Discover how YOU can help reach Africans under lockdown.
At the beginning of this year, before COVID-19 arrived in our lives, your African Enterprise family set a goal to see 100,000 people commit to following Jesus in 2020.
When COVID-19 shut down churches and prevented large gatherings, that goal seemed impossible for a time … but thank God for how, together, we can share Jesus’ love through the internet!
AE has been encouraging and equipping believers across Africa to make use of their own social networks to share the Gospel. So far, over 2,500 people have been trained to use their personal testimonies to engage with their friends over social media. At this stage we have reached 334,710 people through Home Based Evangelism activities, a further 600,000 through mass media listeners, and have seen 20,928 people turning to Jesus to date.
One keen evangelist has been so passionate about this online opportunity that she has shared her testimony and the Gospel with over 300 people!
Among those people she reached was a young woman named Margaret who was going through a very low point in her life. We’ve all recently been through some tough times but, after losing her only income,
Margaret was on the verge of committing suicide.
But after reading Nancy’s testimony online, and hearing about the peace that God offers, Margaret instead decided to follow Jesus!
“Even in this dark hour, God is still at work,” says Stephen Mbogo, AE International CEO. “These online encounters are bringing people to have encounters with Jesus.”
With more people like Margaret needing hope during this pandemic, your support is essential to help close a $150,000 funding shortfall and ensure that this impactful home-based ministry continues.
Please give generously today to help see 100,000 people commit to follow Jesus this year.
Let’s not give up on this God-breathed goal. Let’s continue to push forward together to change more lives with Jesus’ love in the last few months of this year and beyond!
Thank you for your partnership,
I want to see 100,000 commitments being made for Christ >
Rwanda’s long road to peace and reconciliation
Located in the heart of Africa, Rwanda is a nation with a troubled past. In spite of this, the nation has recently made great strides in terms of its growth and development. We chatted to John Kalenzi, Team Leader of AE Rwanda, as he told us about some of AE Rwanda’s inspiring development projects.
Having seen the devastation caused by Rwanda’s genocide, John is particularly passionate about AE’s role in bringing true reconciliation to the hearts of people.
He describes that, “Reconciliation is at the centre of everything we do as AE Rwanda… to reconcile people with God, and also to reconcile people among themselves. We want to make sure that we build on what the government has done to build… peace and a justice system. But the government can’t really do reconciliation very well, because reconciliation is the issue of the heart… and the issue of the heart is the work of Christian ministries like AE and the Church… It is only the Word of God that can make a difference when it comes to reconciliation”.
With the deep trauma that Rwanda has experienced, it is so important that reconciliation is not merely skin deep. John describes his desire to see reconciliation that not only “discourages the opening of hostilities”, but that actually heals human hearts.
To hear more about AE’s work in Rwanda, watch Ben Campbell’s recent interview with John Kalenzi here:
Understanding the influence of traditional healers in Africa
When he met Pastor Chikumba, Prince* was deeply troubled. Trapped in an extra-marital affair, Prince believed that his mistress had given him a love potion to make him her slave. Prince told the pastor that he was on his way to borrow money for his demanding mistress, and begged the pastor to refer him to a witchdoctor who could break the spell.
The traditional African worldview involves spirits and ancestors, and these are believed to influence all aspects of everyday life. African traditional healers are consulted for birth rituals, death rituals, and just about everything in between: illness, relationship problems and bad luck.
Traditional healers believe they are able to access guidance and exert power by calling upon ancestral spirits. And their influence on African people is profound.
Nearly 60% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa consult traditional healers, and our AE teams are all too familiar with the bondage of their spiritual practices. In Africa, many live in constant fear, and a lack of discipleship has often led to syncretism between Christianity and traditional beliefs. But the undiluted truth of the Gospel has the power to set captives free.
In many ways, African people are more aware of spiritual realities than we are. Perhaps that is why they are so open to faith. And for Prince, faith in Christ changed everything.
After being prayed for, Prince no longer felt compelled to give money to his mistress, and went home to his wife, Lynda*. Prince and Lynda have now joined Pastor Chikumba’s church, and are seeing ongoing restoration in their marriage and family. To Prince and Lynda, and to so many believers who call Africa home, the Gospel of Christ means true freedom, from real curses.
Reaching people like Prince and Lynda is our mission, and our privilege, at AE. As our partner, your prayers and generosity are bringing lives from darkness to light. From fear to love. And from captivity to freedom.
