Why Are There No Churches for the Nomadic Muslim Peoples?

—by Keith Carey

They are Muslims, so they are hard to reach for Christ-at least that is the prevailing attitude towards Muslim nomads. Yes, they are hard to reach, but not because they are Muslims. Read on and find out why.

According to David J. Phillips' book, "Peoples on the Move" that I will use extensively for this article, there are three categories of nomads. There are the hunter-gatherers like the Pygmies. They live by finding wild game and fruit. The second group is just as self-sufficient, though more sophisticated in the way that they do things. These are the pastoralists, and that make up the bulk of the Muslim nomads. The largest of these are the Fulani or Fulbe groups who number eight-to-10 million, though not all of them are nomadic. The nomadic groups that have most contact with the outside world are the peripatetic groups. These are the world's traveling salesmen. With a limited market for their goods, they travel from one settled community to another. The Gypsy groups and South Asia's Guadula Lohar blacksmiths are examples.

By definition, nomads are mobile. Yet there is more to nomadic life than mobility. Tribal lines divide them. Most important to them is their lifestyle and their ability to maintain self-sufficiency. For this reason, the encroaching Sahel Desert in Africa is a threat to nomadic peoples who depend on the land to graze their crops. An equally serious threat comes from neighboring sedentary peoples who threaten to divert their traditional grazing lands to farming.

Why Are So Many Nomadic Peoples Islamic?
First of all, can you name any Christian nomadic groups? After looking for unreached people groups for the past 19 years, I cannot think of one, and neither can most nomadic pastoralists. Perhaps the nomads can speak for themselves on this issue. "When you can put your church on the back of a camel, then I will believe that Christianity is for us." This is what a Somali nomad once told Malcolm Hunter, a Serving in Missions (SIM) missionary. In a 2002 article in the "International Journal of Frontier Missions," Hunter said, "To be a Muslim all you need is a prayer mat, and every one has an animal skin that will serve that purpose. To be a Christian it appears that they have to settle down and be somewhere particular on a certain day. Very few of them know when Sunday is, let alone 10 o'clock, and for dressing up in special clothes, no thanks!" He went on to say that not all nomadic peoples have adopted Islam. Many are Buddhists, especially in places where Buddhism is prevalent.

"Peoples on the Move" points out that nomadic peoples tend to adopt the religion of their host country. The nomadic life is so important to them that they are more likely to convert to the religion of their nomadic enemies than to that of any sedentary people. That has posed a serious difficulty in spreading the gospel.

Yet because they feel a need for some contact with the outside world, nomadic peoples adopt one of the major religions, usually Buddhism or Islam. Though they usually practice their own syncretistic form of the religion, some are devout. Tibetan nomads have spread their form of Buddhism, which is blended with the shamanistic bon religion. Fulani herdsmen who travel throughout the Sahel Desert have been propagators of Islam. And the Bedouins were some of the great missionaries of Islam in North Africa and the Middle East.

In some ways, it is easy to be a nomadic Muslim, so long as you don't feel the need to study the Koran. There is no central structure in Islam, so that religion lends itself well to the independent spirit of Bedouins, Fulanis, Tamacheqs, and other nomadic peoples.

Furthermore, Islam centers around a sovereign God. This appeals to nomadic peoples who clearly understand that their survival depends on someone higher than man. They may pray to a sky god or to Allah, but they know that with a subsistence economy, they had better have a god on their side.

Christian missionaries who preach the gospel of the Almighty Savior should note this fact. The Psalms are filled with appeals to God as a savior from ruin, and thanksgiving when He delivers. Nomads would treasure these beautiful love songs to God. And some Islamic nomads know enough about the stories of the Bible to believe that they are descended from one or more of these early patriarchs.

One of the most difficult tasks is to find Christians who are willing to live like nomads. There have been efforts to get sedentary peoples like the Dogons to reach out to the nomadic Fulani. These efforts have failed. Since few Christians are nomads, it will be very difficult to find anyone willing to live like they do. The key missing ingredient, according to Hunter, is the willingness to sacrifice one's lifestyle for the sake of the gospel.

Fortunately, Christians have many good resources available for nomadic peoples. Radios are common in nomadic settlements, and there are broadcasts in hundreds of languages. Perhaps even more strategic is Global Recordings Network, which has gone out of its way to make recordings for small, forgotten language groups. "Peoples on the Move" mentions Christians from a nomadic group who meet together by a well. What brings them together is an audiocassette, not a building. These nomads pray as they travel.

"Peoples on the Move" hints that the local cell model might prove to be best for nomadic fellowships, though it has usually been used in an urban setting. These churches can move with the nomads rather than expecting the nomads to move to the churches. Missiologist Ralph Winter takes this idea a step further in the "International Journal of Frontier Missions." "Obviously missionaries can't run after nomads and construct a new church building every time they pull up stakes and seek new pastures to feed their flocks. But nomads do have extended families." He points to the New Testament churches that followed a Jewish model of worship taking place at the home level. Winter says that non-nomadic Christians should learn from the nomads who have accountability and faith within their strong, multi-generational families.

Let Us Pray!
Pray for determined missionaries to take the gospel to the nomadic peoples who currently follow the ways of Mohammed rather than Jesus.

Where Are the Muslim Nomads?

The Sahel of Africa

Key peoples: Tamacheqs (AKA, Tuaregs), and Fulanis (AKA, Fulbe)

Most of you have heard about how the Sahel is turning to desert, leaving these peoples with less grazing lands for their flocks. In addition to that, according to "Peoples on the Move," "Pastoralism is now increasingly commercial, as the people supply meat to the growing urban centers and for export; nomads have learned to change their stock to breeds that produce what the markets want." This region is in a state of flux where farmers are taking over pastoral lands and herding people are moving to cities to find any kind of work. On a spiritual level, "Christianity has had hardly any success among pastoral peoples in West Africa, and the contacts these people have had with more zealous Muslims to the south have tended to deepen the Muslim faith of the hitherto nominal pastoral nomads." Prayer Request: Pray for Christ's ambassadors to make headway among the key peoples of the Sahel.