by Franz Kropf, Benin
3 February 2006

"The man told me I needed 50,000 CFA (about USD $100) to become a Christian and join a church. So I started looking for the money."

Gouda, a Fulani Muslim in the northern part of Benin, West Africa, had been a regular listener to the Fulani radio broadcasts sponsored by the Union des Eglises Evangéliques du Bénin (UEEB), SIM's partner church. One day an inside voice urged him to trust in Jesus or he would be spiritually lost. So Gouda began his quest for how to become a Christian and join a church.

Three days after being told he needed 50,000 CFA, Gouda found a young man near his Fulani cattle camp who told him he didn't need money to become a Christian.

"This man was from a UEEB church, and he took me to the elders of his church to introduce me to them," Gouda said. "They explained that trusting Jesus by faith is free of charge! I did not need to bring money. They told me, too, they knew the person who tried to get money from me; he was a Muslim, not a Christian. When I understood that I did not need money, I invited Jesus into my life and started to go to the church service on Sundays."

Gouda soon learned that following Jesus did have a price. "My whole family stood up and turned against me. They harassed my wife so that she would divorce me, but she did not want to leave me. Even if she had, I trusted Jesus would give her back to me. My parents intensified their pressure saying they would chase me from my home.

"One day I asked for a family council where I pleaded with them to give me the freedom to follow Jesus. If not, I would have to leave them," related Gouda. "Miraculously, my father said, "My son, before God and the family, from now on, you have the freedom to worship Jesus when you want and where you want. You can even build a church in our camp.'" But this was not the end of the matter. Later his wife's family came to the house and forced her to leave.

Pray

Pray for Gouda and his family. Pray that he will be reunited with his wife, and that she, too, will come to faith in Jesus as her Savior.