I’ve been in Liberia for a week teaching in a week-long leadership academy for church leaders. Let me just say that my first visit to West Africa has been amazing. While the weather presents us with challenges, it is over 90 degrees every day with 90+% humidity, the time we have spent with the people has deeply moved us. The literacy rate for adults hovers around 47%. In the years I’ve worked in Africa, understanding how to work with low literacy rates on the continent has been a major challenge.
Until you visit a place where the majority of the population aren’t able to read, it’s difficult to understand the effect illiteracy has on a nation. As with any group of people in leadership, be it church or otherwise, literacy plays a vital role in the efficacy of any group of leaders. While I was teaching the students this week, I saw more than half struggle to write. My heart broke as I thought about church leaders being unable to read their Bibles.
Unopened Bibles
Our week of teaching is coming to an end, we finish tomorrow. Today will be spent tying up loose ends and encouraging the students. Tomorrow, they will be presented with Bibles. My heart hurts as I understand that many of those Bibles will go unopened. The plague of illiteracy in this nation has hamstrung the church. I couldn’t imagine going a day without reading, without opening my Bible.
I don’t have an answer besides asking God for wisdom. Perhaps He will allow us to be a small part in answering the illiteracy question. In the meanwhile, I’ll be grateful for what I so often have taken for granted when reading my Bible in the morning.
