Five months ago, Craig and Alison Fowler returned to Ethiopia after an eight-month U.S. furlough. In terms of church planting and evangelism, they report that these last five months have been the most productive and exciting of their four years there. The Fowlers and a team of Gumuz evangelists and nurses from a CMF church plant visit weekly in 11 different villages to present an extensive Bible storytelling series and offer medical clinics. In one village, the people have built a large wooden structure to meet in for “story time” during the rainy season. In other villages, they tell the story to people outside or gather the people together in huts and tell the story two or three times in different locations.

However, with this great success has come increased opposition from three different sources: the Ethiopian Orthodox church, animist/witchdoctor elements, and local political power brokers.

“About two months ago, the Ethiopian Orthodox church (a mix of Christianity and animism) came into the area and passed out free t-shirts and wooden crosses and started spreading ridiculous rumors about our church and our work,” said Craig. “For many years, the Orthodox church has been strong in the neighboring Shinasha people group that lives in the town 5 hours away by foot. Up until we started planting churches this year, the Orthodox church didn’t seem to care much about the Gumuz in our area.”

In addition, the work is experiencing continued resistance from animist/witch doctor sources. The people in this area have been animists for centuries and believe in spirits and demons that involve themselves in the daily lives of people. Much of their “religion” involves appeasing these spirits. “We have run up against these animist beliefs particularly in our clinic work,” said Craig. “Traditional animist healing involves ceremonies like sacrificing animals and ‘magically’ pulling stones out of people. Naturally, our clinic doesn’t do these kinds of things and has met some resistance in this area.”

And finally, there is a growing opposition to the church work on the “political” front. “We have always made it clear that the stories we tell are for everyone, that both men and women, young and old, can have a relationship with the God who made this world,” said Craig. “Increasingly, we have seen that not all people have an appreciation for this egalitarian view of reality. Some of the local power brokers have seen our teaching as threatening to their current power system.”

This opposition to their work has caused the Fowlers to think a lot more about their need for prayer. “We feel like we are in an intense spiritual battle right now,” said Craig. “We are in a strange place of seeing success in our storytelling and church planting efforts as well as feeling pressure from forces that do not like our work. We need people to pray for our evangelists, the villages where we are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, and us.”

Gary and Judy Woods (Arusha, Tanzania) recently returned from a trip deep into the bush to meet another unreached people group, the Sandawe. Here are some excerpts from an account of their adventure:

“We were driving on a cow path, scraping tree limbs for several hours. I wished I had a chain saw along with us, as the so-called ‘road’ was not a road at all. When we came out of the bush the people in the town were surprised. They said, ’Where did you come from?’ We told them where we had passed, and they said, ‘No one has ever driven through there, and no white people have been out here before.’ ”

“When we arrived at Baaba, we put up the tent. The children had never seen a white man, and for sure had never seen a tent. They were all amazed!”

Gary and Judy were also amazed by all they saw on their journey:

“I saw new scenery, new kinds of houses, new trees, and new food. The Sandawe are related to the Hadzabe (pygmies), but they are more developed. They wear western clothes, and live in mud brick houses. They speak a click language. I tried to form the words with the click, but I couldn’t do it. It gave them a good laugh! They estimated that there are about 200,000 Sandawe, but only 30 Christians. They hunt, and love meat, but also eat a certain kind of caterpillar (fortunately this is not the season for them!) I had brought some beans to eat, and one man said, ‘We don’t eat seeds, we like meat!’ “   

Two of the Sandawe families will attend the next church-planting course. A total of eight families will arrive on Aug. 15, and be ready to start the course on Monday, Aug. 17. The Woods are thankful for the supporters who have made it possible for these students to come and prepare for church planting. The students are from four different tribes. Those who are scheduled to come to the course have a call on their lives to plant churches in these places, and the course will provide them the help that they need to get started to fulfill their call.

Scott Price, leader of CMF’s Arusha, Tanzania, team, shared an update recently on the continuing drought situation in Tanzania and the generous donation from International Disaster Emergency Services (IDES) that will help the team assist the local people.

All of northern Tanzania is experiencing the effects of the drought, Scott says. Neighbors near the CMF mission center just outside of Arusha have planted three or four times this year with no crops to harvest due to the lack of rain. “Things are looking bleak,” Scott writes.

The government is helping by giving each family 22 pounds (10 kg.) of maize, but that is just a drop in the bucket. The CMF team members – Scott and Annelle Price, Ron and Jane Ann Richmond, and Gary and Judy Woods — are trying to help their neighbors near the mission station by offering daily rations of 1/4 kg. maize, 1/4 kg. beans, and a small amount of cooking oil to 71 families for three months. The team has used the funds received through CMF’s East African Famine Relief Fund to feed the 705 children who attend six schools in Matale, a site in northern Tanzania where the team has planted several churches. These funds are coming to an end, reports Scott, and the team has been asked to not only help these kids for an additional three months but also others who no doubt will die because of the lack of food.

IDES is stepping up to help the team respond to these critical needs with a generous donation of $20,000. This is not the first time IDES has assisted with emergencies in Africa; in the recent past they have donated funds for a water project in Turkana, Maasai famine relief and several other projects. Their help is greatly appreciated especially by those whose lives are helped, perhaps even saved, by the resources given.