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Mission Story 4th Quarter 2023

This quarter, we feature the West-Central Africa Division, which oversees the Seventhday Adventist Church’s work in 22 countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The region is home to 472 million people, including 889,196 Adventists. That’s a ratio of one Adventist for 531 people. This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will go toward mission projects in Cameroon and Ghana. In Cameroon, the funds will help open a bilingual English/ French elementary school in Bandjoun. Church leaders told me that quality education is in high demand in Cameroon, especially international schools with classes in English and French, and the new school promises to fill an important niche. “Adventist education is valued here,” Isaac Yenge, executive secretary of the Cameroon Union Mission, said during a tour of two Adventist schools, each with about 3,700 students, in the capital, Yaoundé. This quarter’s other mission project is in Ghana, where the Seventh-day Adventist Nursing and Midwifery Training College will receive funds to expand with new classrooms and dormitories. The college opened with only 22 students in 2015 and has 770 students today. Demand is high, and the school lacks the capacity to admit additional students. This is a real mission school, where only 30 percent of the students are Adventists. A number of students join the church every year.