The Scripture admonishes us in Luke 12: 30 to “…love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength…” This is indeed what volunteers come to do. Each person willingly yields his or her uniqueness to God, is obedient to His call to go, to serve, to be used, to be changed… nurses, newspaper editors, typists, teachers, photographers, computer techs, Sunday School teachers, homemakers, youth ministers, pastors, laymen, soccer players, Mission Angels, truck drivers, worship leaders …. They have all come to encourage, to disciple, to spread the Word that God is Love.
To date, over 300 volunteers have come out of obedience to God to give of themselves. People have given out cassettes, Jesus films and Bibles, written literacy texts, and made health teaching materials; some have come to help open up new areas of ministry, and others at home have given generously and cheerfully to enable others. Volunteers have staffed Vacation Bible Schools, a health fair, and vaccination clinics; they have completed a water survey, AIDS teaching, and teaching conferences. Volunteers have cared for orphans, helped with local school supplies, purchased goats for malnourished feeding programs, and helped beginning garden and sewing projects. Volunteers have come and prayed: prayer walkers walked through streets and up sand dunes, prayer riders road cars through busy streets, in boats up the Niger River, and on camels in the hot sun, and still others, continents away, have pledged their intercessory ministry for children through gifts of dolls and balls.
Who knows but that you have been lead to us for such a time as this! Let God have His way in you, freeing you to love not only in word or speech, but also in deed and truth. Be His expression of love to those who do not know Him.
As you begin to explore God’s leading into mission’s opportunities, choose your team members carefully and prayerfully. As your team forms in preparation to come to minister to the Songhai, designate a Volunteer Team Leader (VTL). This VTL will send us a list of your team members, telling us each volunteer’s age, spiritual gift, occupation, interests / hobbies / talents, and what each believes the Lord would have them accomplish here in Niger.
Contact a member of the Songhai Team. If you do not know any of us, then contact Brad Womble, Strategy Coordinator for the Songhai Team, to let him know of your interest to volunteer. We can answer your preliminary questions and point you in the right direction. Soon you will be hearing from your Songhai Team Host (STH).
Terry, a volunteer from Washington state says,
“…God has challenged me to be open to serving wherever He calls me to go. The church's mission is not "either/or", it is "both/ and." Jesus has not called us to either serve at home or abroad. He has called us to serve both at home and abroad.”