Well, in this case, teamwork makes the marriage curriculum work.

We’ve spent countless hours writing and re-writing the marriage curriculum we use. It started with Scripture, then incorporated the help of a couple of resources from other missionaries’ serving other parts of Africa, then incorporated hours of one-on-one meetings with local Christians.

The goal was to have something foundational, Biblical, and not culturally biased (such as from a Western point of view). This resource needed to serve West Africans or others in a more traditional context. We wanted to be able to encourage Christians in their marriages based on God’s word, not to unnecessarily loot their cultural identity.

We knew that creating this resource in our second language (French) posed some pretty significant challenges. How could we bridge the language gap? The answer: we couldn’t do this on our own.

(drumroll…)

Enter the EDITING TEAM! (who prefer not to be pictured for security reasons)

We were blessed by some francophone (first-language French speakers) colleagues who were willing to painstakingly read and edit our material. They gave us much-needed grammatical edits, but also the crucial comprehension edits. This means that they helped shape the phrases and terms that just weren’t hitting the bullseye for meaning and intent.

The result is a teaching manual that is sharp and comprehensible!

Our recent class for the Bible institute in the village in Benin is a perfect testimony. For the first time, we didn’t have ANY confusion with our discussion questions! It was truly wonderful to have this unity and clarity.

We praise God for the willingness of others to sacrifice their time and precious energy for this work. Thank you Mariette, Éliane, and Anna for your behind-the-scenes contribution!

Are you part of a team? Be encouraged today that your part on the team is SIGNIFICANT!