TRANSCRIPT

NATHAN JONES

For the first time, we head to Mali, and we will meet Siméon Dembélé. Siméon is the National Coordinator of Business for the World Evangelical Alliance and has a 27-year career addressing issues of poverty in his country.

I'm your host, Nathan Jones, and want to thank you once again for joining me on this episode of the Inspiring Stewards podcast.

Siméon, thank you for the time this morning! Looking forward to our conversation. Let us know where are you from and give us a little bit of background of your life, where you grew up and your family, that sort of thing.

SIMÉON DEMBELE

I am Siméon Dembele from Mali. Mali is located in the half of West Africa. Mali shares 7,420 kilometers border with seven neighboring countries, notably Algeria to the Northeast, Niger and Burkina Faso to the East, Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea to the South, Mauritania to the Northwest and Senegal to the West. In fact, in terms of development, my country, Mali, in 2023, was ranked as the 188th country out of UNDP Human Development Index that classified 193 countries.

And in the same report, it is said that the same year, 2023, 43.9% of the population living in Mali lived below the poverty line of the same UNDP Human Development Index. So, this is to give a brief idea of what it looks like, life here in Mali.

In terms of myself, I grew up in Mali, as I said, in the fourth administrative region of Mali, which is Ségou. I grew up in a small evangelical missionary station where my dad, who is now retired, was being trained to become a pastor. So, my father is a retired pastor now, is living in Bamako, the capital city, with me here in Mali.

I am the eldest of seven siblings and married to a lovely wife named Dinah. God granted us with four adorable kids, two boys and two girls. The oldest is 22 years old, and the youngest is 10 years old.

In terms of my life, it has been characterized by numerous displacements as our family was always going with my dad in his different ministries. So, he was sometimes changing communities, going from one community to one other community, for about four to six years. Every four to six years, my dad would move to a new community, and most of the time, these communities were with very few Christians.

So, I faced in school ostracism, most of the time from non-Christian classmates. And most of the time, they would treat my brothers and sisters and myself as unbelievers or eaters of pork. For the Muslim background, someone who eats pork, this is haram. So, most of the time they would point us to say, “Ah, guys, you are unbelievers! You are eaters of pork.” And this was something that really was a problem to us.

And I even remember one day, one of my brothers was asked to sing a song in the classroom. It was during the class exam, and it was a song of choice. And my brother sang a Christian song. And the teacher, who was a lady, just asked him to stop singing, because according to her, my brother was singing a demon song. And the good news in that is that after this same lady became a Christian, praise the Lord! So, this was how my life was like when I was growing up. 

NATHAN

Thank you sharing. Then, how’d you came to know the Lord and the impact that had on your life?

SIMÉON

I remember if it was yesterday. It was Mrs. Mangafe. Mrs. Mangafe was one American missionary who was my Sunday school teacher. She invited us to confess Jesus Christ as our savior and personal redeemer. I raised my hand. I also noticed a small group of classmates in the Sunday school who also raised their hands. And Mrs. Mangafe asked us to stand up and Mrs. Mangafe led us in this life-changing experience. It was in fact in 1978 in N’Torosso, in Ségou, the fourth region of Mali. 

And let's say that I really blessed the Lord for the life of Mrs. Mangafe, and also the other missionaries who left their good conditions in America, in Europe, and they came to preach the gospel in Mali and in Africa.

Some of them died here in Mali. And in N’Torosso, where I first gave my life to Jesus, I know exactly some graves of those missionaries who died in Mali. So, I have a deep respect, and I praise in the name of the Lord for their life.

And to accept Jesus has been a very life-changing experience for me. And it has in fact great impact in my life. First in school, as I said, I attended school where most of the time I was the only Christian in the class. And in many occasions, teachers would ask first for Siméon's narrative about an issue. When there were some classmates who quarreled, or there was something which was spoiled in the class, or any issue, because the teachers believed in me, and they would ask, “Siméon, what do you say about this?” And I explained what happened really and exactly.

And this has been proved in a number of situations and teachers would take their decision based on what I will say about the situation. So, this has proved to be a very good thing to me because I was behaving as a Christ ambassador, and I had a very good reputation at any time I was asked to say something. This was in school.

And later, when I was in the workplace, the same reputation followed me. And I was always retained from engaging in corruption, in bribery. It was very difficult sometimes to say, “No, I will not engage in this situation.” So, this is how I really behave and how becoming Christian had an impact on my life.

NATHAN

Thank you for your faithfulness and example. So, catch us up to today. What work in ministry does the Lord have you involved in?

SIMÉON

I have been working for non-governmental organization for more than 27 years. And this ambition started first when I was in primary school, because, as you know, Mali, the context in which we were, characterized by poverty.

In fact, I would see a lot of development agents coming into my communities help us to have access to education, to have access to health, to have access to clean water, and subsistence means. So, this was something which really moved me, and my decision was taken to be like those development agents that were travelling from village to village to serve the needy.

And this is the reason why four months after I graduated from my high school, I landed my first job in World Vision, where I spent more than 18 years, first as sponsorship supervisor, and then as a program manager, and later, as design monitoring and evaluation coordinator.

