Evangelism
The Evil Spirits Kept Her Awake Every Night - Until Hope Arrived
Elfinesh Dabi's family arranged her marriage when she was only 16 years old. This young Ethiopian woman has known little but sorrow since then.
Her first child died in the womb. Then, when pregnant with her second baby, she fell down by the side of a road, injured, and could not get up. A kindly stranger took her to a hospital. But her baby died soon after delivery.
After she ended up divorced at a young age, she decided to commit suicide. Her brother came home one day to find her with a rope around her neck... and prevented her from taking her own life just in the nick of time. But Elfinesh was miserable. "I am sleepless, "she says. "I never sleep even for an hour in a night. I am so much troubled that life is meaningless to me. I am tired of living and weep every time."
But then she came to hear the Gospel during AE's evangelistic mission to Akaki-Kaliti, a suburb of the capital city of Addis Ababa. "When the preacher was praying," she says, "the evil spirit inside of me started to manifest and I was delivered! I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. Since then, for the last four nights I have been sleeping more than 7 hours a night."
"This is a new experience in my life!" Elfinesh rejoices. "I am seeing a great change. Now I have peace of mind and I want to continue with it!"
Because of friends who pray and give generously to AE, desperate young women in Africa can find relief from their suffering and meaning in their lives through Christ. Your support makes all the difference!
Jesus Rescued Him from the Voices in His Head
Fekadu Tolu has been desperate to find answers. Growing up in Ethiopia, his parents took him to witch doctors and he worshiped ancestors as part of the traditional religions. But, he says, "I don't have a settled mind. I hear voices inside of me and I am guided by these voices as to where I should go and what I should be doing."
Then he heard about AE's evangelistic mission to Akaki-Kaliti, a suburb of Addis Ababa, the country's capital, when he was looking for a house to rent. "A woman invited me to come and see," he says. "I came in and heard the word of God. When the altar call was made, I willfully stood up from my seat to accept Jesus."
Looking back on the past, Fekadu says, "I have lived a miserable life. I even felt there was no purpose for living. But now I think I have made a right decision. I have made a new beginning in life and I want to follow this path."
Fekadu will be welcomed into a local church in Akaki-Kaliti, where he will connect with other believers and grow closer to Christ through the rest of his life. Only through your partnership is AE able to reach out to lost people like Fekadu. Thank you for your support!
Desperately Seeking God in Maputo
Maputo, capital of Mozambique, is a city filled with people desperate for the Good News of Jesus Christ. Just how desperate was illustrated on Sunday, Sept. 25, when AE launched its citywide evangelistic mission to Maputo. After AE's Stephen Lungu shared his testimony of being rescued from the streets as a kid, the man in the photo to the right cried out from the midst of the crowd to God in anguish. He was desperate for God to rescue him also. So he ran forward, eager to embrace his Savior. Stephen assured him that “God can take a nobody and make them somebody!”
As tears cascaded down the desperate man's face, Stephen said, “My mother threw me away. But the Lord knew where I was. He loved me, and He loves you!”
In response, a previously lost man put his life in Christ's hands for the first time, now experiencing tears of joy, of relief and of new hope.
As the meeting drew to a close, many young boys, amongst others, responded to the invitation to meet the same God who had so totally transformed Stephen’s life. It was a joyous evening, with much dancing and praise under the open African sky, as many people came into the Kingdom for the first time.
Delivered from Demonic Dog Barking in Kikwit
Eighteen-year-old Mamy came to AE’s evangelistic mission to Kikwit, Congo, unable to speak. She could only make a furious dog-like cry. With tears in her eyes, she came forward with her mother, after hearing the hope of the Gospel message. As a social outcast, she was desperate to find release from her seemingly inexplicable condition. Since her father died four years ago, she had lived in a prison of fear and anguish. She could not bear to be around other people and didn’t even want to come to AE’s evangelistic gathering. Thankfully, prayer intercessors which AE had organized, encouraged her mother to come with her.Moved profoundly by her story, the evangelists prayed fervently for Mamy’s salvation and healing. Finally, she was mercifully delivered! Mamy immediately began to rejoice and enjoy the company of other people. She was no longer an outcast. And she was no longer capable of making the fearsome dog-like noise which kept her imprisoned for four long years. Jesus Christ freed Mamy to be a glorious light of hope to others in her city. She will now be welcomed into a local church and discipled by a pastor. And the news of her miraculous transformation will draw more Congolese to faith in the Savior.
3,400 New Congolese Believers!
The crowds multiplied as AE’s Gospel outreach to Kikwit progressed. Seven thousand came to the opening rally of the mission in June. Then 8,500 gathered the next day, with the third day attracting 15,000 to hear how Jesus could give them the hope they were so hungry for. So many eager new believers came forward to receive Christ that counsellors were hard-pressed to keep accurate count. But at least 3,400 people made decisions to follow Jesus during the mission week.Some of these new believers were inmates in the Kikwit central prison. Because of the pitiful condition of the facility, AE was eager to shine a Gospel light in an unforgiving place. With a total of 136 men and one woman in the prison, 50 inmates were shoe-horned into a narrow cell with no beds and infrequently provided food. Evangelists brought not only Christ’s Good News, but bread and soap to the discouraged prisoners.
