Thank you for your prayers for our upcoming PAN-African Mission and 60th celebrations. Mission leader Lutangu Lubasi says that in his 40 years as a Christian, he’s never seen the churches mobilise like this in Lusaka. Over 300 churches are outreaching to some 300,000 people, and Lutangu is hoping to train 2400 missionaries from Lusaka itself and a further 600 from surrounding areas.
The fact that AE is celebrating its 60th anniversary has helped raise awareness for the Lusaka mission. This is a unique opportunity, and one that the Southern Africa region is very excited about. The team will be using stratified evangelism and seeking to reach people in a celebratory manner.
For the 60th Anniversary, we will have 60 days of prayer, using the word GOSPEL, we will take 60 days of prayer to celebrate 60 years of evangelism. Each letter represents 10 days of the mission.
G – Gratitude (Thanksgiving)
O – Open Heavens (Prayer/Intercession)
S – Social Action (Love in Action)
P – Proclamation (Citywide Mission)
E – Empowerment (Mentoring)
L – Loving New Believers (Discipleship)
The team has also been working on getting denominational leaders and people from senior levels of government involved. “We had a meeting for the top leaders of denominations, and it was just so exciting to see how these men of God came together,” says Lutangu. “Bishop Joe Imakando will be hosting the Lusaka mission, and he pledged $5,500 US dollars to help.”
Lutangu also believes that COVID has presented an opportunity to reach the lost, because people are asking very difficult questions about eternity. But AE also saw an opportunity to bring the whole church in the region of Zambia together.
One of the highlights of the mission is the upcoming National Prayer Breakfast, to which the President of Zambia and the President of Malawi have been invited. “We’ll be meeting these presidents to put our cares to them,” says Lutangu. “We are very excited to see what is unfolding.”
It’s our faithful AE supporters making it possible for us to engage with the people of Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The idea is to reach over a million people in the next five years, and this pan-African mission goes a long way towards involving leaders all across the country.
“It’s a perfect opportunity for me to just thank those that have been standing behind us and supporting us,” says Lutangu. “I feel very touched because we have not had an office in Zambia in the last fifty-nine years.”
“Like the Bible says, when we unite we can do so much more.”
African Enterprise has continued to offer PTC training to pastors and Gospel ministers in Africa. This course which is offered both online and in person has remained a treasured program by many. It enables the Gospel ministers to acquire knowledge that would make them be more effective in ministry.
The students in Kenya continued with the online study in 2021. It was not possible to conduct the in person studies due to COVID-19 restrictions. There were 33 students that remained active by conducting studies on various course and benefiting from the program. The course has remained an important tool in their ministry and remain grateful to the sacrifice done by many in sponsoring the program. There are other 61 that enrolled but have not been very active. We have encouraged them to resume their studies in 2022.
We are resuming the in person trainings in 2022. As part of 60th anniversary, AE Kenya is conducting a citywide mission in Mombasa as from 2nd- 12th June 2022, the second largest city in Kenya. Over the last three years, AE Kenya has been reaching the city with the Gospel targeting different zones. Currently there have 51 students that have enrolled for the PTC course. This number may rise to almost 70 as there are more students interested in the course. We want 60 students as per our 60th anniversary. The incorporation of the PTC course to the citywide mission will greatly help in the mobilization of Churches that otherwise they could have not participated in the mission. There are students from Churches that are not part of the pastors’ fellowship but when they heard about the program they have enrolled and they have since joined the planning of the mission. The Churches will participate in the mission with clearer understanding of the Bible thus producing reliable evangelists during the mission. We can confidently report that the PTC is indeed helping to spread the Gospel in Africa. Our first course will be as from 4th- 9th April 2022.
We will continue to share more stories and testimonies from Kenya on this amazing program that is transforming lives.
“The Program has been of tremendous in helping on reaching out/sharing the gospel as it has helped me to study the scripture thus knowing it better. 
Throughout PTC I have gained the basics of bible interpretation, am able to dissect Scripture and preach the word contextually/accurately.
Through PTC I have been equipped in defending of the word, by Interpreting Scripture correctly am able to give an answer to some difficult bible related question/texts that the unbelievers misinterpret or are unable to decode.
I have grown as a believer In Christ reading the word is easier since my understanding is sharpened. I am truly grateful for the opportunity and more specifically to individuals who give directly to AE in support of PTC. We are forever grateful. I can’t wait to dig deeper into the course.” – Derrick Muriithi
We will continue to share more stories and testimonies from Kenya on this amazing program that is transforming lives.
