Page 241 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Twentieth Century and Beyond

Volta (now Burkina Faso) provides one of the great chapters of African
church history. The account has been recorded beautifully in a splendid
doctoral dissertation by Etienne Zongo, an elder in the Burkina Faso
Assemblies of God. In that history, he explains vividly the birth and
development of the church in Burkina Faso where even today it is one
of the largest churches.

Indicative of the way the Holy Spirit directed messengers to take the
gospel to Africa is a testimony recorded by Daniel Compaore, former
General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Burkina Faso:

During my visit to the USA, I was told that one Sunday in a
morning service, an old man prophesied: “Who will go for me to
the Mossi land?” He repeated this call for a long period of time, all
the while beating his head against a pillar of the church building,
but no one responded. The service ended and the people left the
church, but this man stayed until the evening service. At prayer
time, he began to prophesy again the same message: “Who will
go for me to the Mossi land?”… Finally, a couple and two ladies
came forward and responded, “We will go to the Mossi land for
God.” They responded not even knowing where the Mossi land
was located. The church body prayed and commended them
to the Lord. One year later, all of them set out for Mossi land.
(quoted in Zongo, 40)

In 1921, the first Assemblies of God missionaries appointed to French
West Africa arrived in Ouagadougou. There they were granted property
for a mission station—property that remains the headquarters of the
Assemblies of God today. Zongo highlights the dedication of the early
pioneers and includes the story of Eric Booth-Clibborn. Booth-Clibborn,
who was from the family of the founder of the Salvation Army, had
received his personal Pentecost. He died of dysentery and malaria three
weeks after his arrival in Burkina Faso. Before he left for Africa, he had
written these words to his mother:

And now as we turn to Africa…I know how hard it will be for us
to part, but our Lord bade us to occupy till He comes, and we are
obeying His command without reasoning till our work is done.
(quoted in McGee, 2004, 240)

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