On the Rise - The African Church
I can tell you without wavering that I believe in the African Church. I believe that, in this season of history, the African Church is the strength of the Global Church. The speed at which the gospel is advancing on this continent is incredible in so many ways. There is a broad apostolic anointing and passion for the Kingdom that I have not witnessed to such extents in other places. God is raising up what historically most of humanity has called “the least of these” to expand the Kingdom all over the world. African nations are sending more and more missionaries throughout their countries and across the globe.
There is also a generation of African leaders that are rising up to take ownership of the Jesus Mission in Africa. They want to re-write the old script of depending on the Western Church for finances. There is a growing sense of being holistically responsible for the work happening on the ground – not just with the actions of evangelism and discipleship and social justice but with funding as well. As many of the economies across Africa grow rapidly these leaders are teaching economic empowerment and the biblical principles of tithing, offerings, investments, and generosity.
This is the fifth year that NewThing has operated in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Up until this point we have relied heavily on the Global Office of NewThing to handle the costs of our expenditure. There has been a smattering of African Churches partnering with us financially but at less than 10% of our annual budget. Our goal has always been self-sustainability in each of the nine NewThing Regions. In Africa, we have been believing God not just for sustainability but also for an abundance that will allow us to support other NewThing regions. That conviction has only increased as time has passed and so this year we wanted to make an additional push to partner with African churches to support the African Mission.
As of this writing, we have verbal commitments from six African Churches for a total of at least $40,000.00 USD for 2021 and this could easily exceed $50,000.00 USD! These churches and their leaders are passionate about seeing missional churches planted that will advance the Kingdom in every country of Africa. They have seen the work that God is doing through NewThing in Sub-Saharan Africa (nearly 400 new churches planted in Africa in the last three years) and they want to be a part of it.
Self-sustainability is a realistic goal in Sub-Saharan Africa. There will be a day very soon where we will be sending a report that the giving from African churches has exceeded our region's annual budget. We will be sharing with you how we’ve been sending money to other parts of the world to support the Mission of Jesus in those places.
Gone will be the days where the Global Church looks upon Africa with pity.
Gone will be the days where the Global Church comes with their well-intentioned handouts that create the devastating effects of dependency syndrome.
Instead, in the next season of Church history, ministries from around the world will be asking Africa for financial resources because of their abundance.
In the next season of Church history, people will marvel at the growth and expansion, and favor that the African Church is experiencing. I can say the following with absolute certainty, Africa is truly on the rise, and don’t let anyone tell you differently!
