By Lynda Hollinger-Janzen
Mennonite Mission Network

	Adam Fleming shows son Jonathan a slate used in Quranic schools in Senegal during the Friends of the Wolof banquet. — Photo by Lynda Hollinger-Janzen/MMN

Silverwood Mennonite Church hosted the annual banquet that helps Friends of the Wolof, or FOW, connect North American supporters to followers of Jesus in the West African nation of Senegal.

Jonathan Bornman, who has more than a decade of ministry experience in Senegal, emphasized the importance of understanding between Christians and Muslims worldwide.

Bornman told the audience there are four Islamic centers within 30 miles of Silverwood.

“Don’t wait for Muslims to come to you, but reach out to them,” he said.

Bornman suggested ways to begin relating to Muslims, including invitations to meals or special events and visiting mosques.

“Christian-Muslim relationships may be the biggest story of our time,” Bornman said. “Why are we so antagonistic when we share so much?”

Some prophets and holy writings belong to both religious traditions, Bornman said, as do the importance of prayer, a concern for the poor and a desire for our children to inherit a better world.

Despite the significant commonalities shared by Muslims and Christians, the good news that FOW has been called to live out resides in the differences, Bornman said.

“God incarnated in Jesus absorbed violence and hatred through his death on the cross, and he forgave,” Bornman said.

Muslims find that difficult to understand, he said.

“However, absorbing violence also confounds Christians,” Bornman said. “We miss Jesus’ point when we support the government’s war on terrorism.”

Bornman urged FOW to make love the axis of their actions.

“God’s love lived out among humanity is the real revelation of Jesus,” he said.

FOW workers come from so-called Christian nations, Canada and the United States, which creates barriers in relating to the Wolof, who equate Christianity with the medieval crusades, colonization and the Western media.

“Many Muslims I know don’t differentiate between religious television programs and lurid soap operas,” Bornman said.

Now, entering the second decade of living among the Wolof, FOW workers are finding that their long-term commitment to telling the Bible story and engaging in the daily lives of their neighbors is opening doors.

New villages are asking to have the Bible story told regularly in their courtyards. The weekly worship services are attracting more people. Women are daring to become followers of Jesus without the blessing of their husbands or families. Perhaps most important, Wolof leadership is emerging.

A man from Senegal who had been a clandestine talihibé Insa (follower of Jesus) before the arrival of FOW workers will officially join the FOW team this year through Mission Inter Senegal, a partner agency with Mennonite Mission Network. The man’s wife travels with FOW worker Irene Bornman to tell the Bible story in villages where people are hearing about Jesus as God’s way, truth and life for the first time.

The FOW team in Senegal consists of six adults and five children: Jonathan and Carol Bornman with their three children; Jonathan’s mother, Irene Bornman; Margaret DeJong; and Jim and Paula Hanes with their two children.

While the Hanes family takes a study leave at Wheaton (Ill.) College this year, the couple from Senegal and their seven children will expand the FOW team.