I'm here to help!
Remember that old joke that has its punchline as “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you?” What makes this funny is the recipient’s well-reasoned doubt that he truly needs whatever it is the...
View ArticleAFRICAN CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES
Perhaps the most encouraging development I've seen in the ten years since I've been in Niger is the growing presence of other African missionaries on the field. Coming (largely) from spiritually...
View ArticleWHAT TO DO WITH FORMER MISSIONARIES?
We have missionary friends in their late 50s who, after nearly 30 years in Niger, announced that they were leaving the field to return to the U.S., largely because they concluded they couldn’t properly...
View ArticleRAMADAN: A COMMUNITY EVENT
When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s in Iowa, I had never heard of Ramadan, the annual lunar month of fasting that Muslims partake in, abstaining from eating, drinking and other proscribed...
View ArticleBack in the U.S.: First thoughts
I'm back in the United States after 2 1/2 years in Niger with no break. Unlike other times, I didn't even leave the country during this period to attend a meeting or a workshop. My three girls and I...
View Article“MOM and POP SHOPS” on the Mission Field
I spent the third week of January in Scottsdale, AZ for an RCA Mission Summit in which the General Secretary, RCA Global Missions supervisors and local RCA church leaders with mission responsibilities...
View ArticleWhat do I Miss?
As a RCA missionary on home assignment, I’m always pleased when I can do Q & A at a church after my regular presentation. It’s useful to know what aspects of my work resonated with the members and...
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A Tribute to One of Niger's First Christians: Maryama Abba Moussa (1923-2013)
On June 23, our family learned that my Nigerien wife’s grandmother, Maryama Abba Moussa, died at the age of 90 years. While her passing is mourned by her 9 living children, dozens of grandchildren and...
View ArticleSENDING STUFF AS MINISTRY
We’ve recently returned to Niger and one of the things that met us were three of those Christmas boxes that Western churches send to poor parts of the world and which a large Christian organization...
View ArticleCONSIDERATIONS FOR DECIDING WHICH MINISTRIES TO SUPPORT
By Thomas Johnson, RCA Missionary to Niger and John Paul “J.P.” Sundararajan, RCA Missionary with Audio Scripture Ministries As two RCA missionaries, our work and vocation expose us to a broken world...
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