Opting for Obedience
Posted on June 29, 2011
SENEGAL — It is not often a family of four drops everything to disappear off the grid for three months, but that is exactly what Joyce and Benn Striker,* along with their two children, did from January to March of this year.
After much prayerful consideration, the Strikers felt called to uproot their small-town, Idaho-native family and spend some time across coastlines and cultures sharing God’s word. They ended up in a predominantly-Islamic village in Senegal. And while they’ll admit to having missed a good cheeseburger or a warm bath during their time in the rural village, it was more than just comforts the Strikers left behind. They were also forced to forego friends, family and a certain future — Benn, who used to be a truck driver, quit his job in order to go.
“When [our church first began ministering here] there weren’t any believers,” Joyce said. “Now, to this date, we have nine believers, five of which have been baptized. So yes, it’s been worth it.”
Many of these believers are members of a Senegalese people group called the Jola, who make up most of the village where the Strikers spent their time. The Jola are a primarily agricultural people, and the village is filled with the sounds of a farm: the screech of a rooster crow and the gentle clucking of hens, the bleating of a goat.
The Strikers’ relationship with the village began in 2006 when their home church of about 75 members, NorthRidge Fellowship Southern Baptist Church, chose to adopt it. Five years later, the tiny church is making a huge impact, sending out two teams each year to spend time encouraging and cultivating new believers. These trips last from a range of a few weeks to, like the Strikers, a few months.
Although this was the first time the family had gone as a whole, for Benn the three-month trip was his ninth visit to Senegal. Some were skeptical about the Strikers’ decision to transplant their children — Mandi,* 9, and Benji,* 10 — to a place so far away, both in distance and familiarity, for such an extended period of time. But Benn said he was confident in his decision and knew it would not only grow and mature his children, but their example would have a positive impact on the community as well.
“I wanted the people here to see how a family of followers of Jesus are,” Benn said. “How they react [to different situations] … the struggles they have, the ups and downs, the fatherly love, the motherly love and the disappointments we have as a family.
“[I wanted to show them] that following Jesus and sharing the Lord is not just about doing things, it’s about loving one another and lifting each other up. I wanted them to see Jesus in us.”
In the village, work began early in the morning when Benn would step out into the community and Joyce, Mandi and Benji sat down to start school. As they studied, they counted the minutes until the afternoon, when the younger Strikers were finally able to go outside and play with the village children who had been peering through the windows for hours, calling, “Come play! Come play!”
Most of the family’s time, however, was spent in the sandy streets, going from door to door greeting and visiting their new neighbors and friends. They would go as long as there was light, sometimes foregoing meals, to continue building relationships.
When the Strikers would finally sit down to dinner, though, it was hardly ever just a family affair. Hungry community members would file in through the door, never leaving without food in their bellies — the love of Christ made manifest to them. Even when there was nothing left on the stove, if it meant giving from their own plate, the Strikers never let a neighbor go away empty-handed — a principle Benn said he is glad his family was able to learn.
“We don’t have anything that we can’t give away,” Benn said. “ … It’s no longer always me, me, me.”
This attitude of selflessness is apparent in the way the Strikers coped with conditions in the rural village, from spotty electricity to sinister spiders and unfamiliar fare.
“Sometimes you don’t know what you’re eating. You just say: ‘Lord, you put it in front of me, okay! Nourish it to my body,’” Joyce said, laughing. However, in general she said the family enjoyed the traditional Senegalese cuisine of rice and peanut dishes and even makes some of the recipes at home in the States.
And although adjusting to outdoor plumbing and cold-water bucket-baths wasn’t easy for most of the family, Mandi giggled in her enthusiasm as she professed, “It’s better than taking a shower!”
The Strikers dedicated much of their time to teaching the community through chronological Bible storying and Bible study. Though they call themselves Muslims, the Jola subscribe to a sort of “folk Islam” — the blending of traditional African animist beliefs and Muslim religion. Subsequently, they are very open to religious conversations and learning more about the prophet Jesus they were introduced to in Islam. And the number of Jola who find hope in His message — what Islam never told them — is consistently growing.
In the three months the Strikers spent in Senegal, three believers were buried with Christ in baptism in the salty waters of an African river and raised to new life in Him. Every addition to the tiny pool of believers in the previously untouched village is a reason to celebrate, but for the Strikers it was even more so — two of those baptized were their own children.
“To baptize my own children was a great feeling, but to do it here in Africa made it even greater,” Benn said. “… [We were able to] profess that Christ is here, God is at work in [Senegal].”
*Name changed
Marie Beaufain is a university student and a writing intern with IMB.
2 Responses to “Opting for Obedience”
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Hey you guys, keep up the good work you are doing to reach the Jola. Praying that the HS will make them thirsty for the truth!!
Thank you for your prayers, Dianne!