MISSION SUMMARY 2017
W W W. A F R I C A N E N T E R P R I S E . C O M . A U
1,138,856 Africans Impacted by the Gospel!
Lusaka Leadership Mission Zambia
Malindi Mission Kenya
Kakamega Mission Uganda
Dessie Mission Ethiopia Yours in Christ,
People were reached with the Gospel through Mission Outreach
People were reached with the Gospel through Community Development Projects
People committed their lives to Christ though Mission Outreach
People committed their lives to Christ though Community Development Projects
595,737
543,119
83,181
14,824
Lubumbashi Mission DRC
In 2017...
women, and church leaders. 30 years ago, AE’s founder, Michael Cassidy, and his team at African Enterprise held city missions in Lusaka and Ndola, and there are many in Zambia’s churches who still remember those missions with great favour. During our 2017 mission, hundreds of Zambian civil servants, cabinet members, business leaders and more were challenged to put God at the centre of everything. These were just two of our missions this year, but all year, every day, we at African Enterprise have been following the Great Commission through outreach, mission, social action, preaching, campaigning and counseling. Thank you for your vital role in that work. We could not do it without you.
Accra Mission Ghana
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YOUR PRAYERS, GIFTS, WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND FAITHFULNESS TO THE GOSPEL HAVE MEANT THAT 1,138,856 OF AFRICA’S PEOPLE HAVE HEARD THE GOOD NEWS OF CHRIST.
Kicukiro Mission Rwanda
This mission epitomized the stratified evangelism model of African Enterprise, and demonstrated how powerful the body of Christ is when it works together for the Kingdom. Because of that unity among believers in the Gospel,18,908 were saved during that mission. From there we traveled to Lusaka, Zambia, where we renewed an old partnership with the churches of Zambia through a Leadership Initiative targeting the city’s leaders – from lawyers, politicians and lecturers, to youth,
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Dear friends, I would like to echo the words of Paul the Apostle to the Romans in saying, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Just as Paul was thankful for the faith and support of the Roman church, so I am thankful for the faith and support that YOU have given to African Enterprise this year. Your prayers, gifts, words of encouragement and faithfulness to the Gospel have meant that 1,138,856 of Africa’s people have heard the good news of Christ. From Kigali, Rwanda, to Malindi, Kenya, from Accra, Ghana to Dessie Ethiopia, we have traversed the continent with the Gospel. Together, we have accomplished much for Christ’s Kingdom. In no place were these accomplishments better seen than in Kampala, where we held our biggest mission of the year, and where we saw God increasing the harvest day after day. The Kampala Mission was a collaboration of immense scale, drawing on dedicated AE workers from all our global offices as hundreds of volunteer evangelists gathered to engage in Gospel work that week. AE Leaders from all 10 of our African countries, and from support offices in Europe and America, flew to Kampala and toiled non-stop for Christ. From cleaning out gutters, talking to people on the street, marching through the towns behind a brass band proclaiming the name of Jesus, to preaching at meetings with the city’s government, entering prisons, and teaching in schools: there was nowhere our AE evangelists wouldn’t go.
Reverse Mission, Tunisia (Ongoing)
FROM STEPHEN MBOGO
South Sudan Leadership Initiative (Ongoing)
A Greeting
Our Reach Keeps Increasing! We are praising God for you, our partner in the Gospel. Because of your faithfulness our ministry reach continues to increase year on year!
Thank you! 2015
2016
2017
# Reached and Saved over three years
Our Passion for Reaching the Lost...
African Enterprise has been proclaiming the Gospel in Africa for over 50 years! We’re passionate about reaching the major cities of Africa with the Gospel because we believe that all people – from street children to presidents – need to hear and be changed by the Gospel! Our ministry reaches over 1 Million people each year with the good news of Christ.
Join us and watch God change the continent of Africa forever.
As the Disciples of Old
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MY LIFE WAS GOING ON A DOWNWARD SPIRAL AND I DID NOT KNOW HOW TO STOP IT.