*Names changed for privacy
Not just COVID-19 has exponential growth. The Gospel does too.
AE’s home-based evangelism strategy encourages individuals across Africa to make use of their own social networks to share the Gospel. So far, over 2,500 people have been trained to share their personal testimonies via social media.
Nancy from the African Enterprise Kenya team has been so passionate about this opportunity that she’s shared the Gospel with over 300 people!
In Africa, amongst people so passionate for the Gospel, there truly is an exponential impact. Like no other place on earth, this passion has seen our young evangelists preach in buses, hospitals, marketplaces and wherever they find themselves.
This is why, in the past year, we saw 1.3 million people reached with the good news of Jesus in Africa.
Even during lockdown, people are trying to make sense of what is happening, and are still so receptive to the Gospel. Together, we aim to reach 900,000 people and train 6,000 evangelists to reach out in a COVID-safe way. Even during these times, we estimate that for every dollar we receive, we are able to reach at least three people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is all through the efforts of 11 small teams based across Africa, who multiply the Gospel’s impact by mobilising churches, volunteers and evangelists to reach into their cities in unity and strength. This is the way that we will grow the Kingdom of Heaven. As yeast makes its way through dough. Or as seed sown in good soil. The potential for growth is boundless.
“May He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness”
(2 Corinthians 9:10)
Reflections on Christianity’s growth in Africa
In 1900, there were less than 10 million Christians in Africa. Today, there are around 631 million. In 1900, only 9% of Africa’s population was Christian. That proportion has increased to nearly 50%.
For the first time in world history, more Christians live in Africa than on any other continent. Africa’s recent Christian growth can be attributed to African evangelism and high birth rates, rather than the influence of Western missionaries.
There is an ongoing need for Africa to steward its spiritual growth. In recent years, indigenous African religions have largely been replaced by, or integrated into, Christianity and Islam. Discipleship is critical to ensure that the Gospel is not distorted by traditional animistic beliefs, and that the continent does not bow to Islam.
In addition, the mobile internet age has not escaped the African continent. Although this provides opportunities for evangelism, it also increases vulnerability to the influence of secular culture.
Africa has the world’s youngest population, and the fastest population growth on the planet. By 2060, it is predicted that Sub-Saharan Africa will be home to more than 4 in 10 Christians. According to David McClendon of the Pew Research Center,
“if demography is destiny, then Christianity’s future lies in Africa”.
Africa’s discipleship is thus critical to the global future of our faith.
Missions in a COVID-19 world.
Our teams have refused to give up on the Great Commission, despite incredibly challenging circumstances in Africa.
Evangelism is the heartbeat of African Enterprise. We exist to share the eternal hope of the Gospel, and this hasn’t changed. In 2020, AE has developed a home-based evangelism (HBE) approach to share the Good News of Jesus, in spite of COVID restrictions.
The HBE model equips believers to share the Gospel with their families and neighbours, in a structured and effective way. The approach focuses on personal evangelism, on a large scale. Mission volunteers facilitate home gatherings, where a pre-recorded or live Gospel message is shared using television, radio, mobile phone or social media platforms. The Gospel broadcast is followed by a personal testimony and an invitation to follow Christ, extended by the HBE facilitator.
Between mid-April and July 2020, our AE teams trained 2,590 pastors and volunteers in the HBE approach, and have found the approach holds enormous potential for evangelism, as well as discipleship. For example, one church in Lukunga, DRC, was able to share Christ with at least 945 people, in multiple homes, on a single Sunday.
One mission volunteer in Kenya, Nancy, has shared the Gospel with over 300 people since the HBE approach was implemented there in May. When she shared the Gospel with a Facebook acquaintance, the 24-year old Margaret, Nancy had no idea that Margaret was suicidal. Nancy describes:
“I shared the Gospel and she made a commitment for salvation during one of our phone calls. The following day we met and from that time, we have created a relationship that is exceptional. It is wonderful to see the great transformation Christ has brought to this sister. She is now happy in the Lord. Today, as I see her smiling, I often have the sobering thought that, if the Gospel had not come her way, she would possibly not be alive!”
Our brothers and sisters in Africa are passionate for the cause of Christ, and our support means so much as they choose to “preach the word of God” and “be prepared, whether the time is favourable or not” (2 Timothy 4:2).
