March 28, 2013
*Maranatha Bible Institute, in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, recently hosted a Passover seder that may become an annual event.
“We would like to do this every school year!” said Maranatha director Rev. Prosper Sanou at a recent school chapel. He was referring to the first-ever seder meal that students as well as professors and their families had attended.
Jack Eisenbach, a Jewish-American believer from Hope Alliance Church in New Hartford, New York, presided over the event. Many of the 130 participants said they now have a new appreciation for this traditional Jewish feast that involves telling the story of how God freed the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. Marking the beginning of the Jewish Passover holiday, the seder reminds us of the Last Supper that Jesus and his disciples ate together just before His Crucifixion.
Maranatha’s authentic seder included matza, the unleavened bread the Israelites ate in haste the night they fled Egypt. Glasses of bysap (Burkinabe grape juice) were substituted for the four cups of wine typically served during the meal.
It Takes a Team
Many people helped to make the celebration a success:
- Rev. Sanou and the students butchered and roasted six lambs for the feast.
- An Alliance international worker purchased several kilos of carrots and other seder ingredients; her husband set up the sound system and lights.
- Jack spent two days in the kitchen, baking more than 700 seder cookies.
- Bobo team leadership couple Andrew and Esther Schaeffer hosted the 130 participants in their yard.
- Former international worker Dr. Peter Colman served as an interpreter during the event.
The seder was a powerful reminder to everyone who attended—our miraculous deliverance from slavery to sin is all because of the Lamb of God’s costly, precious sacrifice!
*Maranatha Bible Institute was founded in 1976 to provide aspiring pastors and church leaders with a solid biblical and ministerial education to serve French-speaking Africa. Currently, the school offers a four-year pastoral studies program in French and a four-year pastors’ wives program in the Jula language.
What You Can Do
Pray
Join the Alliance family in praying for our international workers, in Burkina Faso and worldwide, who daily minister in unique, often challenging, circumstances. Use the Alliance Weekly Prayer Requests to assist you.
Give
- Give to the Great Commission Fund (GCF) and support Alliance workers who are pushing back the darkness as they introduce lost people to the light of Jesus.
- Give now
Learn More
- Read “The Difference is Light,” written by an Alliance worker in Northern Germany who reminds us during this Easter season: “Because of the Resurrection, we can step out of darkness and into the light.”
- Check out the symbolic foods served during a Passover seder and download these recipes. Note: Clicking on this link will take you off of the C&MA Web site.