We welcome all people as our friends. This is a rough translation from French of a comment I’ve heard from several Burkinabé in public – and in church. During the service at Foyer Evangélique Mennonite de Ouagadougou today we sing in a variety of languages to represent all of the people present in the service.
We sing in at least six different languages, including several indigenous tongues, French and English. Apparently this is a regular occurrence. It’s a delightful show of the hospitality we’ve encountered during our stay.
“Did Jesus come just for Christians?” asks Othniel, the law student who presented the sermon through translator and church pastor, Calixte Bananzaro.
It isn’t a rhetorical question; he encourages people in the congregation to respond. And they do.
Christ came for everyone because the Lord wants everyone to be saved.
In the beginning we say that God is for everyone. If I confess that Christ is God himself, I will say that Christ is for everyone.
I think that a Christian is one who accepts Christ. And whatever is your mother tongue, if you confess Christ, you become Christian.
Othniel’s sermon is based upon the Book of Jonah, a man who resisted God’s instruction to warn his enemies in Assyria that the judgement of God would be upon them if they did not repent.
God wants even our enemies to learn the truth.
God is for everyone, so we should be too.
I hear and see this gracious acceptance in church, but I also witness it in the wider community, where I can’t tell who is Christian and who is not.
