It is not uncommon for churches to get requests for assistance from parishioners.

It is also not uncommon to get requests from other churches, usually locally.

Recently, Village Baptist Church received a request for assistance from Bamunkumbit Baptist Church in Cameroon, more than 7,000 miles away.

"I regularly get appeals from pastors, churches and ministries overseas asking for financial assistance. Most of those appeals are ignored," said Bruce Salmon, pastor since 1985.

What made this appeal from Cameroon different is that it came from the home village and home church of a parishioner, Joseph Ngwana,...