We spent two days with church leaders that had been invited from the Central Africa countries--both Congos, Gabon, and Central African Republic. These men hold roles such as President of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church of Gabon; National Director of Evangelism, Church Life, and Mission of the Church of Christ of Congo (an alliance of 62 denominations in the country); President of the Assemblies of God in Gabon; President of Christ Evangelical Community in Ubangi (DRC); and the like.

We spent the first day listening to these pastors describe the situation in their countries and churches. As each reported we prayed for the pastor individually as well as for the church and country. Every one of them reported problems of extreme poverty, disease (especially HIV/AIDS), poor schools, no jobs, illiteracy, and so on. But, they also reported overflowing churches and renewed interest in spirituality--not only Christianity but also various false religions such as the occult, traditional gods, witchcraft, new age ideas, and various cults. I have read numerous times about what is referred to as "the Church of the South" and the booming explosion of Christianity but now I was seeing and hearing it first hand.

The second day we discussed whether and/or how Bible translation fits into the work of the church. There was serious interest in integrating translation projects into the work of the church and recruiting nationals to assist in translation. We went away encouraged that the work of bringing the Scriptures to those countries would be able to go on under the leadership of the churches with the collaboration of Wycliffe and SIL.