Ouagadougou, November 11-13, 2008

An official report has been written, but I wanted to write down my observations as a participant at this historical gathering of church representatives and Christian educators from all the member denominations of the Federation of Evangelical Churches and Missions of Burkina Faso. (The FEME, as it’s called here, is an organization that was formed many years ago for the purpose of having a collaboration of all the member denominations and missions. There are presently 12 churches and 6 mission groups that are members.)

After the Niamey Round Table in September, a group of about 10 of the 30 that had composed the Burkina Faso delegation, met with the officers of the Federation to give a report of the Round Table. We encouraged them to give us educators the green light to form an association of schools that would cut across denominational lines and enable us to speak as one voice to the government Department of Education.

To our surprise, the President of the Federation (Pastor Pawentaore Ouédraogo who is also president of the Assemblies of God Church) received our report and recommendations with enthusiasm and asked us to send an e-mail message off to Samson Makhado to invite him to come to Burkina and meet with us as soon as he could. Because I could most easily write in English, I was asked to write the message and I did so before I left the Federation office that day.
It has been obvious from the beginning that it is God’s vision that we are embracing for bringing Christian schooling to the forefront of the ministry of the evangelical churches of Burkina. This could well be what will serve as a catalyst for all of the denominations to come together in a spirit of unity and collaboration after a long history of division in this country. Though I recognized God’s hand early on in this process, I have to admit that I was truly shocked that Samson was able to clear his calendar and come to Burkina so quickly!

I’ve lived most of my life in Burkina Faso and I think I am a pretty credible witness when I say that what happened through this round table was nothing short of a miracle. I never doubted that we would eventually be able to work together to join ACSI and move forward in Christian schooling here. Yet I was completely unprepared for how far forward we were able to move in such a short period of time! All I can say is that God has placed Samson in His place for His time. Samson has not only the right background, personality, and gifts for his role, but is a Spirit-filled man who has an uncanny ability to get people to agree with each other (and with him!) and to work together. I say uncanny, but I should more accurately say “a miraculous ability”!

What happened in Ouagadougou was nothing short of supernatural. Sixty-eight men and women of diverse people groups and denominations (25 of them pastors) met for two days and at the end had come to a consensus on how to move forward – this after years of false starts in forming a national department of education under the auspices of the Federation. At the beginning of the conference most had very little idea of what ACSI even was, and didn’t realize that the point of this meeting was to bring Burkina Faso on board (in fact, the officers of the Federation themselves obviously had no idea!)

At one point the denominational tensions that have existed here for many decades reared their ugly head, but Samson diffused the problem and was able to bring all of the participants to an agreement as to how to proceed in a concrete way. At the end of the conference a provisional committee of 8 people was set in place (and I’m on it, which is a miracle in and of itself!) that will begin working toward the goal of registering with the government, enabling the evangelical church to speak as one voice. This committee will also set in motion the process of Burkina becoming a member of ACSI. All of this is being done with the blessing of the Federation and it is our intention to work under their cover and in close collaboration with them. The president of the Federation expressed his delight that, unlike other evangelical organizations, ACSI wants to work hand in hand with the Church.

Though this conference was frankly poorly-organized and thrown together at the last minute, it was obvious that it was held in God’s timing and that His Spirit visited us. The evangelical Church of Burkina Faso is blessed with many gifted leaders, both pastors and educators. The government is favorably disposed to our evangelical schools because of their outstanding results, and there are quite a number of evangelical government ministers at present. We already have a large number of Christian schools among us – 12 pre-schools, 111 elementary schools, and 35 secondary schools for a total of 158 schools. We have the tools in our hands, but we needed God’s prophet to come in from the outside and unify us so we can work together in the enormous task of discipling this great nation.

Samson is certainly worthy of our gratitude, but the glory and honor go to God who was only implementing the vision He had had from the beginning. We have a lot of work before us and the newly-formed committee will be meeting together on December 5th for the first time. Some of the items on our agenda are getting our association registered with the government by the end of this calendar year and planning a regional leadership conference here in Burkina Faso in 2009. I’m in great anticipation of what the future holds and how He is going to use each one of us!

Respectfully submitted,

Deborah Clouser