NCS Africa:
Africa – Past Initiatives:
NCS was very excited when we partnered with others to begin work in East Africa in 2002. Missionary/ evangelist Christopher Lewis has been working with the Church of the Nazarene in East Africa since 1995 and has made 8 trips to Kenya and Tanzania to help with evangelism, discipleship training, and starting new churches in these two countries. After Christopher became an NCS Coach, in the summer of 2002, Christopher Lewis Ministries and Dr. Mark Redwine partnered with NCS by using and beginning to contextualize New Church University material for the East African culture.
The team that went in 2002 presented a first East Africa contextualized version of NCS principles to a group of 25 pastors and leaders in a new district that they are teaming with District Superintendent, Erick Oguta to develop. During that summer 2002 thrust, the following results were achieved:
- 2 new churches were started.
- 812 people made commitments to Christ
- The existing churches began an intensive discipleship program in which these new converts were assigned to mentors from the core groups and also placed in prayer cells.
One new church had over 200 people meeting under a tree on a Sunday morning, and the team was introduced to an older woman who had been coming and sitting under that very tree every Sunday morning for a year praying that God would bring a church to her village! We believe there is a hunger for the gospel in this region and a real need to train pastors to make "global" followers of Christ. During this initial NCS training, the pastors became very excited as God helped them to articulate their vision and goals for the work in this new district.
As strategy emerged, plans were initiated to immediately minister to AIDs caregivers and patients, orphans and widows, and to launch a strong, church planting movement across the north of Tanzania. The DS and the pastors were in unanimous agreement that if a partnership with NCS could be established, it would benefit the movement of the Church of the Nazarene in East Africa into the 21st Century.
In the summer of 2003, in partnership with Christopher Lewis Ministries & SEED International, NCS International held 2 events in Tanzania using NCS training materials.
| Dates | Location |
|---|---|
| July 23-27, 2003 | Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania |
| Aug 13-17, 2003 | Tarime, Tanzania |
On the following dates, two evangelistic campaigns and core group training was offered, along with the dedication of two new churches that have been started with NCS principles and training.
| Dates | Location |
|---|---|
| July 30-Aug 3, 2003 | Arusha/Kilimanjaro Zone, Tanzania |
| Aug 7-10, 2003 | Musoma area, Tanzania |
- During these dates, the other ministries the team was involved in included:
- Praying with the sick
- Visiting homes
- Sharing teaching from the Scriptures in homes
- Children's ministries
- Participating in spiritual warfare teams (people who go to a hidden place and pray through from the crusade's beginning to ending)
- Teaching basic Christian doctrine & behavior
What Africa Field Personnel Are Saying:
Since one of our Africa Region's priorities is leadership development, I was greatly impressed seeing the NCS materials...During our New Church University conference we had 35 pastors in attendance from multiple denominations. These pastors graduated from NCU Level 1, and are looking forward to the continuation of Level 2 in 2003.
These pastors and church leaders went back to their churches and implemented what they learned, which met with great success. Churches that were running low in attendance doubled and others multiplied in numbers!...The NCS New Church University leadership conference held in Tanzania has made the District realize terrific growth the past few months and has continued to impact the life of the entire church in Tanzania.
Rev. Erick Oguta
District Superintendent - Tanzania North