In keeping with AE’s aim of sharing the Gospel in every possible venue, evangelists preached at a nursing college, where 400 students decided to put their lives in Christ’s hands. Yet so many more people in Congo have yet to hear about Jesus.
Latest News: Juba Mission Blog
Read the latest news from AE's evangelistic mission to Juba, in Southern Sudan, in the mission blog.
Disco Dancers Come to Christ in Tanzania
The evangelists preached until 8:00 pm and, when the preacher called people to give their lives to Jesus, even those who could not find room inside the fence, but heard from outside, raised their hands and accepted Jesus. When the sick were prayed for there was great manifestation of demonic powers, but were all delivered through the name of Jesus. This final rally was more than a celebration. People danced and praised God for such a blessed ending of the Mtwara Back To God Mission.
AE Kenya Leads 5,000 to Christ
The city of Lodwar, the largest in northwestern Kenya, was hungry for the Gospel during AE Kenya's evangelistic mission there, from June 25 – July 5, 2009. More than 5,250 people gave their lives to Christ.
One widow was very frustrated in life and wanted to commit suicide but after receiving Jesus as her Saviour her life was changed. Many received healing. One witchdoctor after being preached to, received Jesus Christ as his Saviour and burned his tools of trade. A lady called Akai confessed that she was created by the devil and that she belonged to the devil. She has had nothing to do with God before. A team of missioners preached to her and she accepted Jesus Christ as her Saviour with many tears. She promised she will be going to church and also denounced the devil.
Another lady named Wambui was initiated into Satanism and dedicated to the devil. Because she was constantly getting sick, she went to the hospital and several examinations were done but the results were always inconclusive. Unfortunately they decided to take her for an operation because they suspected she had a kidney problem. But AE evangelists prayed for her. She denounced the oaths which she had taken and was healed completely.
One group of missioners visited a home and found a lady and her baby girl lying on the floor. Their bodies were cut with a razor and they were in a lot of pain. After enquiring, they were told that she was from a witch doctor who said that she was sick because of lots of evil blood which needed to be drained out. After going through the ritual the witchdoctor left them for dead because they were bleeding. They were brought to their home after one of the health centres refused to admit them. No reason was given. We prayed for them and they regained consciousness.
AE Malawi Spearheads National Prayer Breakfast
AE Malawi sponsored a National Prayer Breakfast at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre on Friday morning, May 8, 2009. Dr. Bingu Wa Mutharika, the president of Malawi, was present, along with most of his cabinet, and more than 120 prominent church leaders, parachurch organizations and NGO representatives, traditional authorities, civil servants and media personnel.
Presidential candidates were then asked to comment on their commitment to a free, fair and peaceful election which they all unhesitatingly did. Then President Mutharika and the other presidential candidates were invited to stand together in front of the high table while the officiating clergy gathered around them. Led by John Senyonyi, the main speaker, all prayed for God’s blessing on the candidates. During the prayer President Mutharika put his arms around the two candidates standing, heads bowed, next to him. It was a special moment when leaders raised by God were united by a common goal which was more important than party lines or squabbles. As the prayer ended, one man said, “This is beautiful!” After this, President Mutharika said that it was very clear that the Holy Spirit had been present during the event, and asked that the blessing which had been pronounced on the attending presidential candidates also be extended to the absent candidates. Thousands Come to Christ in Kampala
“Pray for me! I am looking for a way to get saved,” a Ugandan student implored his roommate a couple of weeks before AE’s Greater Kampala Mission in July 2009. Thankfully for this student, Stephen Lungu, AE’s International Team Leader, went to Kampala to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to every sector of the city. Stephen’s passionate preaching convicted both the Ugandan student and his roommate such that they gave their lives to Christ with joy and thanksgiving. One of them had been involved in armed rebel activities in the past and so Stephen’s story of having found forgiveness in Christ for his own violent past spoke powerfully into this young man’s life.
The enthusiastic response to the Gospel demonstrated by these two young men was characteristic of the thousands of Ugandans who found Jesus because of AE’s outreach efforts. One of the mission committee members, Benoni Mugarura-Mutana, noticed a young man listening intently to Stephen’s message and fiddling with the strap of a bag hanging from his shoulder. When, at the end of his message, Stephen invited any who wanted to give their life to Jesus to come forward, Benoni smiled as he watched this young man bolt forward, running up to the platform to find Christ.Several police officers, who were asked to guard the mission platforms and equipment at night after the evangelistic rallies were over, asked AE’s David Masiko, “Why don’t you tell our boss so that we could come earlier and listen to the message?” David did just this and, after the mission, received a request from the police for Bibles, which he gladly took to them so that they could read God’s Word.
Prior to the evening evangelistic rallies, AE organized medical outreaches to provide vital health services to citizens of Kampala, many of whom stayed around afterward to hear the Gospel and participate in the rallies. On top of this, AE partnered with Scripture Union and other student ministries to evangelize the schools and universities around Kampala in the month leading up to the mission. As a result, thousands of students have come to know Jesus because of these efforts.