Abdullah (not his real name) wants Christian radio broadcasts to continue in his part of Benin. “Only we,” he said, “know the impact your broadcasts have in our Muslim community. The messages we hear are compelling us to think about our lives. We acknowledge now that it is God’s word you are announcing. Who will be the first one to become a follower of Jesus? This is right now our problem.”

A year earlier, when the Benin church began broadcasting on the local FM station in Abdullah’s town, local resistance was strong. But now the pastor who speaks on the radio sees a total attitude change. The local people beg, “Keep your message on the air.” One man came to the church in a nearby village and said, “Preach again the sermon I heard on the radio because it helped my family a lot.”

As we travel around Benin to survey the results of our radio broadcasts in various languages, we can hardly believe what God has done in just a few years. I will recount a few of the highlights.

The ancient town of Abomey is the historic center of the voodoo religion. Even today people come to offer animal sacrifices to the gods of African Traditional Religion. But now the antenna of Radio ROYAL pierces the sky above Abomey, and since March 2004 a Christian message in the Fon language is broadcast there every evening. Weary of their futile attempts to please their implacable gods, many people are listening to the good news about Jesus Christ and finding peace with God through Him.

Pastor Daniel Gassari (head of the evangelism department of the Benin church) and Pastor Alphonse (the Fon language radio coordinator) went along on one of my survey trips. Along the way we passed through the area where the Dassa people live. Pastor Alphonse, who had grown up there, expressed his concern that the Dassa of Benin have not been reached for Christ. Pastor Daniel agreed, adding that some Dassa Christians in Niger had contacted him for help in evangelizing their kinsmen in Benin. Daniel and Alphonse, having seen churches started by radio in other people groups, identified three Dassa-speaking pastors who could produce radio programs. It has happened before and can happen for the Dassa—a whole people group won to Christ by means of radio.

The Ditamari people have an ancient history of traditional religion. The sacred places for their religious ceremonies are near the town of Boukombe, and people travel from all over Benin to participate in those rites. Resistance to the gospel has been strongest here; Christians have been persecuted and churches burned. But the Christian broadcasts from Radio Parakou, far to the east, have reached the Ditamari homes, opening the people’s minds for the gospel. The older men, especially, are responding to a program titled “Culture and the Bible.” Some of them have begun to attend church desiring to learn more.

Now the manager of the local radio station in Boukombe is insisting that we place programs there too. We want to, but as with all commercial stations, there’s a cost. Most of the believers in Benin live at a subsistence level, and the churches do their best to stretch the offerings as far as they can. Every time we make a survey trip, we see fresh evidence that God uses radio to speak to people and prepare communities (both fetishers and Muslims) for churches to grow there.

We are grateful for prayers and financial help from friends outside Benin in order to expand the radio outreach. God’s message is for all the people groups of Benin; so many of them are still waiting to hear it.

Pray

• that Beninese pastors will continue to give clear messages of God’s love
• that God will provide funds to place broadcasts on every station that is willing to host Christian programming