Mission groups partner for Senegal church plant

FORT WAYNE, IND.

In the spirit of mutual support, representatives of three mission groups signed a covenant committing them to work together to plant a church among the Wolof people of Senegal, West Africa.

Representatives from Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission, the Friends of the Wolof and Mennonite Board of Missions met Oct. 15 at Brookside Community Church, Fort Wayne, Ind. Signing the covenant for their respective organizations were Calvin Kaufman, Friends of the Wolof; Robert Charles, MBM director for Africa and Europe; and David Dyck; vice-chair of AIMM's international council as well as director of programs for MBMS International in Winnipeg.

The mission partners are supporting a team of nine people whose goal is to befriend and serve the Wolof people as they share the good news of God's love through Jesus Christ. The Wolof, historically a Muslim people, are the largest ethnic group in Senegal.

The Wolof partnership grew out of a vision of AIMM workers and Communion Fellowship in Goshen, Ind. AIMM is a partnership of five Mennonite groups, including the General MB Conference, for ministry in Africa.

In partnership, the organizations discovered they could achieve together what none of them had been able to do alone. This ministry "is something we've been dreaming about and hoping for at AIMM for quite a while, and somehow we weren't getting it done," said Dyck. "So for this group to come together like this seems to us a pretty clear leading of God's bringing the right players together to make this thing happen," he concluded.

John D. Yoder, AIMM

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