Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) leaders from six countries met in West Africa to begin or strengthen missions education and involvement in area churches. The regional training took place in Burkina Faso where WMU work was launched in January 2010.
Beatrice Zoma, president of Burkina Faso WMU (translated as Union of Baptist Co-Laborers with Christ), invited leaders from Nigeria, Liberia, Togo, Benin, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso with the goal of starting age-level missions organizations in Burkina Faso patterned after Nigeria WMU, where they have Sunbeams for children through third grade and Girls in Action (GA) for young girls.
Kathy Shafto, International Mission Board representative in Burkina Faso, said the conference was a great opportunity for women in the area to hear from other African leaders as well as Debby Akerman, president of national WMU.
“While there is a regional WMU conference in West Africa every two years, this was the first training in missions education for women in Burkina Faso,” Shafto explained.
“This is so new and exciting because most village churches don’t even have Sunday School, so for us to start with missions will be new and different for [those in] Burkina Faso to think about.”
According to Shafto, WMU programs are well-established in Liberia, Nigeria and Ghana with missions action projects and organized Bible studies on national and church levels. Children’s missions programs are growing in Ghana, and Liberia WMU leaders are focused on strengthening their GA programs specifically. Several West African countries also have Lydias, which is similar to Acteens with a slightly different age group; consistent with how African culture views women, Lydias includes young women from age 16 until they are married.
(BP)
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