KAMPALA CITY-WIDE MISSION - UGANDA In recent years, Uganda has experienced political unrest which has uniquely affected Kampala, the nation’s capital. Politicians have become plagued with controversy and corruption and the church has often struggled to affect reasonable change. During the Kampala City-wide Mission, AE reached out to the political and social leaders of Uganda, challenging them to lead in righteousness and with godly values. We mobilised local churches and encouraged them to rise to the call of the Great Commission by bringing the Gospel to their neighbours. During our week-long outreach, every corner of Kampala’s Central and Nakawa divisions were saturated with the Gospel from slums to the office blocks!
Everything was working in his favour. But then, Innocent’s step-mother started taking his tuition money for herself. Innocent was faced with a decision. He couldn’t confront her, and he could not afford the fees on his own, so he dropped out of school. “I was getting fairly good money from my small businesses but not enough for the tuition fees, I did not see the need to stay in school,” he said. He got himself a girlfriend, and it wasn’t long before they started living together. Money became even tighter. “Since she was now living with me, I had to fend for both her and me,” Innocent said. Life became more and more frustrating and it wasn’t long before he turned to drinking. “I became so dependent on alcohol that I could not function without it,” Innocent admits. He soon became addicted. His girlfriend left him, his friends started distancing themselves from him, and his business soon fell to pieces. In a panic, his father tried to convince him to join the army instead of wasting his life. But Innocent wouldn’t listen. “My life was going on a downward spiral and I did not know how to stop it,” he said. “I felt trapped and I needed an escape.”
It was in this state of despair that Innocent met a group of African Enterprise’s evangelists. It was the first day of the mission, early in the morning and Innocent was already drunk at a local pub. “His eyes were red and he looked scary,” one of the evangelists recalled. “We preached the Gospel to him and his friends and two of them accepted Christ!”. “That was the day I felt hope in my heart again,” Innocent said. As with the Disciples of old, Innocent dropped everything and followed the team as they visited and preached to others throughout the day. At the end of the week the change in Innocent’s life was so evident that the pub owner was calling on other evangelists to come minister at his pub! The mission team helped Innocent reconnect with his Father who was thrilled to hear that his prodigal son had come home.
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I AM POSITIVE THAT GOD WILL DO A NEW THING IN MY LIFE
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nnocent’s life was going well: he finished high-school, started his degree at Makerere University – one of the best in Uganda – and his father had agreed to help pay his tuition fees. Innocent even started a small business on the side, to make himself a bit of extra money.
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Innocent is currently being discipled in a local church and they are assisting him in restarting University. “I am positive that God will do a new thing in my life,” Innocent said. “I know he will help me completely overcome alcoholism and even restore the relationships I lost due to my addiction. “Thank you AE for allowing God to use you in my life.”
Skills Training
for Vulnerable Women
HOLISTIC HEALING : GRACE’S STORY
race Yesaya is already a widow at age 39. She has also been left to care for her brother’s four children, because he and his wife have both died. Without the support of a husband, and the heavy responsibility of so many children to care for, Grace struggled through life alone. But at the start of 2017, she got a life-changing opportunity and became one of 22 new recruits in African Enterprise’s Malawi’s Vulnerable Women program, a six month course in tailoring. “Coming here is a great opportunity for me because it is going to open new doors for me and the children that rely on me.” she said. “I have hope that whatever new skills I gain will impact my life greatly. I hope to start a tailoring business after I graduate which would be a huge blessing to me and my family.” Many of the women on the course were identified by AE’s partners and churches – all come from vulnerable backgrounds and are in desperate need of assistance. Through AE, they learn a variety of skills, including how to identify the best fabrics, how to match colours, sew zips and join pieces of cloth into garments. Grace excitedly listed all the things she has learned so far. “From the day I joined this school, I and my friends have managed to learn all the parts of a sewing machine, how to run the machine, how to attach a zip on a cloth and many other things,” she said.
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AE GHANA AE MALAWI
AE KENYA
94 Women Transformed
In 2017, 94 women in three countries were given the chance at a new life. These women had either been prostitutes, been abandoned by their husbands, or had very few opportunities to make a good life for themselves. Now, because of you these 94 women can look to the future with hope and thankfulness in Christ.
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AS A CLASS, WE HAVE THE PRIVILEGE TO SHARE OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND IDEAS AMONG OURSELVES AND ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER IN THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE GONE THROUGH BEFORE WE CAME HERE.
