March 22, 2007

Dear Friends,

Niger is not yet on the radar screen of most Western countries. It is at the bottom of the human development index. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, and sufficiently far removed from any major center of wealth that it is simply an almost unknown country. And yet it is an exciting country. Although 90 percent of the people are Muslim, the population has twice voted down Islamic sharia law, preferring the more peaceful coexistence they have with the minority faiths.

Last November, Doug Welch, PC(USA) area coordinator for Africa and I, with Dr. John Azuma, a highly respected academic in interfaith relations, took a five-hour ride in a six-seater, single-engine plane from Accra to Maradi. It was probably the only plane to land there in a couple of weeks. Children and adults run out of the bushes to see this strange machine. The official greeting from the immigration office was a short, “Oh I see you’ve arrived, I’m going home” in French. He wasn’t the least bit interested in seeing our passports or whether or not we had the appropriate visa. When we left three days later he was there to wave us off again without any interest in documentation.

But what a great country. We were there to visit with our partner, the Eglise Evangelique de Republique du Niger (Evangelical Church of Niger or EERN for short) and our mission co-workers Kara VanderKamp and Tom Johnson.

EERN President Harouna Labo reported that the state of Niger is removing itself from the operational oversight of schools. This change has resulted in a significant opportunity for organizations such as the church to become involved in the education of Nigeriens. Islam (with assistance from the Arab world) is making great strides in the field, and thus the pressure is on for the Church (Christians make up one half of one percent of the population) to also develop schools.

The president reported that the EERN sought to be involved in the development of Niger’s educational system:

• as a witness to its faith
• to counter Islamic influence on society in general
• to counter Islamic influence on the children of church members
• to ensure that spiritual issues are addressed appropriately in the education of the individual
• as a means of training future leaders for Niger
• as a means of maintaining a democratic state
• as a means for evangelism

The president noted that the doors are wide open for this evangelistically educational type endeavor:

• with the state providing large tracts of land for schools or churches
• the state being involved in Christian-Muslim dialogue
• the likelihood of Muslim leaders attending crusades

The church’s vision seems forward looking, expectant, and hopeful. It is exciting to be a part of that. But it is not without its problems. There is only one paid staff person among all of the pastors and judicatory staff, and that is a permanent secretary. No salaries for pastors, for the moderator, for any of the staff. This places a tremendous strain on the church.

One of their answers is the school at Dogon Gao, where Tom Johnson is teaching. The school is designed to train pastors (who don’t even have a high school level education) how to be pastoralists and to provide for themselves by raising goats and chickens, by farming, and by doing whatever else it takes. The pastors then are sent out into the villages to establish their homes and to share the gospel, evangelizing their neighbors. This is one of the amazing aspects of people’s faith here and a testimony to the openness of the Nigerien (not Nigerian) people.

The president’s vision is simply this: “the coming day when Christians will form a majority of the population of Niger.” And so it’s not surprising that when, during a recent head administrators’ council meeting, a Muslim nomad from the north showed up and asked to hear about “Jesus,” the meeting was stopped and the president himself spent the better part of the day witnessing to this man. Evangelism is their only priority. It always humbles me to be in such a great cloud of witnesses. And it one of the reasons we love the work we do.

Friends, Presbyterian mission is alive and involved in some cutting edge evangelism, in places and with people that have a desperate longing for good news. And we dare to proclaim the good news in partnership with those whose voices can and will be heard. We no longer do the actual evangelism ourselves in many spots, deferring to those who know the language and the culture far better. But we walk with them, encourage them, and help make their work possible. That’s pretty much our calling these days, and it’s a tremendously exciting one.

I hope that this coming autumn your congregation and your presbytery will be participating in Mission Challenge ‘07. We continue to need your support and desire your personal and congregational partnership. Write us at Glen Hallead and Carol Hallead for more ways to partner with us personally.

Thanks for all you do to help us do what we’ve been called to do.

Glen and Carol Hallead

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 315