Over the past number of years, we have been involved in dozens of projects. God has allowed us to accomplish much, for which we are thankful. We write and edit, translate and design, publish and distribute, develop story sets, conduct training, consult with mission agencies, present seminars. Very few of those projects have followed a straight path from concept to completion. Projects that we thought would take weeks have taken months. Projects we thought would take months have taken years. Some have gone more quickly than we ever would have planned. Other ideas conceived more than a decade ago are still ‘in process.’ 

One of those projects that has taken time is the one we have been working on in Senegal. We first submitted material to the Converge Metro Dakar Initiative (now the Metro SenWest Initiative) in early 2020. While two of our books have been in French for some time now, we weren’t confident that they suited Senegal. Although French is the official language of Senegal, Wolof is the primary spoken language in Dakar (>6 million Wolof speakers in Senegal). Most of the Wolof are Muslim, but many of their pre-Islamic beliefs remain deeply embedded in their worldview. Although faithful missionaries have worked with them for decades, there are few evangelical Christians among the Wolof (0.01%, according to The Joshua Project).

Field testing has always been part of our process, and the project in Senegal would be no exception. One of the most critical parts of that process is to ask the believers there to work through the material and assess for themselves what materials would be most helpful. Not infrequently, books and materials are placed into the hands of the church by missionaries. And though they are biblically sound and well translated, they do not quite ‘fit’ the local context. The books can be happily received by the believers and used for a short time, but if the people did not help select them, many of the books end up on a shelf or in a box unused. 

So, after 18 months of gathering the Senegalese and those involved in the Converge Metro SenWest Initiative, Clear and Simple Media has been asked to send our French Travel Guide to the Bible (Guide Biblique) to Senegal. Because shipping to West Africa can be tricky, we will send cases of books to workers from Dakar who are visiting the US, who will take them ‘home’ in January. Once there, we will be discussing a possible Wolof translation and the prospect of finding a printer in Senegal to print books to be used there. 

Would you please pray that God will use the books to encourage believers in Senegal? And pray that God will use the book to introduce the Bible to many people who do not yet know Jesus. 

To read more about the Metro SenWest Initiative, go HERE.