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Stories & Blog
A Streetlight Casts Out Fear in Rural Africa
TOGO — In a new neighborhood on the outskirts of a rural African village, there is no light. No lamps, no streetlights, no parking lot beacons. It’s a neighborhood of darkness.
Consequently, it’s also empty of people when the sun goes down. Without light, people are afraid of being attacked by a stranger or bitten by a snake as they walk down a road they can’t see. For their own safety, they avoid venturing out of their homes after nightfall.
It may seem an unlikely setting for a missions training center. But Crossworld worker Kwashie and his team think it’s just the place to launch a movement of African disciple-makers.
Though sub-Saharan Africa has a long Christian history, few Africans have been trained and sent to North Africa, where churches are rare and there is little access to the gospel.
Kwashie’s training center will change that. The men and women trained at Kwashie’s center will go north into least-reached villages with the gospel in one hand and a skill in the other.
But first, the center needed some modern technology — namely, electricity. And it would be a gift not only to the center, but to the entire neighborhood.
"At 7 p.m. the new street lights came on, and I wondered if what I was seeing was true," said one of the neighborhood’s residents. "I walked out of my house to see where the lights would lead, and I arrived at the newly constructed training center. Oh, what a blessing!"
A few days later, Kwashie was invited to a neighborhood meeting. They wanted to know who brought the light to the neighborhood.
"The light is for the new training center," Kwashie said. "It brings light to your life too.
But more than physical light to see, the true light that came from God is meant to shine in our hearts, and that light is Jesus Christ. What is done for this neighborhood is done because of God’s love for all of us."
Of the 20 people who attended the meeting, only three were believers. But they took all turns thanking God and the people involved in bringing light to their neighborhood.
"Now that the light has come," they said, "our children can study under the street lights instead of by flashlight. We can walk from one house to another without fear. And we can carry our sick family members to the medical center in an emergency at night. We are blessed."
In fact, they felt so strongly that they decided to name their new neighborhood just that: Blessing.
And that’s exactly what Kwashie hopes the training center will be — a place where African believers can be trained to share the gospel, God’s message of blessing to all the nations.
Consequently, it’s also empty of people when the sun goes down. Without light, people are afraid of being attacked by a stranger or bitten by a snake as they walk down a road they can’t see. For their own safety, they avoid venturing out of their homes after nightfall.
It may seem an unlikely setting for a missions training center. But Crossworld worker Kwashie and his team think it’s just the place to launch a movement of African disciple-makers.
Though sub-Saharan Africa has a long Christian history, few Africans have been trained and sent to North Africa, where churches are rare and there is little access to the gospel.
Kwashie’s training center will change that. The men and women trained at Kwashie’s center will go north into least-reached villages with the gospel in one hand and a skill in the other.
But first, the center needed some modern technology — namely, electricity. And it would be a gift not only to the center, but to the entire neighborhood.
"At 7 p.m. the new street lights came on, and I wondered if what I was seeing was true," said one of the neighborhood’s residents. "I walked out of my house to see where the lights would lead, and I arrived at the newly constructed training center. Oh, what a blessing!"
A few days later, Kwashie was invited to a neighborhood meeting. They wanted to know who brought the light to the neighborhood.
"The light is for the new training center," Kwashie said. "It brings light to your life too.
But more than physical light to see, the true light that came from God is meant to shine in our hearts, and that light is Jesus Christ. What is done for this neighborhood is done because of God’s love for all of us."
Of the 20 people who attended the meeting, only three were believers. But they took all turns thanking God and the people involved in bringing light to their neighborhood.
"Now that the light has come," they said, "our children can study under the street lights instead of by flashlight. We can walk from one house to another without fear. And we can carry our sick family members to the medical center in an emergency at night. We are blessed."
In fact, they felt so strongly that they decided to name their new neighborhood just that: Blessing.
And that’s exactly what Kwashie hopes the training center will be — a place where African believers can be trained to share the gospel, God’s message of blessing to all the nations.
Here’s how you can pray for this ministry.
- Pray that the light of Jesus will shine in the hearts of the people in the Blessing neighborhood.
- The training center (pictured above) opens next month! Pray for this first group of students and for their future impact among the least-reached.
- Thank God providing funds for the initial construction of the training center, and ask Him to provide for the next phase. (If you’d like to be part of it, give here.
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