Chad is home to more than 180 people groups, more than any other African state. Many of these people groups do not have a Christian presence among them. Peter Maclure, Aim’s team leader in Chad says, “Training national missionaries is at the heart of the Aim Chad team vision. Exciting things are happening and national evangelists and missionaries are at the forefront of this work."

Speaking of the challenges that Chad presents to the gospel, Peter Maclure, Aim’s team leader in Chad says, “Training national missionaries is at the heart of the Aim Chad team vision. Exciting things are happening and national evangelists and missionaries are at the forefront of this work. It is this host of new national workers that God is raising up that will bring in the harvest. Many of our Chadian brothers and sisters are ideally suited to cross the final barriers to the unreached peoples in their own country and beyond.”

TRANSFORMATION

One missionary couple can point to a very physical example of the transformation that Jesus brings. The couple befriended a nomadic woman and she came to faith. Sadly, despite being in the early stages of pregnancy, her husband left her and so the couple took her in and helped her when the baby boy was born. Now married to a Christian man, the woman asked the couple to adopt the child. The couple are graduates of the Missionary Training Centre (MTC) in the town of Ba Illi.

The MTC, which was established by the Evangelical Church of Chad, places an emphasis on cross-cultural communication and missions. The one-year course for committed Christian leaders focuses on mission theory as well as the practical preparations for an assignment in what will likely be a remote area.

MTC’s record to date is today being felt in the ripe mission field of Chad. Take Jonas for example. Jonas came to Ba Illi when he was already in his early fifties. For thirty years he had lived a tough life serving in the Chadian army.

DISTANCE

During his time as a soldier he had spent long periods in the wild expanses of the Sahara near the Libyan border. Away from home for months, sometimes years, family life had become non-existent. He and his wife grew apart and she turned to alcohol. During the many military encounters Jonas himself thought of little else than saving his own skin and drinking away his worries when he had the chance – until he met Jesus. God changed his life miraculously and dramatically. Now he had only one passion – making the gospel known to others.

Jonas and his wife Sarah joined the student body at Ba Illi in 2001. It had been some time since he had done any studies and his wife had little education. However, both worked hard and remained passionate about reaching the unreached peoples of Chad with the gospel.

Jonas is the oldest graduate the College has ever had. Following graduation Jonas and Sarah wasted no time in leaving for their first mission assignment where they stayed for three years. Recently they have started out on their second missionary task at an oasis in the very north-east of the country. Jonas is often reminded of his army days. He has made good contact with the local people and his wife has a group of women coming regularly to their home. Pray that their lives will speak of Jesus and that God will open many doors.

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