African Evangelistic Enterprise Uganda (AEE-U) has been doing urban evangelism for more than 45 years.
This year’s Makindye mission which took place from 22 – 29 November 2020 was greatly affected by the global pandemic. In Uganda, severe lockdowns paralyzed every sector of the country, including limiting gatherings such as church congregations.
Where AE Uganda would normally receive funding and support from various churches, now churches themselves needed support to reopen after a long period of lockdown. This in turn forced a scale down on the mission field and reevaluation of the mission strategy. AE Uganda had various ideas but after meeting with police and the security agencies enforcing the COVID-19 restrictions, only door-to-door evangelism was approved.
The Makindye mission kicked off with prayer sessions held on Friday 20/11/20 at Gospel Messenger Church led by Bishop Mitchel Mukasa. It attracted over 90 Church leaders and evangelists who sang praises and prayed over Makindye Division.
As usual, trainings were carried out as a way of preparing for the proclamation and subsequently discipleship of new converts. From the 22nd to 28th November, many foot soldiers were moving in different places, homes, workplaces markets and many other places with the aim of sharing the Good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The mission ground was divided into four (4) Zones. The zonal evangelists were fully trained and prepared for the proclamation week. Each zone had on average 35 evangelists each day who were strong enough and courageous to go out there and share their faith and good news of Our Jesus Christ despite the continued growing numbers of COVID 19 patients in our country. This brought the total number to between 100 and 140 evangelists who took up this mantle with courage.
By the end of the mission, 7,041 people had been reached by the good news, out of which 1,378 made commitments to accepted Christ as their lord and savior and re-commitments to salvation.
On the 2nd of December a post mission meeting was held with coordinators from each zone to discuss effective follow up and how the churches and evangelists can continue to encourage those that made commitments. The meeting was ended with a plan in place for all new believers to receive regular phone calls, messages and encouragement from nearby churches and evangelists.
Testimony from the mission field – Nagudi Doreen
Nagudi’s had to drop out of school at a young age and started helping others with house chores in Kampala for an income. She often suffered from epileptic fits at work, this used to upset her employer tremendously and resulted in them casting her out of their house.
No one wanted to employ Nagudi because of her epileptic seizures and she had no other option but to start begging on the street. During one of her epileptic fits, a Pastor from a nearby church picked her up and took her back to church where he could pray for her.
Nagudi stayed at the church for over 3 months. With the Makindye mission preparation in full swing, many evangelists were stationed at the church getting ready for door to door evangelism. Nagudi desired to go out and spread the gospel but others were not so sure if she should do it because of her epileptic fits. On the second day of Mission, she approached Brian who was a coordinator for the region and requested to be part of the team.
Brian allowed her to take part and when she returned from the field she had a dream with a voice telling her to keep it up her healing would follow. She stepped out in faith, knowing that God had a plan and a calling for her life and with God she could overcome any obstacle in her way.
Our much loved AE Zimbabwe Team Leader and his family process the loss of their home
2020 has been a difficult year for Guide Makore, our AE Zimbabwe Team Leader. On the 19th of October, Guide and his family lost their home in a house fire. Since then, Guide, Forgiveness and their 5 children have been slowly rebuilding their lives.
The family is processing the loss of their home, and the trauma of the incident, with the help of counselling. Forgiveness and the children have been experiencing nightmares, while Guide has been struggling with a burden of false guilt, as he ponders how he could have prevented the family’s loss. Guide mentioned that even their young baby has been unsettled, as if she has been sensing the distress of her family members.
Following their loss, churches, Christian organisations and individuals have rallied to support Guide and family both emotionally, spiritually and financially. Guide has been keeping a record of gifts and donations received, and the family are so grateful.
After losing their home, Guide and family initially stayed with friends, before temporarily moving into the AE Zimbabwe office. The family have currently secured another interim residence, as they begin the process of rebuilding their home.
Guide and Forgiveness have asked us to convey their gratitude to all of our supporters who have given so generously to help them rebuilt and to those who are keeping the Makore family in their prayers. Please continue to pray for Guide and his family during this challenging time.
