by Hannah Castro

The sound of cattle bells marks the movement of the Fulani people across West Africa—the atmosphere heavy with history. For centuries, this proud, nomadic people have shepherded their livestock, wandering from place to place, often living on the fringes of farming communities. One of the largest and most widely dispersed ethnic groups in Africa, the Fulani number an estimated 25–40 million people. In certain countries on the continent, they make up almost 40 percent of the population.

The Fulani people’s nomadic lifestyle has made this people both distinct and, at times, misunderstood. Outsiders often look down on them; as a whole, interactions between the Fulani and neighboring ethnic groups are often full of friction.

Historically, the Fulani have been torchbearers for Islam. The religion is deeply ingrained in their culture, and it has been central to Fulani life, being that they were among the earliest people in West Africa to embrace Islam.

Their itinerant roots have carried them across borders, and with them, a religion that has shaped the spiritual life of an entire continent. Living as nomads has given the Fulani a proud, independent spirit. They are used to being different, to standing apart from surrounding communities. But that pride also comes with pain. Fulani families have faced prejudice, suspicion, and sometimes outright hostility in the form of persecution. In response, they have leaned even harder into their cultural identity—especially their Muslin identity—holding fast to the traditions that define them.

For centuries, if you asked anyone whether a Fulani person could become a Christian, the answer would be swift and unanimous: impossible. For this very reason, in 1923, The Alliance began to focus on the Fulani people in West Africa. One Alliance international worker (IW) recounted of those pioneer missionaries: “There’s a story that they traveled up to a northern city and met with an Islamic leader, trying to gather information about the Fulani, and the Islamic leader said very clearly to them, ‘You can come here and work for 100 years, and not one of us will ever follow your Jesus.'”

But impossible met the gospel. Today, more than a century later, hundreds of Fulani men and women are quietly, courageously choosing Christ. As more and more Fulani people witness this, it challenges the stereotype that says “to be Fulani is to be Muslim.”

Jesus is shaking up their ground.

Cracks in the Wall

Fulani people coming to know Jesus and renouncing their Islamic faith has come through deep relationship-building, soul care, discipleship, and partnership between international workers and Fulani leaders. Testimonies often include Jesus visiting people in dreams, miraculous healings, and perseverance through severe persecution—social ostracism, loss of family, economic pressure, poisoning, and even death threats. Deep transformation is taking place. The once unthinkable thing—a Christian Fulani—is now a very present reality. Praise God!

“When we arrived [in this West African country], we kept saying, ‘We’re starting to see cracks in the wall.’ But we really are now,” says one Alliance international worker. “We don’t know many Fulani believers. Our goal really, as we disciple them, is to see all of the Fulani for Jesus.”

Their resistance to the gospel has begun to wither as more and more Fulani embrace the good news and share with one another. Increasingly, Fulani people are now leading other Fulani to Christ. What was once solely missionary-driven has become the start of a movement among their own people. As a culturally distrustful group, who better to trust than your own people?

“I’m always an outside influence, no matter how well I know the culture, no matter how well I speak the language; my appearance just gives it away. I’m not one of them,” notes Jake, an IW who has served in West Africa for 16 years. “But when they encounter one of them who grew up like them, who’d embraced this identity, they start to say, ‘Wow, there could be something different here.’ And they’re able to speak at a heart-level about some of these things that I just can’t get at.”

Our Alliance work takes place among the Fulani in several African countries and has for decades; the once untilled soil has been broken up again and again, and the response is evident. Many Fulani Christians are boldly living out their testimonies and faith. Cracks are appearing in the once solid walls of resistance.

A Presence with the People

The spiritual landscape in West Africa among the Fulani is actively shifting. “There’s something that’s changing. There’s a more responsive attitude. There are more workers coming,” Jake says. “I personally believe it’s a result of prayer. We’ve been praying for the Fulani for years, for decades. Our own Alliance family has adopted them as a people group to pray for.”

It’s no small feat to minister among an incredible resistant group of people. But we believe that prayer shifts even the most rugged spiritual climates, and the toiling is worth it—for the sake of the good news. To see all of Jesus in all the world. Many of our Alliance workers serving in West Africa believe that when the Fulani are reached with the gospel, all of Africa—and beyond—will be reached. The Fulani are a deeply significant people group, and as they embrace Jesus, encounter with the Living God spreads thoroughly across their networks.

