Africa is worse off today than it was 50 years ago.
As I have made that statement on numerous occasions to close friends and peers who serve in mission leadership, I have yet to be convinced that it’s not true. People are dying in Africa faster than any other place on planet earth today. The causes are many: HIV/AIDS, war, famine, genocide, and disease. Much of this destructive influence was caused by greed, corruption, and abuse of power.
Is it really true that after billions of dollars have been provided for education, medicine, infrastructure, business development, ecology, agriculture, and oil and mineral exploration that Africa’s quality of life has not improved? Yes, that’s about the size of it.
The Joshua Project, a research initiative seeking to highlight the ethnic people groups of the world with the least followers of Christ, helps us to understand the enormity of the task. For instance, if you break down the 1.13 billion people of Africa and the Middle East there are approximately 4,153 separate people groups. The current estimate is that 1,146 of those people groups have no established local gospel presence. That means approximately 25 percent of Africa could be considered completely unreached by the gospel.
Yet today, Africa may be the most spiritually blessed place in the world. According to Todd Johnson, of World Christian Trends, people in Africa are coming to faith in Jesus Christ at a faster rate than anywhere else on earth. When you look at the growth of Christianity, the stunning reality is that by 2010 Africa had two nations on the list of top 10 Christian populations. By 2050 Africa will have four of the top 10 Christian populations on earth (i.e., Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Uganda). Who saw that coming? God did.
While we are by no means the largest ministry involved in Africa, we want you to see in the words and pictures of this issue, just how God is using the efforts of ABWE churches, donors, missionaries, and local partners to work together to bring the hope of the gospel to Africa. And how that fruit in Africa will take that same hope to the rest of the world.
Truly, Africa has now become a shining testimony to our vision as an ABWE family to see mission movements launched from every nation to every nation for God’s glory.
“Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” —Psalm 61:1–2
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