Missions on the Frontline
a ministry of WorldVenture
The McClurkins, "Reaching the World for Christ" (A Dual Approach)
We are Pete and Debra McClurkin and presently our mission field assignment is to Mali and Senegal West Africa. We are in Mali managing a guesthouse which is a crucial refuge, safe haven and information hub for missionaries from various agencies all over the world. These missionaries serve in strategic "least reached" areas West Africa. Our responsibilities as managers of this guesthouse are property maintenance, reservation scheduling, supervision of staff, safety, inventory and receipts and payments. More importantly, we find the spiritual aspect of this work rewarding and fulfilling. There are many prayer needs for the missionaries, their colleges and the communities they serve. It is important to us (The McClurkins) to pray daily for them as well as for the teams and visitors they receive on a regular basis.
This ministry allows missionaries to conduct important business here in the city of Bamako and offers a respite for recuperation from illness before returning to the field. While staying at the guesthouse, they are able to have “strategic plan” meetings (which is essential during times of spiritual warfare) and allows them to shop for food and supplies in large quantities, that are not available elsewhere, to take back to the villages where they live and work. We bathe the rooms in prayer for peaceful rest and a quiet communication with God. Here is where they can retreat from the everyday minutia that drains our spiritual virtue, feel safe to vent frustrations and leave their prayer requests.
The “Dual Approach” in “Reaching the World for Christ” is our ministry to children and youth who are at risk. The streets and bus stations of Bamako are peppered with youth who have no homes. Some of them are brought here from villages and other countries. Some are a comodity to be bought and/or sold, while others are victims of Mali’s severe poverty. We search out opportunities to minister to these children, in homes, prison, and the streets of Bamako, as well as sharing the love of Christ at every opportunity the LORD presents. We are serving the servants and seeking the lost.
This ministry allows missionaries to conduct important business here in the city of Bamako and offers a respite for recuperation from illness before returning to the field. While staying at the guesthouse, they are able to have “strategic plan” meetings (which is essential during times of spiritual warfare) and allows them to shop for food and supplies in large quantities, that are not available elsewhere, to take back to the villages where they live and work. We bathe the rooms in prayer for peaceful rest and a quiet communication with God. Here is where they can retreat from the everyday minutia that drains our spiritual virtue, feel safe to vent frustrations and leave their prayer requests.
The “Dual Approach” in “Reaching the World for Christ” is our ministry to children and youth who are at risk. The streets and bus stations of Bamako are peppered with youth who have no homes. Some of them are brought here from villages and other countries. Some are a comodity to be bought and/or sold, while others are victims of Mali’s severe poverty. We search out opportunities to minister to these children, in homes, prison, and the streets of Bamako, as well as sharing the love of Christ at every opportunity the LORD presents. We are serving the servants and seeking the lost.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris Wynn on -
What are some of the best and maybe most effective works you've seen being done among the child slavery problem? Is the buying and selling of these children out in the open? Does the government have any protection for them?
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Permalink Reply by Debra McClurkin on -
Hi Chris,
We have not seen this happening out in the open and if we did we did't know it. But, we are told it is here. There are boys living on the streets that are from other near by countries, but we are not sure how they got here.
Thank you for you interest,
Debra-
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Seward on -
Thanks, Pete and Debra, for the ministry you are doing in Bamako. I'm so glad you have seen the heart of the guest house ministry, as it supports the work of missionaries out in the "bush" who need a place to stay in the capital, but also that you want to minister to us! You have been a blessing in the short 10 weeks you've been there, and we are so grateful that God brought you to Mali for a season.
Chris, I don't have many details on the child trafficking problem, but I know that sometimes the children are "given" to passing religious mentors by families who have little hope of feeding another mouth or educating another child. They hope that God will work a miracle through someone else's generosity in giving their child a life. Other times, children are "stolen" away to be sold up North into slavery (yes, it's the 21st century!). They are given aliases and forget WHO they are/were or WHERE they came from. They are street children who don't know where home is to return to. Another scenario is the child who was "sacrificed" as part of a fetisher's payment to curse someone else. They may still be alive in body, but are a commodity of little value in the world's eyes. They beg, steal, prostitute, sell drugs to stay alive, and sometimes they don't stay alive. We on the Mali field have been touched this past week by a situation where we were trying to help another ministry to these kids, but have felt that the structure of the ministry was falling apart. Meanwhile, one of the children died in the bus station. It is sad, and we'd like to do more, but more effectively. The harvest is white unto harvest but the laborers are few...
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Permalink Reply by Pete and Debra McClurkin on -
Chris,
I thought more about your question about the street kids. It is hard to say whether there is help from the government when you walk down the street in down town Bamako on a Sunday morning and see kids sleeping on the bare ground with "begging cans" beside them. We were told that there is an orphanage here and we are trying to visit this place soon. We have visited the children's prison where they are trying to educate the children. However, we were told that the President's wife has a ministry to street children and helps fund organizations who aid these children. I have yet to reseach this but it was a Christian source that provided this information.
© 2012 Created by Chris Wynn.
