“Pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honoured just as it was with you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1

The challenge is great; models of outreach and teaching are working well, but who is best equipped for the task? MIJ and Crosslinks believe the future is in training national Togolese to carry on the work amongst their own people.  

Kossi Ehli Ahonsou (Benoit) is from south of Togo. He trained at the YA Discipleship Training School and the West Africa School of Theology along with a placement with MIJ in Dapaong. 

Benoit is equipped to do the work and is a valued colleague of Crosslinks mission partners Sena and Jane Ounate-Lare, but how can he be supported in the work that he does? 

Crosslinks has accepted Benoit as a South-to- South mission partner working cross-culturally within his own country. He will be supported for two years initially and provided with living and work expenses, and a motorbike so he can pay regular visits to the difficult areas of town as well as villages outside.  

Wanyeki Mahiaini is the Project Philip Coordinator. A Kenyan, he works in London among African students to help them become better equipped to preach the Gospel when they return to their own countries. 

Wanyeki himself explains: “The Philip Project, now six years old, raises Bible teachers for African countries among Africans in UK institutions. I suppose the project chose me first before I became the coordinator. After graduating from Warwick University, I returned to Kenya to teach at a university. There I was staggered to find that most of the students I met did not care for the Gospel and those that did had questions about its truthfulness, which I couldn’t answer. One described preaching as the lowest form of communication ‘because preachers make claims which can not be substantiated.’ Although hurt by the put-down, my experience of much of the preaching in my home town bore him out. I was one of those preachers myself! I longed to start a movement of professionals in African countries who also knew how to handle the Word of God correctly. I came to work for UCCF to challenge African students in the UK to learn how to handle the Bible so that we could teach it faithfully in our countries. At the end of my contract The Philip Project was born.” 

For both the Philip Project and Crosslinks, the aim is to take God’s Word to God’s World. As we support Benoit and Wanyeki in prayer and financially, we know that Crosslinks is encouraging indigenous mission in the most appropriate way. 

To help their support, email or telephone 020 8691 6111.  

  Crosslinks magazine July 2006 index