Togo, West Africa
There are no Baptist publishing houses in West Africa for French-speaking countries to meet the churches’ needs for Sunday School and Discipleship Training.
Some of the churches have so much trouble getting literature to teach their people. The Jehovah Witnesses are using this opportunity to give away free literature to our churches for their use.
To print 16Teachers Sunday School books (8 Adult and 8 Children). Each would contain lessons for one year.
We could print 600 + books for $2.50 to $3.00 each. The books could be printed in churches or association offices by Risograph. We realize that our association alone could not print all these books, but, hopefully we can engage other churches outside our own association to help with this project.
We would also need some shipping finances. Perhaps this is a way those who cannot actually print the books could participate.
The Togolese would have to translate and set up the books. We could print the books and sent it back to the Togo Convention.
Need to Reprint:
Women’s Work Booklet (WMU)
Baptist Young Women (JCF)
Children’s Mission Book (Compagnons)
Royal Ambassadors (Ambassadeurs du Christ)
A Bible fund could be established where Bibles can be subsidized in prices so that people can afford to purchase a Bible. This could be in French and in local languages. This will take some organizing.
As far as I could ascertain, there are no publishing houses in West Africa
that can doctrinally meet our churches needs for Sunday School and Discipleship
Training. The French publications from France or Canada are
prohibitive in cost. When I arrived in Togo to discuss the literature needs of
the Togo Baptist Convention, we found that Togo has a desperate need for Sunday
School literature. Some of the churches are having so much trouble getting
literature to teach their people, the cult groups are using this opportunity to
give away free literature to our churches for their use. So after meeting with a
group on this subject, we decided that if we could print 16 Teachers Sunday
School books, each with lessons for one year. (eight years adults and eight
years children) that we would be able to meet this critical need. We estimate
that it would cost about $2.50 or $3.00 per book if we printed them in the US on
Risograph machines and church members assembled the books. In addition, we would
need some shipping finances, and this would give churches which did not have
printing capabilities the opportunity to also join in. There is also need for
reprinting materials for the Women’s work, Baptist Young Women, Children, and
Ambassadors materials. These would be reprints of previously existing programs.
We realize that our association alone could not print all these books, but
hopefully we can engage other churches outside our association to help with this
project. We could have these books printed in Togo rather than printing in the
US and save on shipping; however, the problem is that the Togo Convention
Risograph machine is worn out and a new one would have to be purchased at about
$15000. The service agreements in Togo on these types of machines is also a
problem. The price of a Risograph in Togo would print about 30 of these books.
It is possible that the Lord might call out someone to meet the particular need
of the machine. It may be more cost effective to print in Togo, and that could
also be another part of the ministry of providing literature. Out of all the
projects in which we will ask the Association to be involved, the literature
project has the longest term benefits in the fact that this literature can be
used through a couple of generations of Christians. The Togolese will translate
and set it up. Then we can print it and send it to them. We’ll have to work out
agreements between the local church, the association and the Togo Convention
when we do print these books. For the price of sending one person to Togo to
minister for one week, we could provide teaching in 500 churches for about one
year. I believe the literature project will be the one with the most impact in
the long term. One other thing they lack is New Testaments and Bibles at a
reasonable price. There may be people who would want to give money for a Bible
fund where Bibles could be subsidized in pricing.