But this course is so much more than a set of sewing lessons; it is an experience that encompasses all of life, creating a time and place for women from difficult backgrounds to be healed, transformed and empowered. “As a class, we have the privilege to share our personal experiences and ideas among ourselves and encourage one another in the things which we have gone through before we came here.” A great amount of work goes into this multifaceted program. Supplies are purchased by the sewing school matron, and all students get involved in the daily cleaning of the school building – a task which fosters a love for the environment in which they learn. There are devotions each morning and evening, and breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided. The women spend all their time together and form deep bonds through their learning, sharing and healing. Many of them receive personal counselling and guidance for individual problems. They receive instruction on caring for their bodies and their homes, form new friendships, gain sewing skills and, most importantly, get the opportunity to meet the God who cares about them. Watch our video resources for this and other projects on our YouTube Channel. Simply search African Enterprise International.
A New Path Just in Time eshon had always promised himself that he shown and speak with would make a better life for his children than someone. All thoughts the one that was afforded to him. Raised in a of suicide forgotten, he Lusaka slum, Geshon was never able to go to school. rushed back to speak As he watched his friends pass by every day on their to the ministers. As way to school, he was painfully aware that he would they prayed with him, never be able to improve his position in life. Geshon surrendered Geshon tried his hand at many small businesses his life to Christ and but none worked out as he’d hoped. He eventually handed over his bottle of met and married Jane and together they agreed that poison. education would be a priority for their children. But The following day, the mission several years on with five new mouths to feed they evangelists visited him in his home to counsel him in his struggled to provide new faith. Jane was even the basic moved by seeing I FELT THE VALUE OF MY LIFE SLOWLY BEING necessities, let alone such a change in REPLACED WITH HEARTACHE. EVENTUALLY, I FELT her husband and an education. The little shop they decided to dedicate IT WOULD BE BETTER IF I WERE DEAD.” had started to try to her life to Christ as earn more money was not doing well and Geshon well. was growing discouraged. “I’m thankful that God prompted me to turn back “I felt like a failure,” Geshon said. “I couldn’t before it was too late.” Geshon said. “I feel like a understand why I’ve struggled so much. I felt the heavy burden has been lifted from my life and I am value of my life slowly being replaced with heartache. grateful that I took a new path in the nick of time. I Eventually, I felt it would be better if I were dead.” believe that was God’s way of calling me to Himself Geshon began to plan his suicide deciding to buy and showing me that He loves me.” poison and travel far from town to drink it so his family The couple is optimistic about the future and are would not have the burden of paying for his burial. thankful for their new knowledge of Christ. Geshon When the fateful day had arrived he walked to the was so enthusiastic about his new-found faith that shop to buy the poison and was surprised to find that he joined the mission team in the following days the cost of it left him with no money to leave the area. and helped them assemble equipment for further Distressed, he wandered around aimlessly and Jesus Film screenings. He also shared his testimony. stumbled upon a screening of the Jesus Film as an “I want others to be transformed in the same way outreach of the Lusaka Leadership Initiative. He stood I have been.” watching the film to the end and then left to carry Please pray for Geshon and Jane as they begin out his plan. their new lives in Christ. The AE team have introduced But as Geshon opened the bottle of poison, he was them to a local church where they will attend struck by the meaning of the film he had just seen. He discipleship courses. Pray that God provides for their felt a conviction to go back where the film had been every need and that their hearts remain strong in the knowledge of God’s love.
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In 1991, the first democratically elected Zambian President, Frederick Chiluba, dedicated the nation to Christ. “I declare”, Chiluba said, “that Zambia is a Christian nation that will seek to be governed by the righteous principles of the Word of God. Righteousness and justice must prevail in all levels of authority and then we shall see the righteousness of God exalted in Zambia. …The time of corruption and bribery is over.” Sadly, 26 years on, corruption is at an all-time high in Zambia. In 2014, it was estimated that 78% of all business transactions involved a bribe payment. Zambia is a nation that has forgotten where the roots of its democracy were planted; in the good soil of integrity. This year, African Enterprise challenged the leadership of Zambia to return to their roots and let justice and righteousness prevail. Leaders from all walks of life were gathered together and challenged to submit their lives and their industries to the Lordship of Christ. Over the course of a week, government officials, business executives, media personalities, medical personnel and more heard the simple truth of the Gospel. They were challenged to be shining beacons of integrity in a nation darkened by corruption. Many hearts were changed and we in AE are excited about what God is beginning to do in this nation. But the leaders of Zambia were not the only ones who heard the Gospel that week...
