Over the next three years, two Scripture discipleship projects will focus on church members who are the backbone of Baptist churches across the country of Togo—the women. Most have limited literacy skills but a deep desire to know God more and share His love and reconciliation with their family, friends and neighbors. Through your gift, you can be part of the team that will offer the gospel to 17 people groups/languages in a way they can understand. Your gift will start StoryTogether Bible training, giving women across Togo unprecedented access to God’s Word.
StoryTogether teaches local believers to craft Bible stories in their local dialect and trains them to share the stories in their people group’s storytelling style. These master storytellers then train others to craft Bible stories in their regional dialects. By teaching national believers to share the gospel in their heart languages, it will flow organically throughout their communities. In addition, it will go to areas where foreign missionaries cannot safely travel. By underwriting StoryTogether training, you will send the gospel to unreached peoples and places through Bible storytellers or audio recordings.
Most people in Togo and Mali are oral-preference learners, an inherent cultural value that shares tribe history through stories. Consequently, the best avenue to share the gospel in this area is through stories. In many villages, only one person may be able to read, so verbal communication is preferable to written gospel resources, whether in-person or via audio recordings. As people hear these audio recordings of Bible stories in their heart language, they share the stories with others.
Currently, many people are asking for the completed evangelism set of stories in the trade language so they can listen to the stories on their phones. Seeing people’s reactions to hearing the gospel in their heart language for the first time is truly a joy. Join this amazing spread of the gospel across West Africa through this StoryTogether ministry! We praise God for its global impact as the stories travel among many people groups, in their heart languages, across borders and conflicts to see the gospel of Christ told to the ends of the earth.
A Bible storying explosion! We continue to see fruit in this method of evangelism and discipleship training. Because of this fruit, the Togo Baptist Convention has commissioned a national training for all Togolese Baptist pastors, church leaders, and their wives. It is exciting to see the convention invigorated by evangelism! Now, we must train new leaders to teach these workshops across the country.
An older pastor with an advanced theology degree attended our last training. He said, “Since I graduated from school, I have attended many different courses and trainings, but this course in storytelling is by far the most practical, simple, and effective for all environments.”
The latest training in the northern part of Togo trained 39 people. These participants shared gospel conversations with 144 local people and saw four people accept Christ during the two evangelism outings!
We are so thankful for you, our partners, who make this project possible. Your sacrificial gifts and intercession are truly transforming lives as we partner together to solve the world’s greatest problem, lostness. 
The Living Word of God Transforms Lives
A young Malinke man, Sandy,* from Mali attended one of these training workshops. Like over 4 million other Malinke people, Sandy had no Bible in his own language. Living in a Muslim country and with no access to Scripture, Sandy had never been discipled. When he attended the workshops, he engaged the God’s Word like never before. He also spent time with godly African men like David,* the workshop leader, for the first time in his life.
After two years of learning from these men in iron-sharpens-iron discipleship, Sandy “wasn’t the same person,” a believer in his region said. His level of understanding and application of the Scripture transformed him completely. He now works with new Christians in his region, discipling them as he was discipled by David.
New Hope Trauma Healing
Recently, David led Trauma Healing training in Burkina Faso. Each trainee was required to have a small group in place before starting the training to ensure they would use the material when they returned home. From the original 27 women who attended the conference, 212 women have now participated in trauma healing small groups. Time and time again, women have asked their small group leaders, “How did you know this training was just for me?”
After she received the training in a small group, God put someone on Sarah’s* heart who needed to hear the good news of God’s love in the context of trauma healing. The woman had lost her husband to COVID, and her daughter had been recently injured in a gold mining accident. Sarah went to the woman and shared what she had learned. As she walked the woman through the stories from New Hope trauma healing, the woman accepted Christ as her Savior and is now asking to join Sarah at church.
[caption id="attachment_601147" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Participants act out the story of raising Lazarus.[/caption]
Testimony
Anna, a long-term worker in West Africa shared this story of God’s transforming power: “As we were working with Phil* to translate the story of Peter at Pentecost, he mentioned sharing a recently translated Bible story with his church, and many people responded to the gospel.
“I discovered that the location of Phil’s church was among a people group who are very opposed to other religions, especially Christianity. I asked him, ‘How did you reach people in this area who are so opposed to the gospel?’ David quickly answered, ‘We told them the stories you taught us.’"
God is at Work
Participants from four language groups attended the Bible storying training, and each team recorded 41 stories. They shared the stories in their home villages and towns and a new church was planted! Throughout this project, we trained multiple levels of trainers, and each trainer is disciplining others.
Prayer Requests:
From the jagged Atlas Mountains to the vast Sahara Desert and the wildlife of the Serengeti, Africa is unrivaled for natural beauty and the hospitality of her people. Most Sub-Saharan Africans live hand-to-mouth, surviving on what they can harvest and herd, but regardless of status or wealth, most Africans share a common bond in community, family, and tribe.
Home to 2,500 ethnic groups, the region once characterized by sweeping poverty is redefining itself with bustling economies and technological enterprise. Eleven of the twenty-five fastest-growing global cities are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Whether urban-or-village dwellers, though, many Africans still try to manipulate spiritual powers through charms, sacrifices, and divination. The hope of the gospel is desperately needed.
African believers are catching a vision for sharing their faith. Sub-Saharan Africa is poised to become a tremendous missionary-sending force. Ask God to fan the flames of evangelism and cover Africa with his glory.