Niger: A Land in Need of Eternal Springs of Living Water

by Daniel Jones

It is August. The dog days of summer are here, and the heat never ceases. Just to help you cool off, imagine living in Niger in April or May. During most of the year, the temperatures are over 80 degrees farenheit. In April and May, however, it’s regularly over 120. And, oh, by the way, there is no air conditioning. Only a fan. Enjoy your cool summer weather, wherever you live!

About two-thirds of Niger is desert, and the rest is semi–desert. There are sand dunes, grass, and desert plant life. It is a land where water is the valued commodity and firewood is more precious than gold. People are constantly in search of water, grasslands, and firewood. Occasional lonely, lost clouds burst over the desert spelling relief and food for camels between oases in their journeys. When rain comes, fallow seeds spring quickly to life. The Niger River cuts through west Niger, providing one place where dryness isn’t the norm. But to put it in perspective, the struggle for survival is common across the Sahel, that vast savanna that borders the Sahara Desert stretching from Mauritania to Ethiopia. The peoples of this region are often displaced and marginalized.

In Niger, everyone needs everyone, so healthy symbiotic relationships are the rule. That goes for the 27 people groups as well. Tamacheq camel herdsmen in caravans of 100 camels crisscross the desert carrying salt from Kanuri salt miners to market. The soil of Songhai plots benefit from waste deposited by cattle driven in search for water by their Fulani herdsmen. One man’s job often supports an extended family.

Though Niger is a peaceful country now, it wasn’t always. Before the Dogon people arrived in the 15th century, the Bandiagara escarpment in Mali was home to the Tellem. The great empire of Mali may have driven the Tellem into a defensive reclusion. Before they vanished, they lived in caves 200 feet off the desert floor, fending off raiding Songhai and Mossi slave parties. Tellem fame stems from caves stuffed with skeletons. The Dogons fended off attacks from Mossi, Songhai, and Fulani peoples.

ISLAM IN NIGER
Islam first appeared in Niger in the 11th century. Today most Muslims are linked through their clerics to the Tijaniya brotherhood, which is strong among the Tamacheq, Kanuri, Fulani, and Hausa city dwellers. Over 80 percent of Nigeriens (i.e., citizens of Niger) live in villages of fewer than 5,000 people. There is a training school for marabouts, (holy men), at Say, Niger’s principal holy city. There is a powerful Muslim radio ministry funded by the Arabic government based in Niamey. There is also an Islamic university in Niamey. But significant elements of animistic practices go on among almost all Nigerien people groups.

CHRISTIANITY IN NIGER
Christianity took root in this barren land in the 7th century as Arabs began dominating the region. Migrating Berber and other North African Christians reached as far southwest as the Niger River. But they became isolated and fell away. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, Christianity did not return again to Niger until the 20th century.

Catholicism spread from Benin to Niger in 1931. Operation World estimates Catholics outnumber Protestants more than two to one, and most of these people are expatriate. When in 1963, Niger deported all people from Benin, this considerably weakened the Catholic church and Christian presence in the land.

SIM INT’L. WORK IN NIGER
Sudan Interior Mission, now SIM Int’l., began ministry here in 1923. The goal of SIM Int’l. has always been to develop self-governing churches. Their task is formidable, but clear as they work with other agencies to develop national leadership. The Union of Evangelical Churches and Missions is one such networking body. SIM Int’l. supports the Evangelical Churches of Niger which carry on the main Protestant work.

Active in 13 towns and cities, SIM Int’l. runs two Bible schools, a leprosarium, a hospital, community heath program, Bible translation efforts, rural development, and evangelism, including student outreaches. With about 200 workers, they are by far the largest mission in Niger. The hospital, located in Galmi, draws attention throughout the Sahel and the injured from as far as Algeria. “Only Galmi can put them back together” might be the rough translation for a local saying heard near the sites of major accidents. This is a good witness of Christ’s love to peoples who need Him.

CHALLENGES FACING THE CHURCH
Today, the Nigerien church is small. Fewer than 30,000 are Christian in a country of over eight million. This does not mean it’s unified. Churches split. Most established churches of Niger are among the Hausa and the Dzerma-Songhai. Other congregations are made up of expatriates from other African countries. The number of converts remains small, and almost all of the people groups remain unreached and without a church of their own.

This need for the family significantly influences a person’s decision to follow Jesus Christ. Though not as deadly a decision as in the Saudi Arabia, conversions in Niger clearly lead to family estrangement and second-class citizenship. Perhaps some of these youth are non-declared Christians living in peace among their Muslim families. Someone needs to find a way to make faith in Christ palatable to Muslim Nigerien community leaders. But as things now stand, 90 percent of Niger’s population is Muslim, another nine percent solely animist, and less than one percent Christian, according to Operation World.

REASONS FOR HOPE
But there is cause for hope. Nigerien law calls for freedom of religion. The government recently gave permission for an open-air evangelistic meeting. Though the meeting fell through, it shows a clear measure of freedom. The youth will openly discuss the Bible with Christians. Steve White, an SIL worker in Niger comments, “I felt freer to speak of Christianity to Nigerien students than to Muslims in California.” This openness among Niger’s youth is significant. Niger’s population has swelled from two and a half million in the 1950s to more than eight million in the 1990s causing those under 25 years old to number about 70 percent of the population. It’s possible that future Nigerien Muslim leaders will be more open to learning about and putting their faith in the Jesus of the Bible. Pray that they will!

PRAYER POINTS:

• Pray for the Lord to move among every people group in Niger through dreams, visions, healings, and through His Word.
• Pray for all 27 languages and dialects of Niger to soon have a radio broadcast, gospel recordings, and a complete Bible.
• Pray for the JESUS Film to be translated into all major languages in Niger.
• Pray for the Lord to send missionaries to 19 unreached and “unoccupied” people groups spoken of in Operation World.
• Pray specifically for work to be done in the more unreached eastern half of the country.
• Pray for a move of the Holy Spirit among community leaders and members of Niger’s powerful Tijaniya brotherhood that will draw tens of thousands to the cross.
• Pray that the Lord will bolster the staff of SIM Int’l. and other mission agencies in Niger through new recruits who are willing to live and die in this dry land to win disciples for Jesus.