Searching

 

June 22

Today my heart broke for Africa. It has taken me 5 weeks on the continent to grasp what my eyes have been seeing. I see poverty, corruption, simplicity, the uneducated, the sick, the lost, and the  searching. All this time I thought my heart should break for Kenyans or Burkinabe because of how poor they are and how hard their lives can be. And it should. However, there can be life in poverty and death in riches. The sadness of the poverty here pales in comparison to what hit me today.

The people of Africa are just as lost and in search of the truth as we are in America. But there is one key difference. Every town in the US has a television or radio station broadcasting the name of Jesus, there is a Bible in every hotel room, and our nation was founded on Christianity by Christians. Jesus is easily accessible. Learning about Him can be instant just like everything else in our society.

I don’t think the concept of easy access exists here. Especially when it comes to Christ. People in rural villages go their entire lives without hearing the name of Jesus. They are born, live, and die without leaving the village. If no one ever visits the village to tell them about Jesus then they never have the chance. Now I’m not speaking for all of Africa because cell phones across the continent are changing things and I have personally visited many thriving churches here. But the old rural Africa still exists.

Although I have seen a strong Christian presence in Africa, I have seen a strong Muslim presence as well. As we drove the 5 hours to Diebougou from Ougadougou today I saw mosque after Muslim mosque. We saw people praying in the streets. In Kenya I would wake up many mornings at 5:30 am to the Muslim call to prayer. It sobers me that the name of Allah has reached many of the searching people of Africa before the name of Jesus.

However, the unreached tribal populations still exist. And they are still searching.

The spiritual death in Africa is what breaks my heart. This is a part of the world that has believed in fetishes, animism, and their own tribal gods for generation after generation. Even when they come to that moment in their life where they are searching for the truth and wonder if there is something more, they have nothing to turn to except back to their old beliefs. Without hearing the gospel they continue to live an empty life. Whether it is the Islam life of rituals and routine prayers that lacks relationship or the tribal gods life of sacrifices and curses that lacks any security or love it leaves people broken and forever searching…

Mark 16:15 “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”