For a long time Africa has had a reputation for a being a spiritually dark place. A place where the Gospel itself and the missionaries that are sharing it go to die, both figuratively and sometimes literally. There have been numerous strategy meetings and campaigns that have tried to come up with an effective way to reach this vast and wild continent but with so many people groups, languages and nations, many in the American church see the task of reaching the people of Africa with the message of salvation through Jesus Christ as a daunting and even impossible task but I am here to tell you that this is absolutely not the case. For the last 3 months I have had the opportunity to serve all over East Africa. I have talked with street vendors outside of Uganda's capital city of Kampala, taught English to school children near Rwanda's capital city of Kigali and had my feet washed in the remote village of Butere, Kenya. During my time in these nations I have had the opportunity to be involved in a variety of other types of ministry including going door to door in the community, talking with blind war veterans and survivors of genocide, visiting the sick at a local hospital, teaching mathematics, science and social studies to children in what is the equivalent of the American 3rd Grade at a local elementary school and leading numerous church services. I have sat and listened as the Lord directed me and my team as to how we should fill our day and at every turn there were divine appointments which have taught me to never doubt the voice and presence of God. I have to admit that I was nervous about coming here because of some of those perceptions that I mentioned earlier but Jesus continues to remind me that he is alive and active among the nations on this continent regardless of what we mzungus (the word for “white people" in many of the local languages) might think. He has shown me that he is indeed moving powerfully among these people in a way that many in America do not get to see. There is a desire to know Jesus and a hunger for the Gospel that continues to grow daily in spite of some of the Enemy's best efforts to stop it. There is great potential for a harvest that could change the face of Christianity as we know it.
Since the days of European colonization the continent of Africa has been shrouded in mystery. Explorers went there knowing the potential that it held and searching for a way to take advantage of it. Unfortunately this search eventually led to the advent of the slave trade and for nearly a hundred years the people of this land were exploited and even killed. That time is long gone and even though there are still wounds that remain there has been a lot of healing, much of which due to the spread and power of the Gospel. Even with this there is still a lot of work to be done but I can assure you that this place is anything but dark.
