WEST AFRICA – Through its partnership with Bethlehem Christian Academy, Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) churches are sharing the gospel to over 2,500 students in Africa.
In January, a missions team sponsored by the MBC’s Missions Mobilization team traveled to West Africa to share the gospel in a predominantly Muslim area.
Team members say they saw God at work in various ways, including the baptism of two new believers.
The team partnered with Bethlehem Christian Academy (BCA), which has over 2,500 students across the continent in schools in multiple nations.
“Bethlehem Christian Academy is a partner of the Missouri Baptist Convention,” said Martin Winslow, team leader of Missions Mobilization for the MBC and founding president of BCA.
Martin Winslow
“We have 11 Christian schools across five international countries. We help our churches connect with missions in those fields.”
Martin co-founded BCA through The Nations Initiative, another organization he co-founded to help churches advance the gospel through pastoral training, education and local ministry development.
The West Africa mission team of over 20 people was composed of Missouri Baptist pastors and laypeople from around the state.
Omar Segovia, west region strategist with MBC’s Missions Mobilization team, led the trip. During the 10-day journey the key objective was working with BCA students and nearby villagers.
Some team members also led a pastors’ conference for African Baptist leaders from more than 50 churches.
BCA Executive Director Olivia Bissey, a member of August Gate Church, St. Louis, has been with BCA for 1-½ years, working out of Missouri. The January trip was her first visit to some of BCA’s West African campuses.
The team in the schools and local villages “did ministry the full week,” Bissey said. “They did VBS with Bible stories, music, crafts and sports. The team also shared meals and tasks – such as meal prep – with families in their homes.
WEST AFRICA – Omar Segovia, a Missouri Baptist Convention missions mobilization strategist who led a mission team of Missouri Baptist church members to West Africa last month, teaches African church leaders during a pastors’ conference here. (MBC photo)
“They spent time with the teachers and the translators as well.”
She said that though the teachers and translators are all Christians, “spending time with the mission team gives them the opportunity to discuss the Bible, ask questions, and strengthen their faith.”
During the visit the gospel was shared repeatedly through Bible lessons with BCA students and through personal evangelism and other activities, Bissey said.
“It’s a really relational culture that’s open and available for the gospel,” she added.
Alex Bond from Canaan Baptist Church, St. Louis, enjoyed participating in soccer games with students during the trip. He said during breaks and around the games the missionaries had time to share their testimonies with community members.
Canaan Baptist Church in St. Louis has partnered with BCA for more than a decade. This was not the first BCA trip to West Africa for Canaan members Jesse Hodges and his wife Erin.
Erin, who had been twice before to the village, explained that during “every trip (the villagers) are more and more open to what we have to say.”
Jesse explained that interactions with local villagers led to spontaneous gospel conversations.
WEST AFRICA – Alex Bond of Canaan Baptist Church, St. Louis, entertains young students at the Bethlehem Christian Academy here during a recent Missouri Baptist Convention mission trip. (BCA photo)
In one instance a photo on his phone interested a villager. Jesse explained the photo was of his grandmother who had died not long before. He explained to the person why he knew he and his Christian grandmother would be reunited.
“It was a God-ordained moment to be able to open up that door with him,” Jesse said. “Many times over and over that kept happening.”
Jesse also renewed a friendship from a previous visit and was intentional about his purpose. “I wasn’t coming just to hang out with him. I was coming to share the love of Christ with him.”
Erin explained the purpose of the trip was to have gospel conversations.
“We are not there to sell the American way. We are there to tell them about Jesus but do it in a way that is still respectful to their traditions. We are not changing their culture. We just want to change their eternity.”
The Way Church in Springfield has been involved in West African ministry for 14 years. Pastor Seth Shelton said the church reached a point where it needed additional partnerships to train leaders effectively.
“That is where partnership with the Missouri Baptist Convention and The Nations Initiative stepped in,” Shelton said.
Besides the BCA schools, Winslow has been involved in other Chrisian education efforts. For more than a decade he served a Christian school in West Plains, and more recently helped the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association acquire and start Center Cross Academy in the former school space of Tower Grove Christian Academy.
He said the BCA schools are “a great place to share the gospel. You have a captive audience for seven, eight hours a day in a place that really loves Jesus.”
WMU Executive Director Sarah Schmitt described the journey as “a monumental trip.”
She implored Missouri Baptists to join the effort. “It will be a memory of a lifetime.”
The trip is one of six international trips the MBC is planning for 2026 to introduce the gospel around the world.
WEST AFRICA – Olivia Bissey, executive director of Bethlehem Christian Academy and a member of August Gate Church, St Louis, spends time with children during a Missouri Baptist Convention mission trip here last month. (BCA photo)