Mennonite Weekly Review

GOSHEN, Ind. — Friends of the Wolof celebrated an ending and a beginning Jan. 31. At the time of their annual banquet held at Silverwood Mennonite Church, there were no North American FOW workers in Senegal for the first time in a decade.

The Wolof leader of the followers of Jesus in Senegal, left, not named for security reasons, meets with village elders to share spiritual, economic and social aspects of good news. — Photo by Stan Farmwald /MMN

The three families who launched the FOW ministry among the Wolof, the largest ethnic group in Senegal, are now living in the United States. The Wolof leader of the followers of Jesus spoke to the banqueters by cell phone from Senegal.

He communicated his great appreciation for the FOW families, stating how much he learned from them and how much he is now missing them. He also spoke enthusiastically about the work of believers in seven villages.

FOW have been trailblazers for more than a decade. In 1995, they began building a partnership that would grow to include congregations, businesses, individuals and mission agencies.

Now, that partnership includes Wolof followers of Jesus, and FOW is again pioneering new territory — how to be trans-Atlantic brothers and sisters.

“It would be tempting at this juncture in FOW’s ministry to say, ‘mission accomplished,’ ” said Charles Buller, FOW director. “There is a small nucleus of believers who have professed faith in Jesus and who want to share the good news with other Wolof people. They have the Holy Spirit as we do.”

A radical community

Buller stressed the importance of continuing to walk alongside the Wolof followers of Jesus, a new community of faith radically at odds with its cultural and religious environment.

“Every day presents the question in a thousand ways,” Buller said of the dilemma Wolof followers of Jesus face. “Are you going to keep following this new and unpopular way, or are you going back to the status quo?”

Wolof believers can guide their North American counterparts trying to follow Jesus through an economic reality that has imposed financial limitations on the partnership.