From Togo to Benin—The Gospel is on the Move
This past August, our Doulos Partners team traveled with The Timothy Initiative to West Africa for a Vision and Vetting Trip. From August 25th through September 1st, we witnessed firsthand how God is moving in powerful ways through His people. We’d love to share a few highlights with you.
Kids Are Kids, Everywhere You Go
“Our experience has been that kids are kids, no matter where you go,” says Doulos Partners’ CEO, David Johnson. One of our Advisory Board members and Investors, Kaleb Reid, experienced this firsthand during a Sunday worship service in Togo. After a time of joyful worship and encouragement from the Word, children from the church ran straight into Kaleb’s arms. What followed was a sweet, joy-filled time of laughter, love, and fellowship—reminding us that the Gospel breaks down every barrier and connects hearts across cultures. (see first photo below)
Equipping Leaders for Generations
While in Togo, our team also visited a Timothy Initiative training center. There, we saw the fruit of four generations of leaders: Master Trainers, Pauls, Timothys, and Tituses. One church planter, a Paul, shared a powerful visual tool—a map showing villages with no Christians, some villages with at east some believers, and other villages with at least one established church. This map helps leaders strategically target areas still waiting to hear the Good News. Using innovative tools like iShare, leaders can change the colors of villages from red to yellow to green in real time, and with this, our strategic partners and indigenous leaders are multiplying disciples and planting churches where the Gospel has never gone before. (see second photo below)
The Gospel in the Dirt
As David Johnson, Founder and CEO of Doulos Partners, walked through a village in Benin, West Africa, alongside The Timothy Initiative, God presented an opportunity to talk about Jesus with a local family. David was able to share the greatest story ever told- the Gospel by utilizing the 3 Circle Evangelism tool. He used nothing but a stick and the dirt at his feet. (see third photo below)
He started with the first circle: God’s Design. David shared how we were created in God’s image and made perfect, without sin. Then he drew how sin entered the world and led to Brokenness: the second circle. He shared that people try again and again to fix this brokenness on their own, but they cannot. Therefore, they enter destruction. That’s when he drew the door out of Brokenness—representing the Good News of Jesus Christ. This takes us to the third circle: Gospel. When we repent and believe in the Gospel, we are saved. From that moment, discipleship begins, and we are restored back to God’s Design: the first circle.
As the story came to life right there in the dirt, hearts were stirred. By the end of their time together, the entire family and two other onlookers bowed their heads and prayed to receive Christ. That is seven new believers for the Kingdom.
But the story doesn’t end there. Local church planters with The Timothy Initiative will now walk alongside these new believers, discipling them and helping to establish a new church. This village, once a “red” village with no Christians and no church, went immediately to “yellow”. Please pray for these seven new brothers and sisters in Christ, and for the birth of a church, that will change the village to “green”, and that it will shine the light of the Gospel in this community
God is Moving
From children filled with joy, to leaders faithfully multiplying disciples, to whole families stepping into the Kingdom—God is clearly at work in West Africa. And because of your prayers and investment, you are part of these stories.
Please continue to pray:
- For the children of West Africa, that they would grow up in the knowledge of Jesus.
- For the Pauls, Timothys, and Tituses, that they would remain faithful in training and planting.
- For the seven new believers in Benin, that they would grow strong in their faith and see a church established in their village.
Together, we are fueling the Great Commission. Thank you for standing with us.
Until All Have Heard! ~Doulos Partners~