Many of you already know that AE is celebrating 60 years of evangelism in Africa this year! That’s why we are so excited to announce our brand-new initiative, the African Enterprise International Institute of Evangelism (AEIE).
There is a desperate need for theological training throughout Africa. Formal academic education is rare, and Bible teaching does not always have the correct Biblical foundation. To evangelise the body of Christ effectively, knowledge and training are essential.
Lack of support for Evangelists continues to have a negative impact on the church, and can lead to the preaching of a false gospel. An academic qualification is a requirement in most fields today; and Evangelists are not exempt.
That is why now is the right time to launch the African Enterprise Institute of Evangelism! This program will equip the church in Africa in evangelism and missions, multiply local evangelists and rollout stratified evangelism missions in every African country.
The program will take approximately four years to complete, and will train over 600 pastors from 12 countries in Preliminary and Advanced Evangelism. The objective is to provide a biblical foundation in evangelism while emphasizing the important of discipleship and strategies to continue with missions.
The story of Evangelism in Africa is deeply entwined with AE, and it was Dr Michael Cassidy’s passionate vision to see the continent won for Jesus. The first mission was launched in 1962, and its success is where our call was confirmed.
At AE, we consider every believer a witness. However, we recognize the importance of Evangelists who focus on the proclamation of the gospel and train others to do the same. We hope you are as excited as we are about this new initiative, and we thank you for your continued support and prayers!
Image: Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
The Lausanne Covenant, certainly one of the great faith statements in the whole history of the Church, was the outcome of the first congress on World Evangelisation in Lausanne in 1974. It was a Covenant entered into by over 3000 evangelical leaders from around the world. It also became enshrined in the constitution of AE International and all its teams as the key faith statement of this ministry.
The Covenant was basically the work of John Stott, but John put his first second and third versions to the whole congress for review, correction, subtraction, and addition, etc. So several thousand minds were in fact applied to John’s basic statement.
This makes it an extraordinary and highly historic document and maybe the most comprehensive faith statement in the history of the Christian Church.
From AE’s point of view the most key clauses are no.4 on The Nature of Evangelism and no.5 on Christian Social Responsibility. Everyone in our teams should know and understand these two clauses which first of all make it clear what evangelism is and what it is not. And secondly how Social Responsibility and Compassionate Action fit together with the evangelistic enterprise as two complementary wings of the same bird. In order to fly the bird must have both wings working properly. It was this bringing together of Evangelism and Social Action which emerged as perhaps the most distinctive theological contribution of the Lausanne movement to the World Church.
Read the Lausanne Covenant here
We are so excited to share an update with you about our Pastors Training Course (PTC) that is currently running in Kenya. It is such a privilege to partner with you in this ministry. You are helping empower students to influence the transformation of the church in Africa.
Alice Auma is a young teenager from Nairobi, who recently completed her PTC. She loved learning about the Old and New Testament, and the process allowed her to reflect deeply on how the laws of the Bible could be applied to her own life.
The lessons from the Old Testament stories of the Israelites being rescued from Egypt helped strengthen Alice’s faith to wait on God’s perfect timing. The New Testament helped her to understand the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made for all of us in dying on the cross for our sins.
“I have learnt how to spread the gospel to people of all different backgrounds,” says Alice. “And I also know how to interpret scripture and to distinguish between true and false prophets. I have really benefited from this course, and I thank Almighty God for allowing me to participate. It has changed me as a person.”
Jeff Wafula is a student at Mt Kenya University, and says that completing his PTC was the best thing that happened to him in 2021. The course content and teachings have transformed his life.
Going through the Bible so thoroughly has helped Jeff to equip himself with knowledge and a better understanding of Biblical principles. It shaped the way he viewed the scriptures, and brought him into a closer relationship with God.
“Since doing PTC, I can handle many different situations and people,” Jeff says. “Through the Bible teachings, I have understood the word better, and am able to share with people whenever I get the chance.”
AE is looking forward to teaching more PTC courses, and equipping students just like Alice and Jeff to become church leaders and proclaim the good news of the Gospel throughout Africa.
In the time and reign of Idi Amin in Uganda (1971 – 1979), the challenges to Bishop Festo Kivengere (AE East African Team Leader and Co- Leader with Michael of AE) and the churches other Bishops were immense and frightening. Amin became one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th Century and some 400 000 people were slaughtered during his reign. He started out looking like a benevolent dictator and Festo and the other Bishops sort of tolerated him but gradually he became more and more brutal and he made life cheaper and cheaper.