Following Jesus, however, comes at a cost, and there remains a real danger for the Fulani in professing faith. Believers are often expelled from their families, denied access to village wells, or stripped of their inheritance. Some face threats of violence, and punishment by death is not unheard of. There’s a cultural sense that to become a Christian is to become something terrible and shameful. A Fulani who comes to Christ often faces immediate rejection from their families, which is perhaps one of the greatest barriers for Fulani in coming to Christ—instantaneous isolation. That’s why presence matters—it’s why our Alliance workers are so passionate about staying the course in the hardest places, among the hardest-to-reach people.

But the gates that are often barricades—the cost of following Jesus—are being flung wide open. The Fulani are often considered a “gateway people” because of the incredible impact they have as a whole, particularly when they embrace the gospel. They reach their people, who reach their people, who reach their people, and so on. The Lord longs to throw open the doors of their hearts and the gates of community.

“We believe that God will bring Fulani and other hard-to-reach people to Himself through suffering—His people willing to suffer and demonstrate His grace to a suffering people,” says another Alliance worker. “The one thing that the enemy of our souls cannot duplicate is grace under fire.”

The long-standing work among the least-reached is arduous, but how will they know unless someone tells them?

Here, There, and Everywhere

It’s evident from the hundreds who are coming to know Him that God is at work among the Fulani, and not just in West Africa. Their reach now extends to the United States—many Fulani live in places like New York City, Chicago, and Columbus, Ohio. There are over 30,000 Fulani people in the U.S., and that number is growing steadily. Opportunities for gospel witness are rising.

A new Fulani-focused church plant has been approved in The Alliance’s Ohio Valley District. A non-traditional church plant, it is set to span across states, focusing on discipleship and development that multiplies. The district sees a very active need: the Fulani are here; we should meet them where they are.

Some of our Alliance workers in New York City housed three Fulani men in their home over the course of almost two years, living life and chasing after Jesus with them.

Many Fulani long to live in America, and perhaps they will meet Jesus in the U.S. in ways they would not have been able to in their home countries. Away from the pressures of village life, some are hearing the gospel with new openness. There is ample opportunity for many of us to do life with the Fulani people, even in our own neighborhoods. These nomadic people are still on the move.

Alliance international workers who have served in West Africa for years, even decades, say that the Fulani diaspora in the States is an answer to intentional prayer. The global team—particularly in the U.S.—is seeing the same spiritual shift international are seeing happen as they witness the Lord position them for exactly a time such as this.

There is incredible opportunity to hear a Fulani person’s story, to show them the love of God, to pray for power of Christ to move in their lives, and to speak the truth of the gospel over them. For such a time as this, God has equipped us to be His hands and feet. He had brought one of the largest unreached people groups in the entire world, a gateway-for-the-gospel people, to our very doorsteps.

The opportunities are endless, but they are necessary for the whole gospel to reach the whole world. Sometimes, opportunities call for new means of creativity.

Sharing the gospel with the Fulani is not exclusive to West Africa. They are here—in the U.S. How are we welcoming and being Jesus to them? Jesus is for them. That’s what we need to showcase.

The Lord longs for every people, every people group, to embrace Him. How incredible it is to know that God loves the Fulani so much that He’s willing to mobilize His people to be sent to the furthest corners of the world to witness to them, to also bring them to a place like the U.S.—where they have greater opportunity to hear about the good news—and to draw them to Himself.

One practical way of reaching the Fulani is to just be with them, be in relationship with them, and build relationships that can support the truth of the good news. We also need to pray boldly.

“We need the Alliance family to be engaged in prayer specifically for this: Lord, would You continue to open doors among the Fulani? Would You continue to empower the ministry of the Fulani where they’re at?” Jake pleads. “But we also need workers. Joshua Project estimates that in [my country] alone, we need 85 new workers engaged to even have a 50,000-1 ratio of worker to unreached.”

The need is great. The gospel is greater. What does it look like for you to pray about where the Lord might be leading you to minister among the Fulani people? Could you be one of those 85 new workers?

A Gospel Commitment

The Alliance has always been committed to reaching the least-reached peoples of the world. When we consider the Fulani—who by some estimates are only 0.01 percent evangelical Christian—the need for gospel access is undeniable. The Fulani are a people who deserve a chance to know the Lord, and we are called to create access to the gospel where it has scarcely been heard—even in the United States.

To imagine the Fulani not only receiving the good news but spreading it across West Africa and the rest of the world should stir our hearts. This is the very vision of The Alliance—taking all of Jesus to all the world. It’s what we believe in, what we pray for, and what we labor toward with hope. For the Fulani, we will keep believing, keep praying that God would raise up more workers to be sent, and keep laboring in hope.

“We believe in All of Jesus for All the World. And a part of that world is the Fulani people,” says Jake. “That mission of All of Jesus for All the World won’t be complete until we see the Fulani well-represented in Jesus Christ.”

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