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LUSAKA MISSION - ZAMBIA
Reverse Mission
PASTOR JEAN
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astor Jean has been ministering in Tunisia for “If we are to believe in the future of the church in Tunisia, over 17 years and he’s passionate about reaching we must train evangelists,” said Jean. “Very few Christians Tunisians with the truth of Christ. African Enterprise here are trained yet there is so much potential. is proud to be partnering with Jean and his church. Together, I have witnessed people coming to know the Lord and we’re challenging Sub-Saharan Church Leaders to see the though it is not many, it is happening across Tunisia. I have urgent need for the Gospel in North Africa and mobilising even had the pleasure of baptising some of them!” them to make an impact. With the suspicion of Westerners IF WE ARE TO BELIEVE IN THE FUTURE “I came to Tunisia in 1997 being very strong in Tunisia, and OF THE CHURCH IN TUNISIA, WE MUST to study.” Jean said. “I knew with great barriers to foreigners nothing of the spiritual needs living successfully in the country, TRAIN PEOPLE TO BE A BLESSING. here. I was a single guy then more than ever, local people need but God has captured my heart for this place and now I’ve to be trained on being a blessing in the nation. been ministering here for 21 years! I am passionate about “The Sub-Saharan Church has a unique opportunity becoming a blessing to the nation.” to minister in North Africa, Jean said. “We simply need to However, Jean and his family are among very few mobilise them to do so. missionaries in a city of one million. Therefore, AE’s partnership with him and our Reverse Mission project are vitally important to the nation.
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NORTH AFRICA AT A GLANCE AFRICAN ENTERPRISE
REVERSE MISSION PLEASE CONTACT THE AE OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS HIGHLY SENSITIVE PROJECT.
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Islam is the largest religion in Africa, representing 47% of the continent.
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The majority of North African countries are heavily Islamic.
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North Africa sits firmly within the 10/40 window which defines the areas of the world that have the highest levels of socioeconomic challenges and the least access to the Christian message and Christian resources.
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11 countries in North Africa and The Horn of Africa have incorporated Sharia Law into their courts.
A Mosque Painter Receives Christ
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I WAS FULLY CONVINCED I WAS GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION IN MY LIFE. NO ONE WOULD CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE
MALINDI MISSION - KENYA
African Enterprise is passionate about commissioning Africans to engage in the call of the Great Commission by sharing the truth of Christ with their neighbours near and far. We believe this is key in spreading the Gospel effectively in Africa and beneficial for the African church as a whole. AE Kenya’s recent Malindi Mission was a great example that passion coming alive. During the mission week, AE partnered with over 83 local Malindi Churches and more than 103 churches from across the nation of Kenya and the world. In total, 903 volunteer evangelists hit the streets to minister in Malindi. By the end of mission week, over 93,757 people had been reached with the Gospel and 10,126 of those made confessions of faith in Christ! Though the mission was only 10-days long, the passion for sharing the Gospel with others will remain a part of this community for years to come and no doubt many more will come to faith as a result.
“I was fully convinced I was going in the right direction in my life. No one would convince me otherwise,” he said. Before major Islamic festivals each year, Ali was responsible for painting the many mosques in the area. He relied on this work to support his family and he even received gifts of furniture and other household items from the mosque as payment. Then one morning, on his way to a painting assignment, Ali was stopped by some men in the street. “They told me they were preachers and they were sharing the word of God with the residents of Malindi town,” Ali said. “Of course I knew I would not give them much of my time.” He told them he was a Muslim and had no interest in Christianity, but they gently persisted and he decided to let them speak. “They talked about eternal life and Jesus Christ. I am not sure how or why, but I did not bring up the usual arguments,” Ali said. “For some reason, that day, I was interested.” For the rest of the day, Ali couldn’t stop thinking about that encounter. “The words of the evangelists were still in my mind,” he admitted. “I had no peace.” When his wife asked what the matter was, he told her what had happened and the more he talked about it the more his heart changed and it lead him to a bold decision. “I called my Christian Uncle who is a pastor in Eldoret and he told me to go speak to his friend who is a pastor in Malindi.” “The security guard at the church gate had endless questions,” he remembered. “They really interrogated me. I do not blame them; they were taking precautions due to attacks by Islamic extremists against churches in Kenya.” Ali told them he just wanted to speak to the pastor and when the pastor came out to meet him, he explained his story.
