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Breaking New Ground
Raymond and Silvy Njoku share their background and their developing vision for Senegal
June 2003

In the fall of 2002, Raymond and Silvy Njoku began a new church plant in Dakar, Senegal, following a season of training with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Tagbilaran City and the Arms of Love Children's Home in the Philippines. The new church plant is being overseen by the Bournemouth Vineyard in England, where a new partnership is forming in support of church planting in Senegal.

Arms of Love has been an integral part of this effort from the beginning, as we have been laying the foundation for the establishment of the first Christian children's home in Senegal, hopefully by the end of 2003.

In this month's newsletter, Raymond and Silvy share about their personal background and their evolving vision for the church and children's home in Senegal.

Raymond and Silvy Njoku - Personal Background

Silvy and I are originally from Nigeria. We have always sensed God's calling in our lives to the nations, especially to the Muslims. And so we've been trying by God's grace to respond to this calling and to reach out to them irrespective of the difficulties related to this task. Along the way, we have risked losing our lives, suffered significant pains and imprisonments, and were stripped of everything we had. But Paul said in 2 Cor. 6:3-10, "We were as dying, yet we live on, beaten and yet not killed . . ."

We have a burden to reach out to the people of Muslim West Africa. Jesus says in Mark 3:27, "no man can enter into a strong man's house and carry away his possessions without first binding him." We are in the business of fighting a spiritual enemy, and we expect it to get tough sometimes. But He who is with us is greater than our spiritual enemy. So we are believing and trusting God for the fulfillment of His calling in our lives.

By His grace, we have had the privilege to work in countries like Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and now Senegal, planting churches, starting children's homes, and working in Christian education.

We were brought to Senegal by God's "transplantation," as we fondly call it. After so much labor and imprisonments in Mauritania, we had the impression that the work was moving on very well when God suddenly changed the course of everything. We were arrested for the sake of the gospel, imprisoned in different jails, and were waiting to be released as usual, when everything began to take a different shape. They decided to judge us in the sharia court, where we would have been sentenced for life or instantly executed. But God intervened through a series of demonstrations by the citizens and through the court of justice. So instead we were expelled, stripped of everything we had and left in the desert to die.

But God in His mercy took care of us and brought us to Senegal. Although it was truly a great shock for both of us and a situation so painful to bear, God led us through it and we give glory to His holy name. He has brought healing to our broken hearts and taught us through it all. Today, we can look back and give glory to Him, as our transplantation has given us a new opportunity to plant a church and start a Christian children's home. To God be the glory for the great things He has done! Amen.

Raymond and Silvy Njoku

The Need for Arms of Love in Senegal

There is a great need for a Christian children's home in Senegal. In Senegal, it is the common practice of the Muslims to indoctrinate their children with Islam at a very early stage of their childhood. These children grow up to be very strict Muslims. It is also a very Koranic-based practice for men to marry at least four wives. As a result, many children are born through these polygamous marriages, and many divorces naturally take place. Most of these children are either abandoned or mistreated, and some are orphaned. These mistreated, abandoned and orphaned children are caught in a web: they are either forced to take to the street on their own or they are given to the Muslim leaders ("marabouts") who in turn force them into the streets to beg for survival. You can guess what happens in the streets. They become beggars, thieves, robbers, bandits, etc. until they are finally useless or killed.

A non-Biblical slogan says to "kill them before they grow, " but God is asking us to "save them before they die." This is the heart of Arms of Love, to rescue and deliver these helpless children, who like Ishmael in Gen.21:17 are crying in the desert of Senegal for a life giving and refreshing drink from the well of salvation. God needs instruments and canals through which He can rescue and restore these rejected and dying children.

The bible says in Luke 15: 10, that there is a great rejoicing in heaven over a soul that is saved. As God sees neither a child nor an adult, but a soul, we believe that there will be much rejoicing in heaven over every child that Arms of Love is able to save. Thank you Lord!

We also believe that as the Bible says in Proverbs 22:6, to train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it, that these children will never turn from God's word. They will rather become great men and women of God in this nation, who will speak forth the word of God, impact lives, and bring about a generational change in their own time.

So let's get started.

Blessings,
Silvy Njoku

The Need for New Church Planting in Senegal

There are so many reasons why a church like the Vineyard is needed in Senegal. Many are going off track in their worship toward God. By contrast, the Vineyard brings people back to their rightful place -- God's heart. John 4:23 says to worship God "in Spirit and in truth." This the desire of our heart, and it is wonderful to see what God is doing - bringing people into intimate worship in His presence. You find people crying and weeping in the presence of God, getting back to His heart.

Our heart is to bring people back to the heart of worship, and to translate Vineyard songs into all the local languages, so that intimate worship can be restored into the hearts of all the people of this nation. It is true that we are still very young as a church, and we are still lacking the guitars, piano, drums, overhead projector, and sound equipment that we need to realize our dream, but we believe that God will provide.

Churches like the Vineyard are also needed for their compassion and evangelistic ministries, as part of fulfilling the great commission of Jesus. God is already bringing people from the different ethnic groups into the Dakar Vineyard, and they are crying out for each of their own people to be reached. Our heart is to take God's word and compassion to each of these people groups, through the projection of the Jesus film, preaching the life and ministry of Jesus, and living the kingdom message. Although we are still lacking some of the means that would be helpful to accomplish this (i.e., video projector, films, literatures, Bibles, Vineyard CDs, transportation, etc.), we also believe that God is in this work and will accomplish it.

Since we started, many people are beginning to feel the presence of God in intimate worship. Different people are asking to organize some worship concerts in different quarters and places. There are testimonies of how God is manifesting His presence, touching and changing people's hearts and lives as they are worshiping Him. Praise be to God!

God is blessing the church with people from different ethnic groups who really want us to do some ministries, worship concerts, evangelistic outreaches and video projections in their own towns and regions. Pray that God would meet this great need, to the glory of His name.

We are facing a lot of challenges, but we are still growing. God will perfect His work. He is truly in control. Please do help in earnest prayers, that God will send workers and provide the means to accomplish this great task to the glory of His name. Amen.

Blessings,
Raymond Njoku.