About The Sahara Initiative

The Sahara Initiative is a project that began in the late 60’s and early 70’s in which Baptist International Missions, Inc. sought to recruit missionaries for North Africa. The goal was to send missionaries across North Africa to establish gospel preaching centers and plant local churches. Several men and women surrendered to go, and churches were established in countries such as Senegal and Niger. Most of those original missionaries have retired or moved to other fields of service. As it stands, BIMI has only two missionary families serving in North Africa. It is crucial that God sends more laborers to continue the work that has already been established, as well as to launch out unto the uttermost and reach those areas still untouched with the gospel witness.

BIMI is relaunching the Sahara Initiative to reemphasize the opportunities and needs of North Africa. We are specifically praying that God will call twelve missionaries to serve in North Africa. Besides raising awareness of the need and presenting the opportunity to potential recruits, the Sahara Initiative will partner with current missionaries serving in North Africa to provide a missionary internship program focused on preparing missionary candidates for service among the people groups of the Sahara Desert.

First Initiative: Raising Awareness of the Need in the Sahara

If you have attended a mission conference at any mission-minded church, then you have probably heard the phrase “The 10/40 Window.” The 10/40 Window is the area approximately between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude and includes countries located in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The 10/40 Window is often called "The Resistant Belt" and includes most of the world's Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.More than 5 billion individuals residing in approximately 8,633 distinct people groups can be found in the 10/40 Window. 5,935 (68.7%) of these people groups are considered unreached and have a population of 3.05 billion. This means approximately 61% of the individuals in the 10/40 Window live in an unreached people group. The 10/40 Window is home to some of the largest unreached people groups in the world.

Shortly after Islam was founded, Muslims began a conquest of the Maghreb, swiping across North Africa, razing churches and forcing the submission of tribes to Islam by threat of sword or slavery. Since the 7th century, Islam holds an overpowering stranglehold on the people of North Africa. From governments punishing those who convert from Islam to Christianity with death to threatening shame and banishment in the more democratic nations, Africans living in North Africa have historically had little to no interest in the gospel. I once shared a Bible story with a group of twelve- year-old children who, upon hearing the mention of the name of Jesus, plugged their ears and began chanting, “God has no son, God has no son!” Children are taught from an early age to never read the Bible and never listen to a Christian.

But the resistance to the gospel is beginning to weaken. Modern tools, such as satellite television, the internet, and Smart Phones have given the opportunity for the gospel to reach these unreached people. Men and women from across North Africa are beginning to respond to the message of the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

However, it is one thing to reach people through the airwaves. Thank God for the response to the gospel and for these opportunities to share the gospel. But what North Africa truly needs are men and women who are willing to put feet on the ground and disciple these converts face to face. We need preachers who are willing to pioneer the gospel to one of the hundreds of unreached people groups throughout North Africa. We need men and women to surrender to go to the Sahara and labor for what may be a lifetime to bring the gospel to those who have never heard. North Africa needs church- planters.

Second Initiative: Strategic Church Planting throughout the Sahara

Planting local, indigenous, evangelistic churches is the only solution for meeting the spiritual and physical needs of the world. Not only does the gospel bring the hope of eternal life, but the community it creates in the body of Christ becomes an efficient system of support and development. Paul wrote to the Galatian church that we are to bear one another’s burdens. In Romans 15:1, we read, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” Only the local church can meet all the needs (both spiritual and physical) of man through the preaching and practice of the gospel. The greatest need in missions today is for church-planting preachers. The nations need the local church. They do not need more social aid or religion. They need the gospel. They need gospel preaching local churches. The world needs Christ.

The Biblical mandate to preach the gospel in all the world was given to the church. The individual missionary is not the solution to man’s greatest need. The missionary is simply an instrument through whom God works to bring about the fulfillment of His plan. God’s plan is that local churches be established among all nations. The world does not need short-termers or ill-prepared missionaries who leave after their first term on the field. The world needs missionaries who are determined to plant themselves in a desolate region without an established church and stay there until a church is born. The result of the gospel being preached, and disciples being formed is the establishment of local churches. Sometimes this process takes a year or two. Sometimes it takes a lifetime of sacrifice.

Paul knew that the most effective way to reach a people group in a region was to establish local churches. He wrote the church at Thessalonica, declaring, “For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing” (1 Thessalonians 1:8). A local church on fire for Christ makes the individual missionary obsolete. That is a good thing! Paul said that his job was done; he was no longer needed because they were sounding forth the word of the Lord in all the region. He was free to move on to the next unreached region. Establishing local churches is the most effective way to reach a region with the gospel. North Africa needs churches and missionaries who will come determined to stay until churches are established.

Third Initiative: Preparing the Call​​​​​ed for Ministry in the Sahara

In December of 2005, my wife and I were officially approved to serve with Baptist International Missions, Inc. We were newlyweds, and I was not six months graduated from Bible college. My pastor at the time was on the board of BIMI. After being approved, another board member expressed concern to my pastor about my young age, asking, “Does Josh have any practical experience?” At the time, I was an intern at my local church in rural Michigan.

I thought about his question. What practical experience can someone going to Africa receive while serving in a farming community in Midwest America? I had taken a month-long mission trip to Senegal, but that in no way could prepare me with practical experience for long-term service. I asked myself, “What if there were a program that allowed a missionary or a missionary couple to intern on the mission field for an extended period without needing to raise full support first?” From this seed-thought grew the concept of the need for a missionary internship program. A short-term mission trip is not designed to prepare a missionary candidate for long-term effective service.

Serving in North Africa is not an easy task. A mission director once told me that the reason so few go to this part of the 10/40 window is not primarily because we are unaware of the need. That is certainly a contributing factor. However, almost every mission conference speaker will refer to the 10/40 window at some point in his sermon. We know the 10/40 window needs preachers! The director explained that the reason so few go to this region of the world is that it is hard, it is expensive, and it is dangerous. The Next Step: North Africa Missionary Internship is a year-long intensive internship program which will prepare the missionary candidate for the hardship and challenges he or she will face serving in North Africa.

The Next Step: North Africa Missionary Internship is not a short-term mission trip in the traditional sense. The primary objective of a short-term mission trip is to assist a missionary in a specific ministry, such as a building project or mass evangelism effort. The objective of The Next Step: North Africa Missionary Internship is to prepare the intern for effective, long-term ministry, particularly across North Africa.

What is The Next Step: North Africa Missionary Internship? Very simply, it is an intensive, real-life training opportunity that will better prepare the missionary candidate for long-term effectiveness on a difficult mission field. The Next Step Internship program offers a strategic approach to preparing a young couple or single missionary candidate for full-time service on the mission field.