In the past few weeks and days I have been praying and asking the Lord to help me discern His will and direction for His church in Africa. I would like to share with you some of what I have sensed during this time of prayer:
1. First, allow me to say that I am committed to the mission of the Church of the Nazarene to “Make Christ Like Disciples in the Nations” with Africa as my priority.
2. I am committed to the vision of the Church on the Africa Region: “To realize personal (and corporate) Wesleyan Holiness revival resulting in church planting movements in which disciples make disciples throughout Africa and the world.” This needs to become the point of focus that serves as a launch pad for church planting movements and discipleship. We need to intensify the teaching and preaching of our Holiness message, that it not be something we bring out every now and again, but that it become a reality experienced and testified to by all Nazarene district superintendents, pastors, educators, church leaders and the membership of the church in Africa. The preaching and teaching of Holiness should be the primary focus of all leaders.
3. I affirm the goal for 1,000,000 Christlike Nazarene Disciples and 20,000 trained pastors/ministers and 20,000 churches by 2012. I believe we are called to be the catalysts of holiness revival across the African continent in this generation. Holiness is the hope of Africa. We do not only want to grow in numbers in our membership but we desire that the people called Nazarenes be true disciples of Jesus Christ. The proclamation of the gospel should be done with a goal to effect change in all spheres of life. Hence, I want to reiterate that we must intensify and prioritize the teaching and preaching of the Biblical doctrine of sanctification.
4. We need to help our leaders make evangelism and discipleship to children and youth a priority. Many young people are losing hope and we need to prioritize ministry to them where they can have a personal relationship with the Lord. We need to prioritize and maximize our resources to teach these age groupings.
5. I would like to coordinate and facilitate intentional leadership development and strategic planning conferences for field strategy coordinators, service coordinators, district superintendents, and educators on the Region to have more participation and ownership of the vision and mission of the Church in Africa. Added to this, I would like to foster collaboration between field offices/leadership and regional office services/ministries coordinators. Both field and regional service coordinators are extensions of the Regional Director's office with specific responsibilities for the development of the Church on the Region. We are one team! While the FSCs provide coordinated strategic leadership and direction to the work of the church on the fields the RSCs provide expertise and consultancy in specific areas of ministry for effective implementation of a contextualized ministry plan to “Make Christlike disciples”. All areas of ministry are vital for the development of the church. We need an integrated holistic ministry plan to “Make Christlike disciples in Africa”. The field and regional leadership tem exists to facilitate the ministry of the Lord’s Church.
6. Pastors’ conferences are also an additional opportunity for leadership development across the Region. It is important that all of these conferences be coupled with mentorship.
7. Give continuity to the development of systems of education to make education accessible to all.
8. We must be committed to give continuity to the vision to develop contextualized resources for discipleship and educational providers on the Region.
9. Prioritize the strategy to enter new countries and people groups in Africa, in collaboration with other regions. Intentional development of mission-minded churches is required, with mission education vital to facilitate Church Planting Movements and Church multiplication.
10. Foster a culture of accountability. This includes improvements on reporting systems and consistency.
11. Prayer is vital for all of this. We need to intensify the call for the church to spend quality time in prayer and fasting.
12. I am committed to “Make Christlike disciples in Africa”.
I thank God for, and appreciate all of the people who make up the Africa Church of the Nazarene. We are all one team united and committed to the same message and mission!
I am honoured to serve God and His Church as the Regional Director for Africa.