ELKHART, Ind. (Africa Inter Mennonite Mission/Mennonite Mission Network) – October 16-19, Benin Bible Institute celebrated 30 years of equipping more than 1,000 church leaders in 70 denominations for all areas of life – in their congregations and the society beyond.
The theme for the weekend, “Church and the Development of African Nations: A Benin Case Study,” was addressed by Benin Bible Institute supporters and alumni who now hold influential positions in churches and secular institutions. The 200 people in attendance came from Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Nigeria, Togo and the United States. A delegation from Sierra Leone was not able to travel due to restrictions to prevent the spread of Ebola.
Saturday morning, a group of Benin Bible Institute students and supporters shared their joy with others in the neighborhood by marching through the streets in procession, accompanied by a brass band playing hymns.
In interviews conducted earlier in the year, students reflected on the impact that the Bible school has had on their lives.
Download full-resolution image.Arouna Icha Adetola, pastor of Mission Evangélique des Bénis de l’Eternel (Blessed Ones of the Eternal Evangelical Mission), told about why he converted from Islam.
“The BBI teachings opened my spirit to a deeper reality than I had previously known; it changed my character,” Adetola said. “Not only that, but I saw [Jesus’ teaching] being modeled – total humility, patience, and wisdom in resolving conflicts. I saw the BBI professors and administrators not working for money, but for the joy of serving.”
Adetola is passing on what he learned at Benin Bible Institute to the members of his congregation. In the past year, 150 of them participated in a Christian marriage course that Adetola re-taught, using his notes from the Bible Institute.
Download full-resolution image.Léontine Kassa also shares Benin Bible Institute knowledge as soon as she finishes a course. She is training to be a teacher and uses her skills to lead Sunday school classes in an Assemblies of God church.
“I like the rigor and the discipline at BBI. Every time I come, I learn something,” Kassa said. “BBI is more than academic; I’ve learned that we need to put our faith into practice.”
Although Mennonites had been studying the Bible with Beninese Christians since the early 1970s, the Bible school calculates its start date from 1983, when Bible seminars became a yearly occurrence. Upon the request of Benin’s council of Protestant churches to Mennonite Board of Missions, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network, David Shank began leading annual, one-week seminars for the leaders of 30 denominations. Shank was a mission worker in Belgium from 1950-1973 before he began ministry in Côte d’Ivoire, 1976-1989.
The celebration included a visit to the Bible Institute’s farm in Oumako, about an hour east of the school’s location in Cotonou, the country’s largest city. The dream of an agricultural project had a long incubation period. It was one of the three areas of collaboration – biblical training, health, and agriculture – that Beninese churches requested of the Mennonites at the beginning of their partnership in the 1970s. While this partnership resulted in Benin Bible Institute, Bethesda Hospital and an award-winning community health program – the agricultural program did not materialize until now.
Benin Bible Institute is fulfilling the original request of the Beninese churches. The agro-pastoral project has been incorporated into a holistic vision of church leadership where those who attend the Bible Institute will be given agricultural expertise along with courses in theology, biblical studies, and administration. This vocational training will help pastors feed their families, as well as help them train their parishioners in innovative and sustainable methods of food production.
It is also expected that the farm will help raise revenue to help support the Bible Institute. Already, vegetables are being sold in local markets, and restaurants are buying the farm’s rabbits and chickens.
Download full-resolution image.“I don’t mean to boast, but today in Benin, the majority of top-level church leadership in 45 denominations has been trained at Benin Bible Institute,” said Bonaventure Akowanou, the institution’s administrator. “We are thrilled at how these leaders are faithfully living out their Christian commitment. This is the true test of the quality of our education.”
Akwanou sees the Bible Institute’s teaching as leaven in the larger society; as the lives and behavior of Christians change, Benin becomes a healthier country.
“Christians are increasingly working in businesses, government services, schools and universities. This leads to the development of our nation,” Akwanou said.
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact news@mennonitemission.net.