Those who opposed him were ruthlessly assassinated and multitudes “were disappeared”, as locals put it. So the major requirement in Festo, other Bishops and the Church as a whole was courage in facing the dictator’s threat. All of this raised very acutely the assorted issues relating to Church and State. And how long and how far the Church continues as per Romans 13:1, to “submit to the powers that be.” Clearly Festo could not sanction revolution or attempt to see the dictator overthrown violently, but clearly they had to figure out at what point the Church could no longer sanction submission to state brutality. Festo and his colleagues knew that Jesus had said “render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God’s.”(Mark 12:17) The challenge for Festo and others was to discern at what point Caesar was asking people to render to himself the things that were God’s. In early 1980 Archbishop Janani Luwum (who was also AE’s Ugandan chairman), Festo and the other Anglican Bishops drew up a very bold document challenging Amin about his behaviour and where he was taking the country. This infuriated Amin and he ordered the assassination of Lawum in cold blood. It was clear that Festo had now become no. 1 on Amin’s hit list and all the local Christian brethren urged Festo and Mera to flee at once. This they did through forest tracks leading to the base of the mountains separating Uganda from Rwanda. Festo and Mera courageously trekked up the mountainsides during the night till finally they crossed the border into Rwanda where they received a huge welcome.
Festo and Mera then went through to our office in Nairobi which they found flooded with Ugandan exiles and cries for help. The new challenge now was to Festo’s heart and conscience as to what his response would be to these exiles. Because Festo was so well known and so well loved these exiles turned to him and to AE rather than to major aid agencies. There and then effectively, Festo and AE Kenya / Unganda launched RETURN (Relief, Education and Training for Ugandan Refugees Now). In the end this program ran for several years and AE funded over 300 International University scholarships for Refugees who qualified. Some later ended up in new governments in Uganda and felt they owed much to AE.
Festo and Mera then travelled on via London to AE’s office in California. But in London Festo faced and awesome spiritual challenge in terms of his attitude as a Christian to Idi Amin who had terrorised his country, sought to kill him personally and driven him and his wife into exile. In a Good Friday service at John Stott’s All Souls Church, Langham Place , London, Festo and Mera attended a Good Friday service. Festo’s heart was filled with bitterness, almost hatred, towards Idi Amin but in the sermon Festo heard Jesus’s words from the cross: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Festo then heard the voice of the Lord saying to him: “My son, if Amin had been in that circle of soldiers crucifying me, would I have said ‘Father, forgive them all, except this big Ugandan below me.’” Festo’s response became determinative for the rest of his life as he responded to Jesus saying “Lord, I am here and now forgiving Idi Amin.” Immediately he felt a huge release in his soul and he was flooded with the joy and peace of the Lord.
For the rest of Festo’s days the message of forgiveness and reconciliation became even more central to his whole life and being and ministry. His new posture even led him into writing a small book called I love Idi Amin. A reporter in a press conference asked him how on earth he could write a book with this title. Replied Festo: “I may not like Idi Amin but if I am a Christian believer I am obliged to forgive him, love him with Christ’s love, and want the highest and best for his life.”
Another reporter asked: “If you were standing face to face with Amin, and someone gave you a revolver, what would you do?” “Well,” replied Festo, “I would hand the revolver back and say this is not my weapon. My weapon is love.”
The next big challenge Festo faced in conjunction with our USA board was to be practical and raise vast sums of money for the ever developing needs in Uganda. Warwick Olson, then director of AE, Australia, proceeded to launch and AE office first in Australia and then in UK though which these Ugandan monies could be channelled to the needs back in that country. Through these years of Festo’s exile from Uganda Michael travelled with him in many places ranging from USA and Canada through to Australia, several countries of Latin America, Egypt, Liberia (West Africa), and even South Africa. Festo’s message of love and forgiveness melted hearts everywhere and Michael felt ever after the immensity of the privilege he had had of ministering around the world with this great brother.
Festo died from Leukaemia in 1988 and he and Michael had a very poignant time together in their last meeting in a Nairobi hospital. Michael and most of the other team leaders and board chairs travelled in a chartered plane with Festo’s coffin back to Uganda for the funeral in Namirembe Cathedral where Michael was one of the main speakers.
