Awakening the ‘Christian Continent’ to Missions!
Population: 1,460,481,772
% Urban: 43.9 %
Languages: 2,110
Countries: 53
% Christian: 48.8 %
% Evangelical: 18%
UPGs. 867
Christians: Over 700 Million
Muslims: Over 500 Million.
1. Africa’s Amazing Growth!
We praise God for the amazing growth of Christianity in Africa. Christianity has grown to become the religion of almost half of Africa’s population, and nearly two-thirds of sub-Saharan Africa.
- From 1900 to 2010, Christian numbers grew from 9.1% of the population to 48.8%, and from 7.5 million to 504 million.
- According to the World Christian database, as of mid 2023 there are 718,096,000 Christians.
- Evangelical growth has been even more spectacular. From 1.6 million (1.5%), in1900, to exceed 200 million and approach 20% of the population!
- Of the world’s Evangelical Christians, over 33% live in Africa – very possible that within our lifetime, over half of the world’s Evangelicals will be from Africa.
- Third Wave Pentecostal groups, strongly evangelical, have become a major element in the African Church.
- They are strong on the Scriptures and outreach, expectant of miracles, fervent in prayer and courageous against the powers of darkness.
- Countries experienced significant growth in the Church – include Ethiopia, Sudan, Benin, Nigeria, Algeria, Mozambique and Angola, just to name a few.
- Pray that the spiritual vibrancy of Africa’s believers will spread to the rest of the world’s Christians.
2. Africa’s Historical Role in Christianity.
The New Testament highlights three Africans who played an important part in the Biblical narrative: Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus’ cross (Mark15:21), the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8), and Apollos who partnered with Paul in sharing the gospel, was from Alexandria––a major city in Egypt (Acts 18).
Also the founders and two of the key leaders of the Missionary Sending Church of Antioch (Acts 13:1), Simeon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene (North Africa) were from North Africa region.
North African church fathers also played a significant role in laying the theological groundwork for the early church, as evidenced by African theologians such as Athanasius of Alexandria (Egypt), Augustine of Hippo (Algeria), and Tertullian of Carthage (Tunisia) to name a few.
In the modern history of Africa, Missionaries from the West played the pioneer role in taking the Gospel to the rest of Africa. The Church today owes a ‘missionary debt’ to follow the same example to reach the Unreached.
Let us pray that God will raise the modern day African Church leaders and Churches not only to impact Africa, but nations around the World through their missional vision.
3. Africans and Prayer.
The African Prayer movements have a remarkable impact in Africa.
The Global Day of Prayer originated in Cape Town and other prayer movements involve millions of Christians in intense prayer. Some all-night prayer meetings attract an average of 500,000 and the familiarity of Africans with the reality of spiritual warfare, and their willingness to faithfully put in many hours of intercession, are possibly the most significant factors in the remarkable church growth on this continent.
- Pray for continued commitment to sustained intercession, and for the rest of the global Church to learn from this wonderful example.
- Pray also for Missions Intercession to take priority over other needs and pray Jesus’ prayer of Luke 10:2: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
- Pray for the release of laborers from Africa to nations which are unreached!
4. Africa and Missions.
We must pray that God will raise up ‘Missional Antioch Leaders’ from Africa again who can lead the greatest Missionary movement from Africa to all the Nations of the earth!
“I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
Isaiah 49:6,8.
“Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall worship, Because of the Lord who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel; And He has chosen You.”
5. The North Africa Challenge.
While God has been moving in a marvelous way in sub Shara Africa nations, the Churches in these nations have not moved out with the Gospel to North Africa which is a majority Muslim region.
As a result, Islam is the major challenge for Christianity today — both the 230 million Muslims north of the Sahara and the 325 million in sub-Saharan Africa.
The “race” to win peoples to Christ from the traditional religions in West Africa and across the Sahel has largely been lost; most have been Islamized, even if only superficially. More recently, Muslim missionary efforts have extended to nearly every country in Africa, and in many places, especially in Central Africa, they are very successful.
The Evangelical missions’ ‘Movement for African National Initiatives’, a pan-African mission mobilizing and networking movement to send thousands of missionaries in the next 15 years. Several other nations have similar long-term mobilizing plans for raising up missionaries and reaching the unreached in their own countries.
However, among the Pentecostals, the Missionary vision is slow in growth.
6. The Assemblies of God Africa Missions.
The 50 National Churches making up the Africa Assemblies of God Alliance (AAGA) are mobilizing to reach the unreached people and places of Africa and the world with the gospel before the soon coming of Christ. The AAGA World Missions Commission (AAGA-WMC) agency was created and mandated by AAGA “to facilitate and encourage the missionary enterprises of national churches across Africa ‘by every means possible.”
The Decade of Pentecost Vision (2010-2020) emphasized the Spirit empowered Missions through their Acts 1:8 Conferences. AAGA-related national churches have committed themselves to plant over 40,000 new churches and win 9 million individuals and to deploy 1,000 new cross-cultural missionaries and reaching 139 specific unreached people groups in Africa.
Although all the nations have not embraced this missionary vision, West African countries like Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast have been pioneers in sending hundreds of Missionaries – mainly to their neighboring Muslim nations and North African nations.
Pray:
- Pray that the Assemblies of God Churches in Sub-Sahara African nations will seriously reflect on their failure in the mission to North Africa and that they will mobilize prayer, resources and personnel to ‘send out’ to North Africa Nations.
- Pray that all AAGA Churches will take ownership of reaching North Africa nations.
- Pray that the larger nations with significant Churches and members will heed the ‘Antioch Call’ and send missionaries to other nations.
- Pray for the AAGA Missions Commission Leaders that God will anoint and guide them in this bold endeavor.
- Pray for a radical movement of missional churches to be raised in Africa:
“And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written:
Romans 15:20
“To whom He was not announced, they shall see;
And those who have not heard shall understand.
Sources:
Operation World – Africa
Decade of Pentecost – Power of Missions – Denzil Miller.
Africa’s Missionary Force in Missions.
Christianity in its Global Context.
World Christian Encyclopedia.