Ants are diligent and efficient creatures, working with purpose according to their roles and the needs of the colony. What one ant would find impossible to accomplish on its own, many ants can achieve together. In the words of a proverb in our region, Sanqaleñ yu bari mën nañoo watat janax ju dee – Many ants can drag a dead mouse.
“Sanqaleñ yu bari mën nañoo watat janax ju dee – Many ants can drag a dead mouse.”
Ten years ago, we were new students at SMBC, attending lectures, making friends, wondering what God might have in store for us. Every lecture, mission spot or conversation seemed to challenge or encourage us, with the SMBC catch-phrase, “We’re not here to make you smarter sinners”, ringing in our ears.
We were hungry to investigate cross-cultural mission, and quickly found we were in the right place to do that. Towards the end of our first year we were convicted by the urgent need for more workers amongst least reached people groups; those with such small numbers of indigenous believers that they’re unable to evangelize without outside help.
And ‘why should we go?’ questions quickly shifted to ‘why shouldn’t we go?’, as we felt the unrelenting tug towards cross-cultural mission in West Africa.
“We were hungry to investigate cross-cultural mission, and quickly found we were in the right place to do that.”
Our overseas journey started with a year in France, followed by six years working with an unreached people group in a francophone country in sub-Saharan Africa. During those years God has grown in us a love for the people we live amongst; He has blessed us with deeply satisfying friendships with both locals and fellow workers, and we have witnessed the faithfulness of God over and over as He works in us and through us.
We’ve also seen more clearly the immense nature of the task ahead; that’s why cooperating in the work of the Gospel is of such importance. God gives His children the gift of fellow believers to support and stand with and work alongside.
We have had the joy of bearing the load with fellow missionaries both in and outside of our organisation, the faithful support of family and friends, the partnership of sending churches and the prayerful encouragement of SMBC. The privilege of being bearers of the good news unites us in the mission of taking Jesus’ name to the nations. And working together, we can accomplish so much more.
The road ahead is rarely straight. It has many twists and turns, but the One we serve, and our final destination, remain reassuringly unchanging. The most recent bend in the road for us, has been our unexpected return to SMBC as Missionaries in Residence (MIRs) this year.
It was a role that we’d quietly hoped to fill ‘one day’, not dreaming it would be quite so soon. It’s an absolute joy to be here, a welcome ‘detour’ before our return to West Africa in December, and we can only marvel at God’s goodness in giving us this year to serve in a completely different capacity.
Our main role this year, as MIRs, is to help encourage fellow ants as we work together to drag that ‘dead mouse’! The process of taking the gospel to the nations is often hard, lonely and can appear fruitless.
Fortunately, we are not truly ants, scurrying around trying to achieve big things on our own. In fact, God doesn’t actually need us, but amazingly He invites us to be part of His mission, weak and imperfect as we are.
“amazingly He invites us to be part of His mission, weak and imperfect as we are.”
We know that it is God alone who transforms lives and brings salvation and it is God alone who gives the grace and perseverance needed to accomplish the task. His promise in Isaiah 55:11 is sure:
“…my word… shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
The mission to share the love of Christ and make Him known across the world is not a job for one, or even multiple ants; rather, it is the responsibility granted to each and every one of us. Working together, in God’s grace and by the empowering of the Holy Spirit, this enormous task can be realised.
