Some stats on Africa:
- 58 Countries
- 800 million people
- 41% Muslims
- 31% Protestants
- 15% Catholics
- 9% Ethnic Religions
- 3,700 People Groups
- 1,000 Least Reached People Groups
- 18 Countries with Islam as Majority Religion
The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and rivalry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!" The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: "Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for," says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
(Isaiah 22:12-14)
Yes, Africa is a continent of vibrant peoples, varied cultures, spectacular panoramas, and prolific wildlife. Yet sadly her story is also written in the blood of colonialism and slavery, of tribalism and genocide, and of ancestral worship and witchcraft.
Africans are a spiritual people: 41% are Muslims, 15% Catholics, 9% practice traditional ethnic religions and 31% claim to be Protestant. These statistics must, however, be seen against the backdrop of African ancestral worship which is deeply embedded in indigenous culture and continues to lead in syncretistic practices penetrating and corrupting Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. Conservative estimates of born again, authentic African believers range between 80 and 140 million. The remaining task is still daunting!!
OMS Africa is increasingly focused on seeking God’s face in facilitating church planting movements in Africa. We, together with other like-minded organizations and denominational partners, are endeavoring to demonstrate first century church planting principles that lead to an exponential growth in the number of churches that plant daughter churches that will in turn grow grand-daughter churches, and so on down the generations until the task of the Great Commission is completed.
We are in the process of praying and strategizing our involvement in Africa over the next five years. We believe we are being led to develop clear exit strategies for older Village Church Planting (VCP) programs in sub-Saharan African nations. This will move us from VCP program implementation and administration to ministry consultation, vision casting, training seminars, and establishing VCP alumni programs. This will permit us to keep a minimum number of key personnel on site to oversee third, fourth, and fifth generation church planting using indigenous, self-reliant, reproducible church planting models. This strategy would still foster the health of church planting movements, and would also free up resources for outreach to North African Muslim nations.
We believe African Muslim nations could be reached through a) strategic alliances with existing VCP partners in sending experienced workers to oversee VCP projects in neighboring nations, b) the recruitment and deployment of tent making missionaries to facilitate home churches and cell churches in North African cities, and c) through prayer and a hunger for a spiritual awakening in North Africa.
As the eyes of our Lord range across Africa, His heart weeps at what He sees: sinners bound in ignorance and evil; women and children abused and raped; the callous murder of unborn babies; greed and nationalism issuing in insurrection and wars; immorality and decadence leading to countless HIV-Aids related deaths and child-headed homes; exploitation and self-indulgence leaving villagers pillaged, destitute, illiterate and abandoned; and false, evil religions imprisoning whole nations. The people of God feel by-and-large overwhelmed.
Only revival, a demonstration of the overwhelming power and splendor when the Spirit of God descends upon His people, will be sufficient to reverse this circumstance. What is required in Africa is a special season of divine visitation when God the Holy Spirit stirs and revitalizes the Church of Jesus. We need supernormal, supernatural days when the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon the Church, and when God will manifest Himself in awe-inspiring, over-powering reality to His people – and not only to His people. But like in the days of Pentecost, the continent needs revival that will lead to an awakening in unbelieving communities. O for God to come in revival fire that will confront, convict and consume sinners, leaving them helpless and crying out desperately, “Brothers what shall we do?” And so in the thousands, even tens of thousands, they respond by repenting and being baptized in the name of Jesus and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It is a time for the Church in Africa to return to a ministry of prayer and tears, a time to hunger and thirst after God – His purity in our lives, His power upon our ministries, His presence in our gatherings, His Calvary love in our relationships, and His Pentecostal winds and blazing fire throughout our beloved continent.
"O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee,
Send a revival – start the work in me,
Thy Word declares Thou will supply our need,
For blessing now, O Lord, I humbly plead."
(Edwin Orr)
OMS Africa believes that what is most needed in Africa is a hunger and thirst within the African church for revival – a divine manifestation of the Holy Spirit to stir and spur the slumbering church, which will ultimately be evidenced in a Great Awakening among unbelievers. We invite you to join OMS Africa in praying that Pentecostal winds will sweep into our churches, and that divine revival fire will rage across Africa. May all of our hearts weep for Africa!!
