Week of Prayer 
-Day 3-

The story is still unfolding, and there’s work to do.

Christians in West Africa learned about their role in God’s story through rocks. Church members watched the line of rocks grow—one by one, 22 stones in formation. For each rock, a believer told a Bible story. International Mission Board missionary Katee Sheppard trains West African believers to use rocks to share 22 stories from creation to Revelation.

Teaching believers how to share the gospel using stories is life-changing because it equips them to turn regular conversations into spiritual conversations. For those who prefer oral learning or don’t have a Bible in their language, Bible storying presents the gospel in a way that is easy to retain and reproduce.

Pray these Bible storying methods will continue to change lives as people grasp the gospel for the first time.

During a training time using the rocks and stories, Katee directed participants to leave a large space between the stone for Paul and Silas and the stone representing the second coming. “Why do you think there is such a big space between the last two stones?” she asked. Someone replied, “Because that’s us. Those are our stories.”

The church recognized this is their time, their task, and their responsibility. Now they feel better equipped to spread the gospel. Mariam, one of the believers on the storying team, stood before the congregation and seamlessly wove the stories that the 22 stones represented into a single narrative.

Pray for Mariam and other members of the evangelism team as they continue to train more people in this storying method.

The following Sunday, church members went into the community with their stories. Five people made professions of faith. One believer was shocked to find someone she shared with had never heard the creation story—“There’s work to do here,” she reported back to the church.

Everything clicked with the congregation. With five members fully trained, Katee passed the ministry baton to the church members. This is her goal in ministry—local leadership championing the work—so that she’s worked herself out of a job, trusting the Lord will have more work for her with others.

Ask God to bring more missionaries and West African ministry partners to this region so more lives will be transformed.

Will you prayerfully consider helping Monticello Baptist Church reach our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal of $8,500?

Your gift will join thousands of others from Southern Baptist churches across the nation as we pursue a collective goal of $210 million. Every dollar you give goes directly to support International Mission Board missionaries serving around the world.

Just select the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® fund to make your gift today!