GO! NEWS OF AFRICA'S MOBILIZING CHURCH

MANI Continental Consultation

From 8-10 March, 2022, the Movement for African National Initiatives (MANI) held its Continental Consultation via Zoom, with a daily attendance of more than 165 participants from 38 countries. Sessions included times for prayer, sharing the Word, and reports on the work happening in Africa and beyond.

MANI was launched in 2001 as a “network of networks” catalyzing mission movements and mobilizing the resources of the Body of Christ in Africa.

MANI participants reaffirmed their commitment to work to ensure that the whole Body of Christ is engaged and in partnership towards accomplishing the Great Commission.

Mission leaders reiterated the importance of “polycentric mission”, that is, the movement of mission workers from anywhere to everywhere, leading to networks with shared ownership and leadership. This is the whole concept behind MANI. The delegates affirmed a renewed and strategic focus on the least evangelized, most marginalized, and forcibly displaced communities.

Gospel opposition becomes gospel opportunity

In our last issue, we featured New Life Media (Nolosha Cusub), which is reaching out to Somalis with the gospel. In March, Somali journalist Husain Haji Hassan began to warn Somalis about the danger of New Life Media, and in doing so he shared the URLs for their Facebook and website pages. As a result of this, New Life has noticed an increase in visits to their sites!

Even though Hassan is criticizing them, he has unwittingly given them a lot of free publicity! They are praising God for this new development. They are asking us to pray that the Holy Spirit uses negative psychology and natural curiosity to draw many Somalis who were previously unaware of Nolosha Cusub to visit their “dangerous” pages and find peace with God. Pray for Husain Haji Hassan’s salvation.

BOOK REVIEW

Rethinking Global Mobilization: Calling the Church to Her Core Identity

What a noble gift to the global mission community! Ryan Shaw has produced a compelling text that is biblically sound, intellectually stimulating and inspires us to missions. It urges the Church to keep her eyes on why we do missions as foundational to mission mobilization. The book’s subtitle, “Calling the Church to Her Core Identity”, captures Shaw’s prophetic vision. His wide understanding is further emphasized in chapter two’s excellent attempt at defining mission mobilization from the idea that “redemptive history comprises the ‘mobilizer God’ calling the total extent of His covenant people into being in this age.”

The author’s unashamed emphasis on the biblical mission mandate and priority of unreached people groups is a timely remedy to the Church’s loss of focus by increasingly viewing everything as mission. This book is a prophetic voice reawakening the Western mission movement and catalyzing the emerging kingdom force in the Global South. The invitation is accompanied by practical guidelines for developing a framework for missions mobilization as well as a plea to discern the move of God and to (re)direct kingdom resources in support of His mission.

Apart from giving shape to the critical role of mission mobilization, Shaw’s work contributes to the expansion of the ideas, terms and references regarding missions, increasing our vocabulary and understanding. He has achieved this by consolidating and organizing ideas and practices which were scattered in the field of missions. Moreover, he has elevated concepts such as “Message Bearers” and “Scattering” (instead of “Missionaries” and “Sending”) to importance even while people are shy to use traditional mission terminology.

While admiring his vision of a new era of “A Truly Global Mission and Mobilization Movement”, I regret that the book is limited to historical experiences in the Western Church; thus missing the opportunity to investigate these same movements in both reputable and emerging indigenous movements in the Global South. The book is nonetheless a must-read for every pastor and church leader. It should be a companion to Bible school students and a resource to university discipleship and mobilization teams.

Rev. Thuo Mburu, PhD Mission Leader and Senior Pastor, Christ Is The Answer Ministries (CITAM) University Chaplain, Pan Africa Christian University