So, my first years of activity was spent with World Vision for more than 18 years. And I joined PLAN International in Mali, and I spent more than four years there, 2021 to October 2025. I was working with Catholic Relief Services. And I left this organization while I was a Chief of Party for a school feeding project, which was funded by the US government.

And in terms of church activities, for more than 20 years, I've been a deacon in the Evangelical Christian Church, one of the two biggest denominations in Mali. And currently, I am the intendant of Tabakoro Evangelical Christian Church in Bamako. And since 2018, I am the national business coordinator of Business Coalition.

Business Coalition is affiliated to World Evangelical Alliance. So, I am the national coordinator of this organization in Mali. Of course, it's not very well developed for the time being, but we are trying to cope with things small and small.

I praise the Lord as wherever I have been serving, let it be in the secular setting or in the church, my motto has been to show Christ's image and also to be the ambassador of Christ wherever I am. And by the Lord's grace, I praise His name for allowing me to really do so.

And in many occasions, I counted on Him in difficult situations when I was managing some difficult issues, and really the Lord proved to be reliant and trustworthy, as in each of those situations, I can say that I have been more than a conqueror. So, I praise the Lord.

There is one situation that came to my mind. In fact, in different, at least twice, some men of God revealed to me that, as it is said in Mark 16:18, “And if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.” I think I quote well this verse.

In fact, they revealed that at least twice I was given deadly food to eat. And praise the Lord, they didn't really harm me. So, I am grateful to the Lord for keeping my life safe despite this situation.

So, sometimes in my project activities, I would come across some difficult issues and difficult situations in some communities, and I have abided by the Lord. I would pray the Lord, and I have seen the mighty hand of the Lord, and it has changed many situations in my favor.

So, really, I praise the name of the Lord because in my ministry, in whatever I've been doing, I have tried to be a witness of Jesus Christ, and the Lord has really supported me in those situations.

NATHAN

So, this is the Inspiring Stewards podcast. Siméon, so how has the biblical principles of stewardship played out in your life?

SIMÉON

As I said, in my life and work, since my early years when I was a child, I have decided to abide by the Lord Jesus’ principles. And some time, I must be honest that it has not been easy, and sometimes I was not understood, especially in the working environment.

I was sometimes seen as a threat to some colleagues who would go for some, let's put it between brackets, some selfish interest. So, at any time I was in those groups, they would see me as a threat, as a kind of hamper to their interest. And in some organizations, let's say in all the organizations where I worked, stewardship was most of the time among the core values.

That I was a bit sad to see that there are really great efforts to do at that level. And this is the reason why during my first years of work, I was perceiving the organization leaders as the models in terms of stewardship. Then, when I stay long in those organizations, really I have ceased to perceive them as reference, as role models, but rather to consider Jesus Christ as my reference and my role model in terms of stewardship.

For instance, in some occasions, there were some drivers who were not happy to drive me to the field mission. And the reason was that they would not get any occasion, any opportunity to submit a wrong financial report after the mission, unless it is the administrative order that really put them on the mission. If not, they would not accept to go with me on the field, because they are sure that if they put something bad in the report, in the financial report when submitting, I will reject it. So, knowing that they would not accept to go with me in the mission.

One small thing also is that in one organization, I was given a vehicle for the service, for my activities in the office. When I left this organization more than two years after, my vehicle was the best one with the best engine in its series. Meaning that while I was driving the vehicle, I was taking a good care of this vehicle as it was my own one.

So, it is even a driver who gave this testimony to one of my acquaintances, I was not even aware of that. So, this is to say that stewardship is very important to me, and I take good care of things the Lord puts into my hands. Because I know that if I take good care of that, the Lord will give me all the best things because He will test me to see that I am a good steward.

NATHAN

Those are great examples. So, Siméon, you've been involved in non-government work for many, many years. How are you seeing God uniquely at work in the world today?

SIMÉON

I think that in fact, God is working in the world with His words. God has put many persons in our world, on our road. God is also, it is like in Romans 8:19, where it is said that God is waiting for His children to reveal Him to the world. So, I can say that God is really working in different countries, especially in my country, in Mali, and in the Sahel region.

Despite very difficult economical social context, I can see the Lord working here. The gospel is preached to different persons, and the Lord is also using His servants to push forward his ministry in our countries.

And the other thing I can see is the difficult situation the world is living. And at that level, I can see a kind of call to all Christians to stand and to plead for the favor of Jesus Christ, so that this difficult situation can be eased for Christians and other people who are really passing through this situation.

So, I understand that the Lord is still in work in our world and we have to trust Him, and to keep the world in our prayers, so that the Lord will continue to show His face to us.

NATHAN

That’s wonderful. Well, Siméon, as we're wrapping up, any final thoughts for those listening today?

SIMÉON

I praise the Lord for your life and for the work you are doing. And I also praise the Lord for GTP (Global Trust Partners) and the life of its founder, Gary, because God gave him this vision to create GTP, and to put in the hands of the church of the Lord this wonderful tool to promote the reign and the will of God worldwide.

NATHAN

Praise the Lord! Thank you, Siméon, for your time today.

SIMÉON

Thank you very much.