The Beng People of West Africa: December, 2012 Prayer Requests

Friday, November 30, 2012

December, 2012 Prayer Requests

Stores filling your mailbox and inbox with promises of Christmas deals. Brightly lit Santas and snowmen clinging to the street lights as you drive through town. Children and grandchildren filling your ears with their requests for under the tree. Christmas songs flooding the radio air waves. With all these signs of the season surrounding us, it would be hard to escape Christmas even if we wanted to. In Beng villages it is much different. Many have never even heard of Christmas. Can you even imagine that? Never hearing of Christmas? More importantly, many have never heard of the Jesus that we celebrate at Christmas. Let's pray that many Beng would hear of Jesus and accept His invitation to relationship. Pray that this year and each year, more and more Beng would be celebrating Christmas with us.

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Welcome to Bengland

The Beng, also known as the Gan or Ngan, are a people of Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa numbering around 17,000. They live in a remote area of central Cote d'Ivoire. Most are farmers, growing coffee, cocoa, cashews, and peanuts as cash crops. The Beng live in small mud-brick homes and live off the yams they grow in their fields and sauces made from leaves, seeds, and nuts. Access to adequate water sources and health care is a problem in the approximately twenty Beng villages.

Even in their own country few have heard of the Beng or know much about them. They are a peace-loving people with a relatively quiet history, having earned a reputation as refugees, fleeing from attackers and invaders rather than fighting them. The name Beng means "meeting" because of the meetings they organized and presided over in order to establish peace among different ethnic groups.

A little more than half of the Beng population is Muslim, though they often mix animistic beliefs with Islamic ones, producing a form of folk Islam. Others practice traditional religions, based mainly on animistic beliefs focusing on worship of the earth. Each village has a sacred tree where spiritual leaders called "masters of the earth" present sacrifices on behalf of the people of their villages. Less than 1% of the Beng are Christians. Several villages have no Christian presence at all.

Get involved!

Many of us dream of going on a mission trip and seeing lives changed, but the time and resources are not always available to do so. This blog is an effort to bring the mission field to you. By praying for the Beng, you can change lives and bring God glory in another part of the world. You may not see the effects of your prayers right away, but wouldn't it be awesome to meet the Beng people that you prayed for once you get to heaven?!

You can go a step further by sharing about the Beng with family, friends, and your church. Introduce your small group or Sunday School class to the Beng. Brochures, photo prayer cards, and book marks are available as resources in addition to the information on this blog. If you'd like to introduce your kids or the kids at your church to the Beng, we have a booklet of activities that teach kids about the Beng and their lifestyle.

For more information, contact prayforthebeng@hotmail.com.