AE Grows Church by 15 Percent
Located 50 miles southwest of the capital city of Addis Ababa, the believers in Tulu Bolo have suffered significant persecution from practitioners of witchcraft, syncretism and spiritism, all of which have been deeply entrenched in the local culture. Unfortunately, many Christian ministries have overlooked Tulu Bolo, which is a fast-growing satellite city of Addis Ababa and is strategically located in an agricultural region on the main central-southwest highway out of the capital.
Capitalizing on AE’s outreach, local church leaders believe the mission was only the beginning of the harvest to come. “it is only the first fruit,” said one. “A Gospel agenda has been opened to the people, and now everyone will talk and think about it. In the coming weeks, we expect many more to come to faith in Jesus.”
The members of the six evangelical Christian churches in Tulu Bolo account for less than 1 percent of the population and this mission offered them their first opportunity to band together to take the Gospel to their community. One church leader was enthusiastic about the new unity among the churches: “The people around us could not know that we are brothers in Christ because they don’t see us fellowshipping together. They couldn’t see brotherly love amongst us. The biggest outcome of this mission is the love we have for each other. Now we can show the people that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. Now we have a common cause to stand together in unity: preaching the Gospel!”
AE Kenya Leads 5,000 to Christ
The city of Lodwar, the largest in northwestern Kenya, showed itself hungry for the Gospel during AE Kenya's evangelistic mission there, from June 25 – July 5, 2009. More than 5, 250 people gave their lives to Christ.
One widow was very frustrated in life and wanted to commit suicide but after receiving Jesus as her Saviour her life was changed. Many received healing. One witchdoctor after being preached to, received Jesus Christ as his Saviour and burned his tools of trade. A lady called Akai confessed that she was created by the devil and that she belonged to the devil. She has had nothing to do with God before. A team of missioners preached to her and she accepted Jesus Christ as her Saviour with many tears. She promised she will be going to church and also denounced the devil.
Another lady named Wambui was initiated into Satanism and dedicated to the devil. Because she was constantly getting sick, she went to the hospital and several examinations were done but the results were always inconclusive. Unfortunately they decided to take her for an operation because they suspected she had a kidney problem. But AE evangelists prayed for her. She denounced the oaths which she had taken and was healed completely.
One group of missioners visited a home and found a lady and her baby girl lying on the floor. Their bodies were cut with a razor and they were in a lot of pain. After enquiring, they were told that she was from a witch doctor who said that she was sick because of lots of evil blood which needed to be drained out. After going through the ritual the witchdoctor left them for dead because they were bleeding. They were brought to their home after one of the health centres refused to admit them. No reason was given. We prayed for them and they regained consciousness.
AE Malawi Spearheads National Prayer Breakfast
Presidential candidates were then asked to comment on their commitment to a free, fair and peaceful election which they all unhesitatingly did. Then President Mutharika and the other presidential candidates were invited to stand together in front of the high table whilst the officiating clergy gathered around them. Led by Senyonyi, all prayed for God’s blessing on the candidates. During the prayer President Mutharika put his arms around the two candidates standing, heads bowed, next to him. It was a special moment when leaders raised by God were united by a common goal which was more important than party lines or squabbles. As the prayer ended, I heard a man behind me say, “This is beautiful!” After this, President Mutharika said that it was very clear that the Holy Spirit had been present during the event, and asked that the blessing which had been pronounced on the attending presidential candidates also be extended to the absent candidates.Explosive Evangelism!
Not even a thunderstorm was able to keep AE evangelists from preaching the Gospel to the people of eMalahleni in South Africa. “The eMahahleni Evangelism Explosion opening rally had a big question mark over it when dark clouds suddenly gathered and the heavens opened,” said Greg Smerdon, AE's South Africa Team Leader. “I’ve never preached in the rain before, but had no choice because of a large number of people who stayed through the storm. And praise God, we witnessed the Lord bring 58 people to himself that day!”
Though a second rainstorm again threatened to disrupt the rally, the crowd was so hungry to hear the Good News that few departed, and fervent prayer by the local pastors seemed to exert a restraining influence on the weather. Further eagerness for hope and healing among the residents of eMalahleni was evident in all 271 of the evangelistic meetings during the week of outreach in October.
While at least 600 people committed their lives to Christ for the first time, or recommitted themselves to following Him, many came forward after hearing the Gospel preached to ask for prayer. Sunny Masilela, a supermarket employee, received instantaneous healing for a painful and stiff knee. The Foxfire youth evangelists visited a local hospital where Foxfire Michael prayed for a man with impaired hearing to regain full hearing, which he did! AE evangelist Chris Thenjwayo prayed for a woman with an extremely distended abdomen, which returned to normal size as Chris prayed.
Thousands Come to Christ in Kampala
“Pray for me! I am looking for a way to get saved,” a Ugandan student implored his roommate a couple of weeks before AE’s Greater Kampala Mission in July 2009. Thankfully for this student, Stephen Lungu, AE’s International Team Leader, went to Kampala to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to every sector of the city. Stephen’s passionate preaching convicted both the Ugandan student and his roommate such that they gave their lives to Christ with joy and thanksgiving. One of them had been involved in armed rebel activities in the past and so Stephen’s story of having found forgiveness in Christ for his own violent past spoke powerfully into this young man’s life.
The enthusiastic response to the Gospel demonstrated by these two young men was characteristic of the thousands of Ugandans who found Jesus because of AE’s outreach efforts. One of the mission committee members, Benoni Mugarura-Mutana, noticed a young man listening intently to Stephen’s message and fiddling with the strap of a bag hanging from his shoulder. When, at the end of his message, Stephen invited any who wanted to give their life to Jesus to come forward, Benoni smiled as he watched this young man bolt forward, running up to the platform to find Christ.Several police officers, who were asked to guard the mission platforms and equipment at night after the evangelistic rallies were over, asked AE’s David Masiko, “Why don’t you tell our boss so that we could come earlier and listen to the message?” David did just this and, after the mission, received a request from the police for Bibles, which he gladly took to them so that they could read God’s Word.
Prior to the evening evangelistic rallies, AE organized medical outreaches to provide vital health services to citizens of Kampala, many of whom stayed around afterward to hear the Gospel and participate in the rallies. On top of this, AE partnered with Scripture Union and other student ministries to evangelize the schools and universities around Kampala in the month leading up to the mission. As a result, thousands of students have come to know Jesus because of these efforts.