International Baptist Church of Dakar

The IBC church of Dakar, an English-speaking congregation, celebrated its 25 year anniversary service this weekend. I was happy to be able to go and participate in the service, and wanted to write briefly what it was like.

First, know that there are not many churches in Senegal. There are several catholic churches, but very few protestant churches. I think they mentioned 6-7 other church bodies which were invited to attend the celebration. These other churches, I believe, speak French.

So we had the service. It began at 4pm and lasted awhile. I think we left shortly after 8. They had a typical service, but with alloted time to celebrate and read the history of the church, letters from people congratulating them on the occasion, and several people who spoke about their testimony from being members of the church. The pastor recognized many of the staff, workers, former pastor, guest pastors, missionaries, and other lay people who have helped shape the church to be what it is today.

We had a guest speaker come and lead in worship as he spoke on Ps 23 and God being our Shepherd. And we had some time for special music and praise and worship as well. Then toward the end of the service there was a collection offering for the building fund. They have outgrown their facilities and are planning to purchase and build a new sanctuary.

One specific thing that I remember now was that at the end of the message, the pastor prophecized that the church would grow two-fold by the time he is able to come again. That hit me rather strangely, but then I felt myself praying with him that his prophecy would come about. I see the potential for the church to reach out to the community in many ways. There are people in the congregation who do not speak local languages and could use assistance in getting work, education, and resources to live and grow in Dakar. I can see the church beginning to reach into the community with evangelism and teaching workshops, music, food, games, etc. I continue to pray that the church and its members will be a light for Jesus to the community.