The Cameroon Connection
By Ron Washer 6/13/03
Little did I know that a small act of caring over twenty years ago would help lead to the opening of Cameroon as a new field for ABWE. In 1982, my family was helping to establish the Kpalime Baptist Church in Togo when Joseph and his wife, Francesca, began attending. Joseph had been forced to live with his parents during an apprenticeship in the electrical and plumbing trade.
My father, Dallas Washer, led him to the Lord, but his desire to grow spiritually was made very difficult by severe persecution from his parents. The situation at home only worsened over time. He finally decided to move his family away from his parent's home. He chose to live directly behind our house in a small apartment with only two rooms and one light bulb. One day when his parents were gone, he asked if I would help him move his belongings to this small apartment in order to avoid their public display of anger at his moving away. The move went swiftly with a few loads in our old VW pickup. Now they were our immediate neighbors, and we quickly struck up a friendship.
My wife, Ann, tried to reach out to shy and timid Francesca. Francesca heard the Gospel over and over at church, located just 30 yards away, but she wasn't ready to respond. Ann continued to pray for Francesca and befriended her. Joseph went on to prepare for the ministry through ABWE's Bible Institute program. Throughout his studies, he was confident that Francesca would trust Christ allowing him to be free to serve the Lord as a pastor. Prayers were answered after many years when Francesca finally put her trust in Christ to save her. She was now ready to become a pastor's wife.
From Togo to Cameroon
Upon completion of his formal studies, Joseph became pastor of the Woume Baptist Church started by ABWE missionaries. The church grew and God began burdening Joseph's heart for reaching children. AWANA was an effective tool used in his church to reach children which caused him to see if there was any way he could help out with developing more AWANA clubs in Togo. Soon he was heading to Cameroon to be AWANA's missionary for that country. His energy and drive caused the AWANA ministry in Cameroon to grow rapidly.
During this time, he longed to be part of a church like the ABWE-planted churches in Togo. A seminary student in Cameroon challenged Joseph to help him start a church in Yaounde, the capital. Soon the Eglise Baptiste Biblique de Messassi—lovingly referred to as "ABWE Baptist Church"—was meeting together in a home. Joseph felt confident that ABWE should come to Cameroon and help plant sound Bible-preaching churches throughout the country.
Opening the Field
With his invitation, ABWE proposed a survey of the field for future church-planting and theological education. The survey revealed a wide open country for the kind of churches that ABWE is known to establish—strong Bible-preaching churches with trained leadership. As of June 2003, ABWE has officially approved the opening of Cameroon as a field for missionary service. Now we face the task of challenging workers for this needy and open field. Would you consider joining a team of veteran missionaries in planting churches throughout Cameroon?
Was God's plan at work in Togo? Looking back we can see God's leadership all through Joseph's life. God wove the fibers of Joseph's life and the ABWE ministry in Togo into the future of ABWE Cameroon. Could God be weaving this ministry of Cameroon into your life?
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