“I want to know Jesus,” he told him. Ali made a commitment to salvation standing in that church yard for the first time. “I felt like a load had been lifted from my shoulders,” Ali said. “New joy and peace had entered my heart and I knew I was born again.” He ran straight home and brought his wife, Mariam, back to the church. Unlike her husband, Mariam had been raised as a Christian but converted in order to get married. “I knew down in my heart that I had not done the right thing in running away from God,” she said. “I felt so empty and hopeless as a Muslim.” All those years ago, Mariam remembers praying that her husband would become a Christian. “I doubted it would happen,” she said. “But when my husband came back that afternoon and informed me he had made commitment for salvation, I was shocked.” She went back to the church with her husband, they met again with the pastor, and she gave her life to Christ as well. The couple faced opposition from their Muslim community when they found out about their conversion. The Mosque repossessed the furniture that had been donated to the family and demanded that they move out of their home, but they were undeterred.
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li Mohammed was a mosque painter. As a strong Muslim man, he had no interest in the Christian faith and was deeply involved in the local Islamic community. “I had never entered a Christian church in my life,” he said. Ali was born into a Muslim family and now, at age 28, was married with two children, raising his own Muslim family, and teaching classes in the Quran to local children.
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NEW JOY AND PEACE HAD ENTERED MY HEART AND I KNEW I WAS BORN AGAIN.
“When they took all our household items and we were asked to leave the house that we had been given, I expected that.” Mariam said. “I needed a new beginning. I could feel my husband’s determination to remain in Jesus. It was such a passion.” The couple’s new church community came to their aid – finding them a new home and helping Ali get a new job. “I saw the love of Christ at the very beginning of my walk with Him demonstrated by the brethren from the Church,” Ali said. This couple’s life and the lives of their children, have been completely changed. All because of a few men who stopped Ali on the road and shared the truth of Jesus. “I found the light,” Ali said, “and I can’t return to the dark. I am so ready to share the light with as many people as possible!” “Surely salvation has brought more things than I had asked,” Marian exclaimed. “I am so happy to have been reunited with my Savior, Jesus Christ.”
alim Bakundukize Ndugu is a faithful member of AE Rwanda’s staff and a dedicated evangelist. But years ago his life was very different. Salim’s father had three wives and Salim was the ninth child born to his mother. His family was Muslim and Salim grew up looking for his own place among his many siblings. He never really felt any peace. As a Muslim man, Salim respected the laws of Islam; he learnt the Quran, visited the Mosque and recited his prayers faithfully. He even actively recruited others to become Muslims. But in spite of all this, he found himself searching for fulfilment in other things too. “I began going to traditional witchdoctors,” he said, “seeking evil spirits, thinking they would give me peace.” He felt those evil spirits with him even when he went to the Mosque to pray. “I sought power in all sorts of ways,” said Salim. “At one point, a well-known witchdoctor gave me a lotion to put on my skin and performed rituals over me so that when I put on the lotion, my facial features changed and I looked like a strange animal.” He became drunk on this new power and went to witchdoctor after witchdoctor, paying them for potions and charms. He never felt conflicted about
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African Enterprise missions aim to reach an entire city with the Gospel during mission week. However, sometimes due to the size of a city, it is nearly impossible to reach the whole population in one week. Undeterred, AE Rwanda developed a plan to reach the entire city of Kigali within three years by targeting the city’s main districts, Gasabo, Kicukiro, and Nyarugene one at a time. This year, Kicukiro was AE’s target and God was faithful! After over a year of preparation and training of local evangelists, the week-long mission brought 10,109 people into the kingdom and proclaimed the Gospel to over 62,987 people! During this mission, the AE Rwanda team placed a special priority on children and made a concerted effort to reach as many schools as possible. They also held events in parks and other public places with special programs directed at grabbing the attention of children.
