Benin President Thomas Yayi Boni welcomed a delegation from Samaritan’s Purse to his country in late June, and invited them to join him for Sunday worship at his family compound in Cotonou.


Benin President Thomas Yayi Boni with Jim Luntzel.The Samaritan’s Purse team was in Benin to conduct training for Operation Christmas Child gift box distributions.

Justin Byakweli, the Operation Christmas Child International Regional Director for West and Central Africa, presented the Sunday sermon. Following the message, the group of about 20 people spent more than an hour discussing the Scriptures.

President Yayi is an evangelical Christian who promised to tackle problems of poverty and corruption when he took office in 2006. In April, Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham sent the president a Bible inscribed with a personal message of encouragement. President Yayi keeps it on the desk in his office.

The president spoke openly with the delegation about the positive impact of the Gospel in Benin.

“We want to work with churches to shine the light of the Gospel in Africa,” he said.

President Yayi was encouraged by Operation Christmas Child’s discipleship ministry, which has provided Biblical training to more than 60,000 children in Benin.

“There was a lot of open discussion about how to mobilize churches in Benin to evangelize the nation and deal with inherent problems,” said Jim Luntzel, the International Director for Operation Christmas Child. “President Yayi is seeking spiritual and Biblical solutions for his nation.”

Working in partnership with more than 1,000 local churches, Operation Christmas Child has given 423,893 gift-filled shoe boxes to children in Benin. At least 100,000 more gift boxes are scheduled to be distributed by the end of the year.

Samaritan’s Purse also responded with emergency aid to help some of the 20,000 people displaced by recent flooding in Benin. Samaritan’s Purse is providing 500 blankets and room-sized mosquito nets for 1,000 families.

President Yayi extended an invitation to Franklin Graham to visit him in Benin. He also asked for prayers for God’s guidance as he leads the nation.

Samaritan's Purse , Benin , Evangelism , A Presidential Welcome