Fulani People Invited to be Protagonists in God’s Story

Lisa Rohrick dedicated 20 years to being a missionary in West Africa, mainly in Niger. She found ways to reach the Fulani people and invite them to be part of God’s love story.

Lisa describes the Fulani as a “largely nomadic Muslim cattle herding group unreached by the gospel.” Her work with the Fulani moved from developing projects to relationship building, evangelism, and discipleship based on chronological Bible stories. Talking about stories, she cannot contain her excitement about engaging in projects that would lead people to Christ through such narratives. She had an opportunity to share her passion at the AWF Prayer and Missions online event for Alliance women in June 2023, through a video she recorded especially for that occasion. We want to highlight some of the stories she recounted to us.

How the work among the Fulani developed sounds like a narrative that only God could put together. Back in 2010, a man came to Lisa, heard Noah’s Bible story, and was impressed by the new meaning of the rainbow’s appearance. “You see,” said Lisa, “the Fulani people, at least in my area, were afraid of the rainbow. They believe it’s some kind of a serpent in the sky that prevents the rain from falling on the fields. It drinks the rain and keeps it from the fields.” So, Lisa wanted to correct them. “They don’t need to be afraid of the rainbow,” she said. “It’s actually a sign that God keeps his promises.” This man was so amazed that he brought other Fulani together to hear the stories with him, allowing Lisa to form groups to whom she could tell the Bible narratives chronologically.

Among those people, Pilgrim*, a sharp-minded man, kept memorizing the stories, putting them together and retelling them almost word for word without any error to other people. The stories of the Scriptures had such an effect on him that one day he came to Lisa and said, “I’m a newcomer here, but you don’t have to be here very long to see what a beautiful place it is.” Lisa was confused and thought to herself, “You are not a newcomer here. You were born here, and it’s really not very pretty!” Then she realized he wasn’t talking about his town; he was talking about the Kingdom of God, and this was his way of telling her he had decided to follow Jesus.

On another day, Pilgrim came to Lisa to ask for prayer. His wife was pregnant, and because of his previous experiences, he was concerned they would lose their baby. You see, Pilgrim had been married before. His wife was pregnant and had carried babies to full term six times. But either the babies were stillborn or they died shortly after birth. The complications of the last pregnancy claimed not only the child’s life but also the wife’s.

Pilgrim remarried, his new wife had a baby, and that baby died. His wife became pregnant again, and Pilgrim was asking for prayer. Lisa summoned all her contacts to pray for Pilgrim’s wife and the child. The family experienced a miracle: a healthy girl was born, changing Pilgrim’s story again. They named the baby Lisa.

God’s love story was spreading among the Fulani. For some, that represented not only lives being changed but also additional challenges. Mack,* a 17-year-old fellow connected to the Bible story group led by Lisa, could not attend the meetings because of schedule conflicts. But Mack was learning the stories from Pilgrim, his cousin, and after a while, Mack decided to follow Jesus. He was baptized, but because of his determination, he was expelled from his home by his father. Mack, however, has continued his journey and has led many other Fulani to Christ in the last five years.

That is not the end of the story for the Fulani people. It seems to be just the beginning of the first chapter – a chapter that has many surprises, miracles and teachings from God. All that with a special invitation for the Fulani to be part of God’s love story. To hear about these and other stories in this first chapter, watch the complete video by Lisa Rohrick.

* Names changed for safety reasons