Dendi Muslim people will have about the plan of salvation and the enlightened decisions they will make in preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah.

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