As you are reading this White Oak Christian Church has a team of seven people heading to Senegal in West Africa. This team is going to visit our mission partners Tom and Suja Brane along with Minta Berry who are serving in Senegal.
The Branes and Minta have been partners in ministry with White Oak for many years! Tom served with me as a student ministry leader when I was the Student Pastor at White Oak from 2002-2009. Suja also served with student ministry. She was a student in the ministry in the 1990’s. Minta spent many years teaching and leading children in our Kids Ministry at WOCC. These three (along with the Brane’s three children) have served in ministry in two other West African nations before landing in Senegal. There, Tom is leading Farming God’s Way where he teaches farmers sustainable farming techniques while using Christian principals and Biblical narratives to lead the conversations. Suja, a medical doctor, continues to serve in clinics meeting the healthcare needs of many. Minta is teaching English as a second language in local schools. White Oak is excited to partner with Impact Africa. Our mission is to connect people to full life in Jesus. This includes our neighbors here, near, and far.
While in Senegal, WOCC’s mission team will visit and serve at the farm/s where Tom is working, see some of the places and visit patients Suja is serving, we will participate in classes Minta is teaching, and we will lead Bible studies in villages where there are no existing churches. We want to use this time to encourage and minister to the Branes as well as dream about how WOCC can continue to partner with Impact Africa in the future to accomplish our mission together.
One of White Oak’s Core Values is Multiplication. We believe that multiplying disciples of Jesus, leaders, and churches will accomplish the mission that Jesus has given us.
This is why we will continue to value discipleship at WOCC and the need for Jesus-followers to gather around them groups of others who are learning from Jesus to live like Jesus.
This is why we celebrate the more than 70 baptized into Jesus at WOCC last year and why we want to reach more people in 2023.
This is why we will teach our kids and students to pray for and invite their friends into community at White Oak.
It’s why we teach and grow in our understanding of what it means to One Another so that we can accomplish the mission of Jesus to reach people and connect them to full life!
We believe in multiplication at every level because Jesus told us in Matthew 28 to go and make disciples! It is an imperative. It’s a command. He has deployed every disciple on mission to go and make disciples. This isn’t something that we can delegate to someone else. This isn’t something some people are gifted to do, and others are not. It’s a commission given to all of us. Every Christian is equipped with the Holy Spirit to do it. So, we will continue to partner with and support our international mission partners who are taking the name of Jesus across the globe. This is why we will fan the flame of ministry impact here in our city by using our White Oak buildings here in Cincinnati to get Jesus into the lives of other people.
I’m asking you to pray for the 2023 Senegal mission team. Pray for our safety. Pray that we will show the people with whom we come in contact the generosity and love of Jesus. Pray that we will bless and encourage the Brane family and Minta. Pray that our hearts will be transformed by participating in what our good Heavenly Father is doing in West Africa. Pray that every person who calls White Oak home will take hold of Jesus’s call for multiplication.
Thank you!
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor
White Oak Christian Church