Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – Movement for African National Initiatives 2006: Uniting African Church Leaders
By Chacko Thomas
May 2006
One of the sessions under the “Critical Issues and Challenges” workshops addressed a topic that is not usually addressed at a missions conference. “Discipleship: Deepening and Enhancing the Quality of Christianity in Africa in the Twenty-first Century” was taken by Dr. Obed. His book, Mobilising the African Church into Missions, is one of the tools George Verwer uses in Missions Mobilisation Network. Other issues such as Islam, poverty, HIV/AIDS, corruption, leadership, children and women were also discussed. There was a strong sense that the Church, not the government, was the answer to transforming Africa. Dr. Reuben Ezemadu, director of Christian Missionary Foundation in Nigeria and the MANI regional leader for English-speaking West Africa, also spoke. He shared that the name “Africa” is of Celtic origin and means “pleasing” or “pleasant.” He shared that there are five hundred references to Africa in the Bible. Reading Isaiah 19:23-25 (which speaks of a “highway from Africa to the Middle East”), Dr. Ezemadu pointed out that “the Church in Africa will play a key role in the discipling of the Middle East in the twenty-first century.”
Sitting next to me for most of the conference was a brother from North Africa. Kamal oversees four hundred missionaries who work in the Middle East and North Africa. Asked to speak on the Arab World, Kamal’s presentation on many of the countries in this area was a great encouragement and challenge for the African Church to meet the many spiritual needs of the Arab World. My own role at the conference was to network with many of my African brothers and sisters. I was glad to see that five hundred copies of an article (“12 Ways to Be an Effective Mission Mobiliser” by George Verwer) I placed at the literature table were gone in three days. I also left a few copies of “I Have Come to Help You Die,” the story of my 17-year-old son Sunil, who went to be with the Lord in 2003. I also met many people from various countries in Africa who were faithfully serving the Lord.
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Inner Workings of MANI 2006
Our host for MANI 2006 was the newly-formed organisation “Finish The Task” (FTT). Campbell reminded us that the organisation was a result of an embarrassment the Kenyan delegation faced at a World Evangelical Alliance conference held in Malaysia. They were told at the conference that there were nearly twenty unreached peoples in their country. The Kenyan leaders responded, “Never again shall we be told that there are unreached people groups in our country.” Upon their return they formed the FTT, which in a few years succeeded in engaging each of the unreached groups. Today the Church is growing among each of these groups.
Just before the closing worship, our African brothers and sisters honoured Campbell and his wife Avrille for their forty years of service to Africa. The Campbells came from New Zealand as WEC missionaries to Ghana. Since the early 1990s they have also been partnering with AD2000 and Beyond in mobilising the African continent toward its goals to have “a church for every people and the gospel for every person.” The work included visiting each country in Africa. One year he visited thirty-eight countries. The Campbell’s hard work has been greatly blessed and they can now look back and see a continent deeply committed to missions. There are multiplied numbers of missions leaders and missionaries coming from every African nation to complete the task of missions into all Africa and beyond.
As many came forward to thank the Campbells, they confessed that the honour belonged to God. Ross said, “To God be the Glory. He will not share his glory with another. He is a jealous God.” He handed over the responsibility of the continental co-ordinator role to Dr. Ezemadu and a team of seven regional coordinators. At their request, Campbell will remain as a consultant for Movement of African National Initiatives.
Just as I was bringing this report to a close, I received an email from Dr. Ezemadu that was addressed to the global partners at the MANI 2006. He writes, “We give glory to the Lord for the success of the just concluded MANI 2006 consultation. The feedback from participants has been very encouraging. We are very grateful too for your presence, support and encouragement in several ways…We will continue to value your partnership especially as we understand that whatever the African Church can and will do in this bid to make her own contribution to world evangelization, will be a supplement to, and not in isolation from what the global Church is doing. We are excited about this new dawn of partnership and look forward to the rapid results that will now attend our joint efforts in world evangelization.”
I thank God for MANI, for what I have seen, heard and felt. I thank God for this new breed of African Christian leaders. God is indeed blessing the world through the African Church. And this is only the beginning.
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Chacko Thomas is coordinator of Missions Mobilisation Network (MMN). He is also a missionary with Operation Mobilisation, having served in India, and on three of OM’s ships, the Logos, Doulos and the Logos ll, in various ministry and leadership roles. |
