Uganda & Congo
Plowing the Ground
This Summer will be a richly productive season for the kingdom of God in Africa. In June, Christ for all Nations will be conducting seven mass Gospel Campaigns in Uganda (East Africa), followed by another eight campaigns there in July. Then we head to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, Central Africa) in August to hold another six campaigns, including a Flagship Campaign in Mbuji-Mayi, which is expected to be a huge event. As you can imagine, doing all of this in two months in two nations requires a mind-boggling amount of organization and preparation! Let me tell you what’s happening right now.
Lighting the flame in Uganda
We have a big team of 30 people on the ground in Uganda. They have been mobilizing harvest workers and training church volunteers. We have developed a great methodology to ignite the churches with fire for the lost, and to help them welcome and disciple new converts after the Gospel Campaign. It works really well, a system we have polished and refined over many years.
In each town where there will be a CfaN Campaign, we have a Campaign Director in charge, working hand-in-hand with a Campaign Manager. For the last few weeks, they are assisted by Bootcamp students doing their campaign internship (the final phase of their Bootcamp training). All of them work closely with literally thousands of church volunteers who are organized into committees to tackle the various aspects of campaign organization. We have had phenomenal favor in Uganda. Some of our directors were even given vehicles to use for free! And we have been welcomed enthusiastically by local leaders and heads of denominations.
Go where the hunger is
The level of anticipation and cooperation we are seeing is a confirmation of the leading of the Lord in choosing to go to these nations this year. They were not chosen randomly. The process of deciding where we will hold the next CfaN Gospel Campaign is a long one. First, we send trusted, experienced organizers to scout out the next locations. In this case, we went to several countries in 2023, visiting many cities. We wanted to see where there was real hunger for the Gospel. Where is there unity in the body of Christ? Where are the cities that are crying out for transformation and revival? It was back in July 2023 that we settled on Uganda and the DRC.
Equipping the local churches
In November last year, we held the first “Fathers’ Meetings” in Uganda, meeting with the top leaders in each of the cities. Since January, we’ve had team members in the country almost non-stop. In the final weeks before the campaigns, it’s all about pouring into the churches to prepare them for the follow-up. This is extremely practical teaching. We teach them how to put systems in place to make sure that no new believers are lost. Who will call the new converts? Who will visit them at home? What new believer groups will you have? We challenge them to remember what it was like to be a new believer and to be ready to disciple people to maturity.
Tell everybody we’re coming!
Once the church training is mostly done, we turn our attention to promotion, getting the word out far and wide. We have thousands of adverts playing on TV and radio, ads in the newspapers and billboards everywhere in a national marketing campaign. But more exciting than that is the Fire Wave that has been happening this month. We started off with a Fire Camp that was attended by over 100 local evangelists. It went so well, and we had so many experienced evangelists from all over the world with us, we decided to continue with a Fire Wave in three cities! We went into Busia, Mbale and Lira, conducting youth campaigns and preaching in markets and on the streets. We’ve seen over 50,000 salvations through this initiative. It’s fantastic to see local evangelists full of Holy Spirit fire, eager to share the Gospel. All of this builds anticipation and lets everyone in the chosen cities know that something wonderful is coming soon.
Physical challenges in the Congo
At the same time as this is happening in Uganda, we are also preparing for six campaigns in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We are in the middle of that country, in the most forgotten and inaccessible region you can imagine. This region has so little infrastructure, everything is a challenge. Our Tanzanian directors told us that they had never seen poverty like this before. In some places, there are no roads, no running water and no electricity. Just to get to the towns we are working in is very difficult. Our senior campaign director, Vojtech Trcka spent nine hours on a motorbike traveling between two of the cities! This is sacrificial obedience, going where the Lord says, no matter how uncomfortable or tough it is.
Two of the five cities we are going to have never had an international campaign before. The other three cities have each had only one, and that was many years ago. When we announced our return to those cities, there were tears of joy from the church leaders. They warmly welcomed us and instantly shuffled their own calendars to accommodate the campaigns. Rarely do we see such eager dedication.
Despite the harsh conditions and logistical challenges, we thank God that the preparations in the Congo are going very well indeed. We have permits for the campaigns and are currently working with thousands of pastors, including over 1,700 pastors in Mbuji-Mayi alone. We can’t wait to see what God will do in this desperately needy region.
When we go, you go with us
We cannot do any of this without our partners who make it possible for us to go. Those who send share in the reward of those who preach – it is a collaborative effort, and all for the sake of the Gospel. So, thank you – from me and all those who are out in the field right now – for joining with us to bring the harvest in. We love you and thank the Lord for you.
Together with you for the Gospel,
Evangelist Daniel Kolenda
(here with the worldwide CfaN team)
