Benin in West Africa is not a Muslim country, but the Dendi in the north of the country are 99.93 % Muslim. They number about 310,000 people. Among them are only very few Christians. There is no church where Dendi is spoken.
Most Dendi (also known as Dandawa) follow a form of folk Islam, mixing elements of orthodox Islam with their traditional rites and religious practices. Marabouts – religious teachers or holy men – teach Islam as well as ancient customs and are healers and contact persons to the spirit world.
The rural steppe areas of Northern Benin are home for most Dendi. The structures of families and villages are very fundamental for their life in this region, making it unthinkable for seekers to break out of this system in order to follow Christ. That’s why finding ways to spread the Gospel and establish fellowships of believers within these structures is so important.
The New Testament and some audio and video materials are available in the Dendi language, but most are unaware of their availability. In the summer of 2024, 140 evangelists swarmed the city of Djougou, where tens of thousands of Dendi live. With many of them from neighbouring people groups, they worked in different quarters of the city every day for three weeks. They spent time visiting with people of influence, sitting visiting houses of peace, telling of Jesus, and leaving over 2,000 SD cards with Bible audio files.
How to Pray
- Pray that the distributed SD cards will be listened to again and again and would help Dendi people come to faith in the Messiah.
- Pray that the Dendi would see that Jesus has power over the spirit world.
- Pray that a discipleship movement would emerge by at least 1,000 Dendi being baptized and 100 house churches being established.
Lord, thsnkyou for your wonderful creation in your image dandi people…please add them in your salvation program these lost people…send your missionaries to there lord, Amen.