Editors Note: The names and locations of the people in this story have been changed for security reasons.
Right now we are witnessing a miraculous explosion of church planting across the "Faultline of Africa" dividing the mostly Muslim North from the mostly Christian South.
The power of God is being revealed as some of the most amazing results are being seen among the least likely people in the most unlikely places!
The United Nation Human Development Index (often referred to as the "Misery Index") tracks a combination of factors such as poverty, disease, oppression and armed conflict. According to this index, Africa is the worst continent on the globe. Africa is a region that needs the Kingdom of God to come in power.
In addition to basic human suffering, there is also enormous religious tension in this region; one thousand people groups comprised of approximately 113 million Muslims make up the majority of the population. The resistance to the Gospel among Muslims in this region is due to a host of factors, from fear of losing one's cultural identity to political resistance to outright persecution.
It is in this region and against this backdrop that NewGenerations International is participating in a miraculous advancement of the Kingdom of God through launching Church Planting Movements.
From March 2005 through October 2007, as a direct result of the training provided by NewGenerations International to hundreds of national church planters, the Lord has raised up 3,204 new churches with 155,404 new believers in 20 countries throughout the continent! Four of these Church Planting Movements have now reached the fourth generation of churches that plant churches that plant churches and about half of these new believers were former Muslims!
Pastor Joshua, one of our key partners in the region, is a dramatic example of how God is moving. Pastor Joshua is the leader of a substantial organization called "True Life Ministries" that is known not only for the churches it has launched, but also for its extensive service to the poor.
It was in November of 2001 that Pastor Joshua was first exposed to the concept of Church Planting Movements at a Perspectives course taught by one of NewGenerations International's church planting coaches. Something stirred in Joshua's soul when he heard about how God had been causing the rapid and regular multiplication of churches in other parts of the world. The aspect of this new thing called a "Church Planting Movement" that intrigued him most was the idea that the multiplication of churches was not only happening without missionaries but that missionary involvement might actually be an impediment to the process! Pastor Joshua's home country had benefited from missionaries for hundreds of years. How could it be that he was now hearing that they were part of the problem?
It was under an acacia tree in his homeland in early 2002 that the breakthrough came. The church planting coach from NewGenerations International came to visit Pastor Joshua to help him on his journey. The endless stream of questions was patiently answered and a clearer picture began to emerge. Missionaries weren't the problem, they had just lost sight of their role. The only way for churches to rapidly multiply was for local people to plant them. The only way these "insiders" would be adequate to launch new churches was if someone trained them to do it. The missionary needed to launch the process, but then step back and make sure that success does not depend on their ongoing involvement.
Being a man of action, Joshua immediately took what he had learned and put it into practice. During 2002-2004 the number of True Life churches went from 10 to 50, encompassing 1,400 new believers.
In January of 2005, Pastor Joshua announced that True Life Ministries would adopt Church Planting as the ultimate goal of all that they do. In March of 2005, the entire leadership of True Life Ministries was coached in how to create Church Planting Movements.
From March 2005 to September 2007 there have been 592 new churches planted by True Life Ministries with 34,280 new believers! Today almost every chiefdom in their country has had the seeds of a Church Planting Movement planted within them and they are fully expecting that every aspect of life in their home country will soon be influenced by the wildfire that is spreading across their nation!