April 24, 2000
A GROUP of Baptist prayerwalkers (right) recently visited New York to intercede for the Wolof people of West Africa. A sizable group of Wolof reside in the city. (BP photos by Sandy King)
Missionaries finding links to unreached Wolof people
___By Mark Kelly
___SBC International Mission Board
___NEW YORK CITY (BP)--Harried New Yorkers brush past the street vendors without so much as a second glance at the knockoff watches and pirated videos the vendors offer. New Yorkers in Times Square are always in a hurry, the vendors will tell you. Only tourists stop to look, and they don't really want to talk.
___So the peddlers are surprised when onewoman does stop to talk with them--and astonished when she speaks in their native Wolof, the language of one of West Africa's largest people groups unreached with the Christian gospel. About 3 million Wolof live in Senegal and Gambia. An estimated 30,000 Wolof immigrants live in New York City, most trying to earn money that will be sent back to Africa.
IN WEST AFRICA, 3 million Wolof are practically untouched by the gospel. However, those who have come to the United States--many of whom work as street vendors in New York City --may be a key to spreading the good news of God's love throughout that people group.
___The Wolof are a hospitable people who observe a form of Islam mixed with traditional religious practices. They value relationships highly and will stop whatever they are doing to talk to a visitor--even if it means losing a sale to a wide-eyed tourist excited to find a "Gucci" wristwatch for only $10.
___A knot of Wolof vendors quickly encircles Tracey Dunnavant, a former missionary to West Africa who has come to New York to prayerwalk among the city's Wolof immigrants and ask God to open the door for the gospel among them. Though missionaries have worked among the Wolof in West Africa for years, only about 50 have become Christians, and many of those keep their faith a secret for fear of persecution.
___Dunnavant carries on an animated conversation with the peddlers for several minutes. They are immensely curious to learn why a white woman speaks their language with the accent of a West African bush villager.
___She takes the opportunity to explain how God called her and her husband, Ben, to go live among the Wolof and tell them about God's love. The group listens in rapt attention.
___Dunnavant's 10-member prayerwalk team recently spent five days greeting the street vendors and praying for them, giving "Jesus" videos and gospel cassettes to those who were willing to receive them. They also talked to Baptists in the city about reaching out to the Wolof and other unreached people groups represented there.
___Missions strategists hope immigrants who accept Christ in America's cities will take the message of God's love back to their homelands.
___During these days of prayerwalking, team members met several dozen Wolof, who were excited that any American cared enough about them to stop and talk. One young man gave his name and address and invited them to visit his home. And Ben Dunnavant actually met a young man he knew when he lived in West Africa.
___Another team member knew an estranged friend who lives in the city but hesitated to look her up. She challenged God: "If you want us to make contact, let me run into her." When the young woman and a second team member asked directions from a jogger on the street, the jogger turned out to be the long-lost friend. The friend is now a lawyer who often works with Wolof people on immigration issues.
___A week later, a prayer team began visiting Wolof villages in Senegal and found an unprecedented openness. When they explained they had come to pray for the village, they were warmly received and several village leaders, who ordinarily would oppose the Christians, allowed them to pray in the name of Jesus, who is counted among Islam's prophets.
___(Editor's note: Names of the missionaries in this story have been changed for security reasons.)
___
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