“… All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …”
Matthew 28:18-19 ESV
Over the years the Lord has taken me back to Africa many times. Each time, and with each country, my understanding of the people and burden for the nations of the continent has increased. I believe this was the most fruitful short-term trip I have been on so far. It was a true joy and filled with things that were orchestrated by the Lord. I’ll give you a brief flyover here and will debrief the trip in full Monday night (4/21 at the church 6:30 to 8:00pm) for those interested.
First, this trip was a joint effort between Redeemer Stafford and Redeemer Spotsy Village. I was the only person from Spotsy Village. That in itself was a surreal joy! I showed up to the rally point to meet my dear brother elder, Brandon, and a group of people wearing Redeemer shirts, all so joyful and passionate for the Lord. I didn’t know any of them! This is the joy and wonder of discipleship. We quickly became friends and entered into a joint ministry project together.
The ministry of the trip began by meeting Nigussie, a Pillar Church Network pastor local to Addis Ababa. Though his surroundings of the high altitude (7,726 ft) mega city (7 million city residents) are very different from Fredericksburg, his heart for church planting is the exact same as ours!
Nigussie and I met up at a hotel restaurant to encourage each other and hear about ministry in our different settings. It’s a joy to find a brother of such similar heart and mature theology in an African setting. Nigussie’s story was so amazing I recorded it as an interview for an upcoming Pillar podcast. When it’s produced, I’ll let you know so you can hear Nigusse tell it in his own words. In short, the Lord has helped this brother plant Christ Covenant Baptist Church, a church doctrinally and organizationally the same as Redeemer, in the middle of Coptic Orthodox, Pentecostalism, and Islam of Addis Ababa. It is a daunting work, but nothing is impossible with God!
We next flew to Jinka, the furthest Southwest we could fly in Ethiopia, and from Jinka loaded our bags into Land Cruisers and a van. From here we drove four hours on dirt roads to the lodge. This was a very rural, open-air lodge, where we ate breakfast and dinner each day. It became our base of operations for the next four days.
The best way to briefly explain the next few days is to speak about the various people who ministered with us and that we ministered to. First, is Kibru. Kibru is an amazing, joyful, and wise native Ethiopian who has been with Cru Ministries for over two decades inside Ethiopia. At one point recently he was the country ministry director, orchestrating the efforts of more than 300 staff in ten districts. Kibru organized the trip and when we asked him where we could be used most effectively on this trip, he said we should go to where the other missionaries won’t go – the Kangaten Bush. So, that’s where we went.
It took us three full days of travel to get to this remote desert location on the Omo River that is in a triangular zone between the borders of South Sudan and Kenya. It’s a State Department red zone because of its constant unrest, tribal conflicts, and refugee influx from Sudan. And Kibru was right, it’s exactly where we needed to minister. I would like to personally say thank you to Kibru for watching over us and orchestrating the trip. He’s a dear brother in the Lord, and I pray he will one day be able to preach for us here at Redeemer the next time he visits the US.
Second, is Pastor Seid. Pastor Seid worked to organize the gathering of church leaders in the Kangaten/Omo valley district for a training taught by me on planting churches and Christian discipleship. Pastor Seid has been in evangelical Christian church ministry for decades and is a senior leader of Nyangatom language speakers. He began his ministry coming to salvation out of Islam and being jailed for months by the previous Ethiopian communist government for preaching the gospel. He is an effective, humble, and godly leader amongst a diverse group of people.
Pastor Seid called together approximately 150 people for training over two days. People came from across the Kenyan border and up to 50 miles in every direction, spending the night on the church grounds between sessions. When I say “came together,” I mean every mode of transportation other than a car (walk many miles, Tuktuk, donkey cart, motorcycle, etc.). Pastor Seid will, God willing, open our services at Redeemer next week via a WhatsApp call.
Third, Lokoro, the local Nyangatom language pastor and Christian leader, was my voice for two full days of preaching and teaching. I spoke and he passionately interpreted into the Nyangatom language (while others often interpreted from Nyangatom to Molle – at least three language groups were present). The first day, the temperature in the mud wall and tin roof church peaked at almost 120 degrees when we broke for lunch! We moved the meeting out under the trees for the next four hours where it was under 100 degrees. This dear brother is faithful, passionate, and teachable. For 20 years they have been praying to build a larger and permanent church to accommodate more people and be used for more ministry activity. I will speak to the church more about this later, but I believe part of our going was to answer this prayer.
Fourth, and finally, are Michael, Peter, Emmanuel, and Luke. On the first day of ministry in the Kangaten region, we unexpectedly came upon a new UN refugee camp filled with South Sudan civil war refugees. We came to find out the camp had only been in this location for five months. It consisted of many hundreds of huts with close to 3,000 souls present. To its credit, the UN had made a place for these people, supplied basic materials for hut building, and basic daily food.
The people were overjoyed to receive us as we were the first people to come and minister in any way to their souls (Matt 4:4). Our group spread out and prayed for men and women, shared the gospel with the lost, and showed the Jesus Film in their Molle language that night with our CRU brethren. Two things came from this. At least 20 people made professions of repentance and faith, and I was able to identify four strong Christian brothers (above) that could potentially begin a church in this camp. I invited these brothers to our two-day training, and they walked for an hour one-way the next two days to be with us. They learned, were welcomed by Pastor Seid and Lokoro, were given every book on church-planting I brought with me and committed to do their best to begin a Christian church in the camp.
God is always working to glorify Himself through the salvation of the lost! It’s a joy to be a part of this great adventure, a story that will never end. A story of redemption of every tongue, tribe and nation. A story that cuts across all cultural differences to meet the true need of all people, the salvation of the soul before a holy God. Everyone needs a Savior – every man, woman, and child – and Jesus is that Savior! He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Please pray for these brothers by name,
Pastor Vic