Cameroon

I went to a Missions Task Force meeting last night at GCC. It's a funny thing, I'm a member of the task force, but I really only go for special things. In other words, I usually only go when I need something from them... But last night, there was a guy who came to talk about him and his family moving to Cameroon with the Navigators to do youth ministry there. I've added my notes in two pieces below. First are some interesting facts. Second is a list of things he said about the ministry specifically that I thought were excellent ideas.


Cameroon fast facts:
- 50% of population under 15
- 270 tribal languages in Cameroon
- climate is green, 80s, 4 seasons
- Jan is the hottest time of the year
- malaria is a big threat
- AIDS - 30% of population
every person has a fam member that has died of AIDS
their ministry is not relief specific but cannot ignore
- government - 2nd most corrupt in Africa
bribes expected in the post office
people in college are already working the system, therefore high school age can impact the culture
- Religious Climate:
Cameroon considered central Africa - 50% Christian
West Africa is 90% Muslim
the plague of Cameroon is nominal Christianity
big issues of church leadership
shallow churches, power struggles
big thing now is training leaders, pastoral and denominational leadership

Cool things regarding the ministry there:
- summer 2004 - first Nav conference in Cameroon
nationals - first generation national leadership conference
talked about strategy for the next 15 years
identified most important demographics
#1 - college
#2 - high schoolers
- They will spend first 11 weeks at a Wycliffe training center there
11 week African orientation course from Wycliffe that they will go to
7 weeks campus living
3 weeks village living
1 week of primitive camping
(That is seriously intense...)
- First year - to just build relationships
no specific responsibilities
- No specific youth min model
need to understand the culture first, existing models from the US may
not be applicalbe
important to be a student of the culture first

More about Cameroon specifically:
CIA world fact book
Joshua Project people group listing
Operation World's write up