Featured Photo – Guide and Family (Guide, Privillage, Forgiveness, Giovanna, Genius , Graham & Elshaddai is missing on this photo)
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
Prayer is such an important part of supporting African Enterprise. It’s one of the gifts you can give Africa – your time in prayer. And Africa needs your prayers now more than ever.
A couple of months ago when we compiled our Prayer Diary for May, June and July, we did not know the challenges that we would be facing. As always we look at our calendar and prepare the prayer points around the mission activities happening during that month. This time however, what we planned three months ago has changed enormously from what we are currently facing. The number of coronavirus infections are increasing drastically daily in Africa and more than ever we need to pray for our teams and the people in Africa.
As our CEO, Ben Campbell mentioned in the Prayer Diary:
“Please pray especially for the vulnerable refugee populations, and other marginalised communities, that have less access to help. In all things, our hope and confidence remain firmly in the Lord! As Isaiah 40:31 (NIV) says: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” May God bless, strengthen and encourage you today, as you continue to pray for the salvation and healing of people in Africa. “
Throughout June and July, please join with us in prayer for all of our AE Teams. They are all facing unprecedented times. We will keep you up to date with all the latest articles and responses from our teams as far as possible on our website and facebook page.
Updated prayer requests will also be uploaded to the PrayerMate App.
We are also in the last few days of our Prayer and Fasting Season ending on Pentecost Sunday with a Global Day of Prayer.
Additionally, let us know if you are interested in starting or joining a prayer group. It can be among you and your friends, families, colleagues or members of your church. You can meet face to face or online and as frequent as you want. Let’s gather in the name of Jesus and pray for Africa. Please send an email directly to ae@aeint.org if you would like to be part of or to start a prayer group.
Thank you for spending time in prayer for African Enterprise.
Ramadan.
During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (24 April-23 May this year) – where practicing Muslims will express their devotion to God by not eating or drinking anything during daylight hours – let us bring the Muslims of Africa in prayer before God. It is estimated that up to 40% of Africans identify as Muslim, most of these living in the north.
Over the past few years African Enterprise has been quietly working out a strategic approach to reach those Muslims in areas that are completely closed to Western Missionaries, or indeed to any overt evangelism. AE wants to see Sub-Saharan African Christians engaged to reach out with the gospel to these hard to reach groups.
There are three prongs to this strategy:
- Stimulating Sub-Saharan African churches and Christian leaders to engage with the North African mission field by promoting awareness of the need to evangelize North Africa. We call it the South to North African Partnership (S2NAP).
- Mobilizing and equipping Sub-Saharan African students for ministry in North Africa. This includes taking small groups for short-term mission trips to meet with key partners in these countries. Under God, it is hoped that they will then be called to long term mission work in these areas.
- Lastly, encouraging the leaders in North African Church by fellowship, prayer and some practical assistance. These faithful leaders often operate in insecure environments and various levels of persecution. Yet as locals they are the most effective in proclaiming the gospel in the long run.
While the pandemic has interrupted some of the formal training at the moment, will you support this work by praying for Muslims in Africa?
Please pray
- That Muslim-background believers will be protected and preserved in their faith. As in many other parts of the world, those who leave Islam are often persecuted.
- Pray for Christian leaders in North Africa to be strengthened in their faith and be given reminders of God’s sustaining them (Isaiah 46:4)
- The most important night of Ramadan is the Night of Power (Tues 19 May this year) where worshipping God has more merit than the rest of the year put together. Many Muslims hope and expect to see visions.
- Pray that they would experience Jesus during this time.
- Pray for African church leaders not to respond to Muslims with fear, but rather with confidence because apart from Jesus “there is no other name under heaven by which people may be saved” (Acts 4:12). Pray they may encourage their flock to be ambassadors for the gospel to their Muslim neighbours.
- For the work of S2NAP to be effective in making the gospel known, and for those who have received training to pursue their studies even in lockdown.
