KANSAS CITY – Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary here wants to be a part of the overall Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) African objective. To do this, it will be engaging an unnamed people group with the First Baptist Church of Arnold as part of a three-segment missions trip to Senegal.
Robin Hadaway, associate professor of missions at the seminary, will be on the trip as well as some students. He said that Senegal is an open country of about 11 million people in which 90 percent of the population is Muslim. The country is very poor; most have not received the Gospel. The people group being engaged (the K people) is over 99 percent Muslim.
The Gospel can be shared one-on-one or in a small group, mostly through stories. That is what the people like.
Hadaway noted that the Muslims are fairly friendly. As such, he is excited about the trip.
“We will be participating in the Missouri partnership with West Africa,” he said. “West Africa is one of the neediest regions in the world which has been neglected by missions, and we are happy to be partnering with Missouri Baptists.”
Dakota Darby, a student at Midwestern Baptist College, will also be on the trip. He said they will be witnessing from hut to hut and meeting with some missionaries who are already on site. He wants to have more meaningful talks with people to get to know them on a better level and gain a deeper understanding of how various cultures react to the Gospel.
“I’m definitely excited to engage a different people group with the Gospel in a way we are not used to in America,” Darby said. “It will also be great to share Christ with people with not only a different culture but also a different belief system.”
In Senegal many have not heard the truth. Where there is no truth, how can there be hope?
The woman at the well in John 4 heard and believed. The unreached masses of people in Senegal may be very much like those referred to by the Apostle Paul in Romans 10: “How are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”
The Word of God is being taken into Senegal to a people that have not heard.
MITCH SHIFFER/contributing writer