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AS I CONTINUED IN WITCHCRAFT, I TURNED INTO SOMETHING LIKE A WALKING DEMON. I LOVED IT.
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“ KICUKIRO MISSION - RWANDA
being Muslim and heavily involved in witchcraft at the same time. In fact, he felt that the two were not in conflict at all. “I felt no guilt about it,” he said. “and as I continued in witchcraft, I turned into something like a walking demon. I loved it.” Salim thought himself invincible, claiming that bullets couldn’t touch his body, and that he could draw women to himself. He became reckless and loose, sleeping around with whomever he wished.
“People feared me, but I still had no peace” he said. Until one day, in a prayer room at his local Mosque, Salim was on his knees asking about the future, asking for peace within myself, when Jesus came to him in a vision. “I met Jesus Christ right there and he took me by surprise!” Salim said. “I confessed my sins, and sought out Christians to pray for me. From that time, I felt Jesus hold me in his hands.”
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE, SALIM WENT HOME WITH PEACE IN HIS HEART, HAVING FINALLY FOUND WHAT HE HAD BEEN SEARCHING FOR SINCE HE WAS A BOY. For the first time in his life, Salim went home with peace in his heart, having finally found what he had been searching for since he was a boy. The next morning, he gathered all the charms and potions he had received from witchdoctors, and burnt them in a final surrender of his life to Christ. Now, several years on, Salim’s life has been completely restored and God has blessed him with a family. He has peace in his heart knowing that Christ has taken the punishment for his sins on the cross. Salim now works for African Enterprise Rwanda and is a passionate evangelist. He uses his testimony to minister to other Rwandans who are trapped in the life of witchcraft and false religion and many people have been set free because of his story. “Because of what Jesus has done for me, I have resolved to tell those who have not accepted him that He is the true Lord, and I am determined to witness to other people until my last breath!”
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Salim’s Testimony
GUM’S STORY
CHANGING THE HEARTS OF YOUNG LEADERS um Thany grew up believing that aggression and extravagant high living were essential qualities for those seeking to become leaders in his country. “I used to believe that a leader had to be rough, tough, treat citizens as his servants and live an extravagant lifestyle because that’s what I saw our leaders do.”, the South Sudanese man said. However, an encounter with African Enterprise brought a radical change in his understanding. Gum, who at the time was secretary-general of the student union at South Sudan’s Juba University, was selected to take part in an AE Peace and Reconciliation Building leadership training program
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Peace & Reconciliation in South Sudan
ur work in South Sudan continues to grow and produce encouraging results among students and community leaders in the country. In 2017, we reached out to a struggling Juba orphanage and donated some much-needed supplies. They orphanage houses children of all ages, from newborns to young adults, many of whom have been acutely affected by the violence in the nation. We encouraged the orphanage workers to instil godly values of forgiveness and peacefulness
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I HAVE LEARNED THAT A LEADER IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SERVANT
and immediately discovered that his views on leadership had been very wrong. “I have learned that a leader is supposed to be a servant and not expect to be served”, he said. “I have also learned about the importance of shunning tribalism and building bridges with others of different ethnic backgrounds. And I have learned the importance of placing ethical and Godly values as essential pillars in my life. These are the necessary practices for anyone who wants to make a difference within their sphere of influence”. Gum says he’s going to use the knowledge and skills he has acquired through AE to help solve conflicts which might arise at university, and he will encourage others to seek the life-changing understanding which the peace and reconciliation process brings. among the children. The National Prayer Breakfast is still going strong and several parliamentarians still meet for weekly prayer. Stephen Mbogo recently spoke on AE’s approach to Peace & Reconciliation ministry during the European Parliament Prayer Breakfast and he was well received. Please continue to pray for South Sudan and for our work among the leaders of the nation.
Peace and Reconciliation Workshop Topics: • Your role in peace building, & reconciliation • Trauma Healing • God’s original intention for relationships • The power of prejudice • Alternative dispute resolution • Stress Management especially for the police & military officers
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