For months we had been working towards this event, and now it was finally here. We were anxious and happy at the same time. The Otammari Team had invited all Beninese pastors and the administration of the Adventist Mission in Benin, as well as our colleagues from the other parts of Africa, our field director Marc Coleman and AFM president Conrad Vine to a pastoral seminar in the little town of Possotomé in Southern Benin. Not only were we happy that almost all the pastors and administrators had accepted our invitation, we were even honored to welcome the president and the secretary of the newly founded Eastern Sahel Union Mission for part of our seminar.
We had several goals for this three-day event. First, we wanted to introduce some of AFM’s evangelistic methods to the pastors and administrators. We want our work to be transparent in order to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation. For this, we had prepared several presentations on topics like worldview change, contextualization, syncretism, the different phases of evangelism, and others.
Second, we wanted to create a platform for discussion and exchange of ideas. Most of the pastors have much more experience in this difficult field than we do, and we wanted to learn from them. We also wanted to give everybody a chance to learn more about how AFM operates and to express their expectations.
At the end of the seminar, we were exhausted but happy and satisfied. Not only had we gained respect and understanding for each other, we also had gotten to know each other better on a personal level through various activities in our free time.
As cross-cultural missionaries, we are guests in a foreign country. We want to do everything possible to support the local pastors and to work hand in hand with them towards our shared goal—winning precious souls for Christ.
