African Christians keen to fulfil Great Commission

Hundreds of African Christian leaders gathered in Nairobi this past week to attend a conference to strategise on how to complete the Great Commission.

The second Call2All Congress - the first in Africa - concluded Saturday after five days of sessions, presentations, and prayers. The October 14-18 gathering was attended by about 60 senior pastors and bishops and 40 professionals from different sectors of society.

Delegates came from surrounding East African countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan.

During one of the sessions, Bishop Kabachia, the regional coordinator of Movement for Africa National Initiatives (MANI), presented the "State of the Gospel" in the region of East Africa.

He informed attendees that a recent research project on the number of unreached people groups in Kenya sparked a challenge to Christians that resulted in every tribe in Kenya being engaged with the Gospel.

In addition to the project's findings, the recent violence in Kenya has also prompted a number of Christian leaders in the region to point out the great need for sowing the word of peace and reconciliation.

Building off Kabachia's presentation, Paul Eshleman, director of Finishing the Task, shared about the Unengaged and Unreached People Groups (UUPGs) of the world. The mission leader said statistics show that the most unreached tribes in Africa are concentrated in Sudan and challenged attendees to ask God for a new heart and a new perspective in order to go reach these people.

"It is our job to make the decision; it is God's job to solve the problem," Eshleman said.

Over the course of the Call2All Congress, innovative evangelism models were introduced, including the Evangelism Cube and HIV Cube, the Jesus Film project, a presentation from the Global Film Network and Kids around the World.

Evangelism techniques, such as oral methods to reach two-thirds of the world's oral learners and church planting methods, were also presented by several speakers.

On the final day, participants focused on the theme of prayer.

Laban Jjumba, founder of Intercessors for Uganda and regional coordinator of Intercessors for Africa, emphasised the dependent relationship between prayer and mission. He urged participants to not choose one over the other, but to embrace God's heart for a going as well as praying church.

The Congress concluded with participants praying and making a faith commitment of how they would reach people with the Gospel.

Among the many people who made the faith commitment was Keith Strugnell, director of Christian Broadcasting Network Africa, who committed to sharing the Gospel to 700 million people in the next three years through television.

Other speakers at the conference included Mark Anderson, president of Call2All, and Loren Cunningham, co-founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM).

The next Call2All Congress will take place in Toronto, Canada, October 30-November 1.