CMS Helps Open New Era of African Mission

|TOP|A new era of mission in Africa is to open up this month following a process set into motion last year. The new African-led mission alliance, greatly supported by Church Mission Society, sees its launch this month.

Mission Together Africa (MTA), a coalition of mission organisations and churches, was set up in an effort to revive and expand mission on the African continent.

Speaking to CMS earlier in the month, the coordinator of MTA, Duncan Olumbe, said the mission of the new alliance is to “create an Africa-wide mission movement, in which we seek keenly to play our part as African Christians in the global mission scene”.

MTA is hoping to reach young people in particular, with a new ‘cutting edge’ youth mission programme called Mission Adventure Galore that will be a major focus of the alliance’s energies throughout the rest of the year.

|QUOTE|“Young people in some countries like Kenya make up over 75% of the population and the future, therefore, of the Church in Africa really has to rely on the youth,” said Olumbe.

MTA is planning to send its first team out to Garissa in north-eastern Kenya, which is predominantly Muslim, in April this year, with four outreach teams planned in total for launch in 2006.

Church Mission Society has been involved with the new mission venture from the beginning, with CMS’ former Africa Director, Bishop David Zac Niringiye, as well as CMS’ current Africa Director, Dennis Tongoi, both playing key roles in the original planning and subsequent development of the alliance.

“We are tremendously grateful for the partnership with you,” Olumbe told CMS. “Very few people will have the courage that CMS has had to put in resources before they see the results.”

|AD|The new alliance will bring together other mission groups including Kenya-based Sheepfold Ministries, Church Army Africa, the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), and the IFES-affiliate FOCUS Kenya.

It will also bring in a number of churches including All Saints’ Cathedral, Uganda, and the Anglican Church of Kenya.

Olumbe said: “MTA's main vision is to see a community of believers across Africa who are committed to God’s kingdom values and are living out that commitment to the sharing and the spreading of the Gospel wherever they’re located.

“It will be intrinsically cross-cultural. We realise that it is easy to talk too generally about ‘mission’ but we intend to major on cross-cultural mission.

“There’s been a lot of buzz created — many people are talking about MTA.”

The major task for MTA now is to raise the much-needed funds to support the missions as well as to inspire churches and individual Christians across Africa to take part in the cross-continent venture.

When asked of his hopes for the future of MTA, Olumbe said: “As they say, the sky’s the limit really. Our hope and dream is that we will be able to see a new era of mission across Africa on several fronts.

“Perhaps my greatest dream is to see the leadership of the African Church embrace mission not just as a side issue but as an integral part of the Church’s calling.”