Ntakibazo:

Missions Among the Killdeer Mountains of North Dakota

Often, my wife, Jana, and I drive home from a weekend of circuit preaching. If the skies are clear about twenty miles from home, we will see the rolling prairie rise nine hundred feet into the Killdeer Mountains where we reside. Sometimes, the mountains are snow-covered while the prairie is bare. Thankfulness goes through our spirits. I often turn to Jana and say, “Thank you for moving to North Dakota with me.” She usually responds, “Ntakibazo (“No problem” in Kinyarwanda.) Briefly, we are old African missionaries serving marginalized rural churches and diaspora communities. Some consider us to be innovative. Yet, all we do is apply our old missionary disciplines.

Our journey reflects old calls. In the fall of 2004, we heard Glen Pemberton teach at the Quail Springs Church of Christ the material that would become his book When God Calls. It was like Dr. Ed Mathews discussing missionary calling as a lifetime spiritual gift when we were students at Abilene Christian University. In these calls, God often takes the called one through painful journeys to prepare them to lead a community in crisis.

Jana’s story started as a missionary kid of the Gaston and Jan Tarbet family in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Kenya from 1968 to 1976. As a child, she was part of the Great Century of Missions that Donald McGavran writes about in The Bridges of God. My story began following my dad’s construction work and uncle Alan’s cattle buying from Minnesota to North Dakota. Since childhood, I have always wanted to live here. Then, after our childhoods and education, we served for 19 years as church planting missionaries in Uganda and Rwanda. We returned to the United States almost 13 years ago, convinced we should not give up our missionary call. Yet, my experience with Churches of Christ left me with more bad memories than good. We continued to do ministry with other evangelical groups. However, we found that with serving Black skinned immigrants and having a disabled child, we were often at odds with evangelical influencers, network news, and denominational leaders. We have struggled to find a sustainable place to continue in the ministry.

Six years ago, I found an article in the Wall Street Journal that led us to discover that there is a rapidly growing African diaspora community in North Dakota. In fact, a later Wall Street Journal article reports small to mid-size towns in the upper Midwest are the most rapidly diversifying in America. We moved to North Dakota to be near this surge of African migration and to follow my childhood dreams. We worked for other people for 5 years. Last year, we decided it was time to launch into the unmet ministry niches. We concluded that, “Yes. Christianity in America is a mess. Leaders often stifle renewal. However, we must, as missionaries, be gracious to all. We must also take responsibility for using our spiritual gifts to build the broad body of Christ.” We innovate by copying the historic.

First, we consider ourselves to be Restoration Movement idealists. We seek unity with all followers of Christ. Since there are small local rural churches that have no pastor, we offer our skill sets as circuit preachers. Now, most Sundays, Jana and I are preaching in 2 to 5 local churches. Though many counties are economically booming with a growing immigrant population, other counties are in a steep decline. In the declining counties, usually the last institution to collapse is the local church. We are in a wide variety of denominations, from Lutheran to Assemblies of God. In many local churches, we preach through the Lectionary texts. If the local church does not follow the Lectionary, we present a textual sermon that is usually from a short book in the Bible. If requested, we will address specific topics.

We look much like the circuit preachers of the frontier. Most churches pay us a small stipend. Neighbors and friends have also donated a quarter of an elk, a deer, half a hog, a cooler of beef, eggs, fresh fish, and garden fruits and vegetables. We struggle to pay our bills but have never lacked quality food. Most of these churches have immigrant roots. Several still have German on their signpost. In their cemeteries, you often read in Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, or Ukrainian. In some churches, the European languages of immigration were used in prayers and Bible studies until the 1970s. Thus, these churches’ history provides a way to explain the current surge of migration.

Second, we follow our relationship web. There is an active Rwandan Community in North Dakota that has 120 adults on their WhatsApp group. Several are relatives of former church members of ours from our season in Rwanda. Also, there is a large Banyamulenge (Tutsi from the Democratic Republic of Congo) group that has 470 members on their WhatsApp group. When we officiated a wedding or funeral in Africa, the Banyamulenge would attend. In the back of our minds, we thought someday we might be working with Banyamulenge people, but we never would have guessed it would happen in North Dakota. Also, there are scattered Burundians, Kenyans, South Sudanese, Tanzanians, and Ugandans nearby.

We serve the African Diaspora in a variety of ways. Most are young families. Thus, we try to be community grandparents. We host fellowships at our home and invite young people to explore the mountains. The Rwandan Community has a yearly Kwibuka (Commemoration of the Genocide Against the Tutsi). In the past, we have been the Master of Ceremonies or a Speaker. Jana works as a Lay Health Ambassador to help Diaspora families navigate the American health care system. If there is a wedding or funeral in the community, we often provide counsel and help officiate. There are three Banyamulenge congregations. Recently, we helped one acquire the new Gospel of Luke translation in Kinyamulenge from Pioneer Bible Translators. Occasionally, we preach at these churches.

We see that America in our lifetime has become a post-Christian nation, while the momentum of Christianity is in the Global South. Most of the African Diaspora come from strong Christian traditions. We see our role as helping them adapt to American culture so that they can serve as missionaries to America. If one looks for points around the world where African Christianity is engaging unreached areas, the two places where it happens the most are in Africa’s Sahel region and the West.

Third, we try our best to imitate the Apostle Paul. Thus, we keep an active social media presence. Each Sunday, we do what we call our Killdeer Mountain Table Talk on Facebook Live and Substack. We read the Lectionary texts, make a brief comment, and then take Communion. We recognize there are people in our network hundreds of miles from a healthy church. Others are working in the gig economy, and their schedule does not fit the local churches’ schedule. We encourage them to pause with us like the early Christian house churches. We usually have 500 to 1,300 views each week. We both do a Substack newsletter/blog that has 450 on our mailing list. We also try to draw attention to thoughtful news, commentaries, and discussions. Though we do not lead a large church or ministry, our years in service have created a network of thousands on all continents.

Lastly, we try to model our home as a mission station. With donations from retiring pastors and declining churches, we have developed an excellent pastoral library. We have a guest room. A couple of times each year, Christian laborers spend a few days with us. Many find hikes in the mountains, stunning sunsets, and quiet time in the Killdeer Mountains refreshing.

We never could have anticipated that my childhood dream, African migration, and mission innovation would take us to North Dakota’s Killdeer Mountains. We are so thankful to be here.

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Dave Jenkins and his wife, Jana have 5 adult children and 3 granddaughters. His extended family is made up of horse traders and fishermen. He has a bachelors degree from Harding University and a masters from Abilene Christian University. They spent 19 years in Africa as church planting missionaries that also started an international school, administered scholarship programs, and engaged local media. They followed their African diaspora network to North Dakota.