Moussa Coulibaly, Ph.D.

Moussa grew up in Burkina Faso, the country where our ministry is located. Both he and his wife, Assita, were Muslims until they received Christ as their Savior while in their teens. He received a Ph.D. in theological education from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois in the year 2000. After five months of intense prayer and fasting, he returned to Burkina Faso to start the ministry located in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso.

Contact: moussa.coulibaly@wacm.info

Moussa was born in Burkina Faso in West Africa. His family had been Muslim for many generations, but despite his parents’ efforts to steep him in the precepts of Islam, he had a terrible fear of death. So when he was 14 years old and his father died, his anxiety increased and it was a very difficult time for him.

When he 16, a friend invited him to a youth meeting. He went without really knowing why. He had been taught that contact with Christians would taint his soul. However, at this meeting of young Christians, God showed him that Jesus is the answer to all fears of death. Four months later, he talked with the youth pastor, who gave him the assurance of the glorious promises of God. Moussa and the pastor prayed together and he accepted the Lord.

Missionaries took Moussa under their wings and saw that he was able to get a Christian education. First he attended a Christian college in Ivory Coast. A few years later he met a lovely young woman, named Assita, who also had come from a Muslim family, but had turned to Jesus. Shortly after they were married, they traveled to Canada where Moussa received an M. Div. from Prairie Bible Institute.

After Moussa completed this degree, he returned home and was involved in various Christian ministries in his home country, including pastoring a church, teaching in a Bible school, and managing a Christian bookstore. Then he had the opportunity to come to the United States and attend Trinity Evangelical Divinity School to work on a Ph.D. in educational studies.

Most of the time, when young people in Muslim families decide to follow Jesus, they are kicked out of their homes, but this did not happen in the case of Moussa because he was the only son of his mother and as such he was expected to support her. Moussa’ mother lived in his home, but she forbade him to talk with her about Jesus. What she did not figure on was Moussa’s five children and their love for Jesus. What grandmother could resist the testimony of her grandchildren! And so she, too, came to faith in Jesus Christ.

In the year 2000, after Moussa completed his doctoral studies, he spent five months of praying and fasting to know God’s will. Some thought that he should pursue an academic career in the United States, but the Lord led him home to reach his own people in Burkina Faso. The ministry began with a small group that met in his home. One day, a family whose young child had died went to the hospital with their other son, who was also on the verge of death. Moussa prayed and this son was healed. Then the family accepted Christ and the ministry began to grow.

The new Christians needed education in God’s Word, so Moussa began a small Bible school. These students and some of his former students joined together and began planting churches. There are now over 20 churches planted among Muslim or idol worshiping people. Over 500 people have come to Christ.