Story number 4 for 18 Jul 2002

(Niger)–Elsewhere, Niger is rated by the United Nations as the second poorest country in the world after Sierra Leone. The vast majority of the children are not being educated, resulting in a high illiteracy rate, which can complicate evangelistic work. However, SIM’s Janna Henze works with the youth through the urban outreach program. “We have a weekly evangelism meeting-we have about 50 kids; these are practically all Muslim kids that come each week. We have a two-hour program. We start and play simple games like checkers or Parcheesi. Then we have a half hour of a video, and then we go into a Bible story, and then we do the rest of the video.” Henze says in spite of the fact that Niger is 80-percent Muslim, the young people are hearing the Gospel message. “A lot of them don’t even have electricity in their own homes, so the video is a real draw to get them to come to the event. We kind of sandwich the Bible story in the middle so they get exposure to who Christ is and why He came.”