Mennonite Church Guinea Bissau is part of a Mennonite mission presence in West Africa since 2000. The mission began first in Gambia and by 2005 the good news was being carried to Guinea Bissau by new believers from Gambia. Most of the work focuses on the Balanta people but other people groups are also part of the emerging church. The mission is sponsored by Eastern Mennonite Missions and seeks to establish an Anabaptist circle of churches in those two countries plus in the intervening territory of Senegal. Welcome to our blog page and thanks for your interest in learning more about bringing Christ to a part of Africa where the church is weak or non-existent.

Wednesday

Basic Church

For a resident of a Guinea Bissau village the journey to go from being animist to becoming a follower of Jesus is long and arduous. Most of these people have heard about Jesus but they are unaware He is the Messiah or that He is calling people to share life in the Kingdom of heaven.


For some the journey starts when someone from the village hears good reports about missionaries in the area. Positive reports that they are teaching about Jesus, that they are concerned about health and well-being, and agriculture. Then people from the village begin making contacts with the missionaries inviting and even pleading with us to come to their village to share the good news of Jesus.


If one or two believers from our first congregation in Catel are available to go to the village we will send them to make some initial contacts and assess the validity of the request.

Typically when missionaries begin involvement in a village the initial turnout and interest is high because expectations tend to be unrealistic. After a few weeks of worship services the interest will drop to a core group of persons who are seeking spiritually and have a desire to improve the village well-being environment. At this early stage one can already begin to see potential church leaders and village ‘champions’, as we call them. These are the folks who will give leadership to church planting and village transformation. But already the Spirit of God is there inviting and encouraging persons to take the beginning steps of faith.

Over the next two-three years it will take regular and steady involvement of the missionary in that village, teaching and discipling before he begins to see lives changing and people making a firm commitment to Christ. This is not an overnight, once and done phenomenon. It requires the missionary to be a person of faith, grace, patience and eternal optimism. Many times I have needed to be reminded of God’s power to transform even the most unlikely candidates!

In village church planting the missionary needs to always be looking and moving forward, staying on the front side of the action, being ready to welcome persons into God’s banquet before, not after, they have everything in order. It is in the fellowship of Christ’s community that people grow and change into His image. Keeping people at arm’s length, just outside while they get their act together, is exactly what Jesus meant by ‘shutting the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces’ (Matt. 23:13). We are not the gatekeepers; that is Jesus’ job. In West Africa we run up against a significant ‘gatekeeper’ mentality among some evangelicals. Jesus is asking us to be the servants out on the highways and byways inviting and compelling people to join us at the banquet (Luke 14: 21-23). Once they (and we) have tasted the goodness of the banquet we begin to understand this is where we want to be.

As we welcome people just as they are with all their flaws, defects and sins they will know that God also is welcoming them. In the warmth of welcome and blessing, the light of God begins to drive out the darkness. I have watched this transformation happen in many lives in West Africa.

One of the ways people feel welcomed is when we right away begin helping them understand that God has great plans for their lives. We help them explore how God has gifted them and we encourage them to use that gift to bring glory to God and to share that it with others. This could be a gift of music, teaching, pastoring, hospitality, service and several more.

People begin to experience God’s grace and gifts (charisma) even before they have made a public confession of faith in Christ. As this starts to happen in a village we witness the formation of ‘basic church’. One of the first gifts to be given is evangelism. As people have a sense of moving out of the darkness and into the light of God’s Kingdom they excitedly begin sharing the good news of what God is doing in their own lives. Shortly more gifts begin to be evident- pastors, teachers, helpers, administrators and more.

For those of us growing up in Christian families and always having been part of a church where traditions and protocols have been with us for generations, the phenomenon of ‘basic church’ is awesomely refreshing.

Beryl Forrester

January, 2011
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