International Baptist Church of Dakar

Church Vision: United as a church to worship and serve the Almighty God.

We see our church as presenting a unique setting to harness the diversity of race, culture, education, work, and Christian tradition to strengthen the unity which all true believers in Christ have – rather than to diminish it.

Introductory Narration to the History of IBC Dakar

A Documentary Production for the 25th Anniversary Celebration of IBC Dakar

The International Baptist Church of Dakar was founded in the summer of 1979 by Pastor Edward Segars, a Southern Baptist Convention pastor. He had come to Dakar as a missionary of the SBC, but did not have enough French to witness to the French-speaking community. In May 1979, he met Brother Michael Mah’Moud who had a small prayer group of English speakers meeting in his house. Pastor Segars got interested and visited the group the following week. He announced to the prayer group his plans to start an English-speaking Fellowship, the first of its kind in Dakar. The inaugural service had about 30 worshippers, including people from the small prayer group that was meeting at Dr. Mah’Moud’s house. The congregation came from different church backgrounds, including Baptist, Methodist, Assemblies of God, and Presbyterians. The inaugural service was also advertised on radio in Dakar. The name chosen for the Church at the time was The International Church of Dakar. Pastor Segars wanted the name to reflect mainly the international nature of the fellowship rather than his own affiliation to the SBC.

The Church grew gradually and by October 1979, the congregation had expanded to include the Ambassadors from Nigeria, Ghana, and Japan as well as several exchange students from Ghana. Under Pastor Segars, the Church’s place of worship shifted from Temple Evangelique, the American Embassy cafeteria, and the later, one of the American Embassy vacant houses when the Iranian conflict deepened. Pastor Segars had a medical emergency and had to depart suddenly to the US in the summer of 1980. Indeed, we received tremendous support from the missionaries at the time, and several of them helped with the preaching.

In 1983, the SBC sent Rev. Warren Rush to pastor the Church at a time when the Church was worshipping at the Dakar Academy. Membership had grown considerably and so Pastor Rush encouraged the Church to make its affiliation to the SBC clearer. Therefore, after considerable discussion within the Church Council and meetings with the congregation, the reorganization was announced.

The International Baptist Church of Dakar was formally established as a Church on Sunday, 6 November, 1983 based on Baptist principles and doctrines. Thirty four Members covenanted to begin the Church on that day. Others who could not transfer their membership from their home countries, joined as associate members.

Pastor Rush also believed that the Church should reach out to the lost in Senegal, rather than ministering only to the English-speaking community. The Church began an outreach program with Brother Seck, in Ndiaganio a few miles from women in sewing. At one baptism occasion, 105 villagers were baptized. Unfortunately, the work went down when the Missionaries left.

By the time Pastor Rush left, the IBC of Dakar had been firmly established. Brother Ogunniyi was elected to lead the Church in the absence of a regular pastor. Dakar Academy served the Church with a year’s notice to look for another place of worship. The matter was discussed at length within the Council and at Church business meetings and it was decided that we would look for a building to purchase. A four member Building Search Committee was appointed to look for the permanent place of worship. The Church bought the current place of worship in August 1987 through special fundraising and a loan from the bank. By 1992, the loan had been paid off.

After the retirement of Brother Ogunniyi, Brother Mah’Moud was appointed as the Church Leader and served with other volunteer pastors like Pastor Jackson of the Mission Baptiste de Dakar. In 1989 Pastor Gerald Taylor was called by the SBC as the second pastor of the International Baptist Church. He rebuilt the evangelization ministry of the Church, including the founding of a Wolof Church. He saw the Church through the conversion of the residential building the Church had acquired into the new Church building and permanent worship center.

Pastor Taylor left in 1993 and since the Church did not have the burden of paying mortgage or rent, the congregation decided to appoint its own Pastor. Furthermore, the Church did not want to continue to depend on the SBC for a pastor. .Consequently, on 24 August 1993, after a period of searching by a committee headed by Brother Joseph Darko, Pastor Kwashie Amenudzie, who was then a Pastor in Togo and President of the Baptist Convention there, was invited to become the first African pastor of the Church. Under Pastor Amenudzie, the Church expanded to a double service in 1999. The Church engaged in an outreach to Seamen at the Dakar Port. The WMU began a ministry to the Leper Colony in Keur Massa through prayer and gifts on a regular basis. Several mission efforts were successfully launched including the founding of the Grace Baptist Church in Parcelles Assanies where Brother Damien Bassene was posted to as the Pastor in charge; The Guediawaye Baptist Church with Brother Albert Hodges of the IMBwho later transferred to the Brazilian Baptist Missionary Adoniram; the Baptist Association of Senegal, which was purposefully established to get the Baptist Churches together for Mission work. Out of this effort, the Kedougou Mission outreach was launched to reach out to the Bassari people group of south eastern Senegal. The work was supported by the North Arkansas Baptist Association of the USA.

In 2002, Pastor Amenudzie felt the Lord leading him into full time ministry as a missionary church planter. He therefore resigned as the resident Pastor in the same year. A Five-member Leadership Team, headed by, Elder Wilfred Amoako, was called to lead the Church, while a Pastor Search committee was set up under the leadership of Brother Dan Ole Shani.

On 15th May 2003, the Church, after much prayer and consideration of the entire pastors interviewed, called Rev. Kwame Owusu-Baafi to be the second African Pastor of IBC. Under his leadership, IBC has experienced study ministry and personal growth in spite of the initial two years of turbulent sailing.

May the Lord who has brought us thus far, continue to guide and strengthen His Church into a higher realm of spiritual experience growth for His own glory. And so, we continue to say, “God is good, all the time; and all the time, God is good. The best is yet to come; for we have not seen anything yet!”