Missionaries in Africa

Missionaries in Africa Bring Help and Hope

Missionaries in Africa
Christian missionaries in Africa
Missionary involvement in Africa
Missionary work in Africa

With more than 1.2 billion people living on the continent of Africa, across 54 countries, from south to north African communities, many people need help. Missionaries in Africa can bring that help and, even more, the hope these people truly need.

To respond to these needs, we must look at the major challenges the continent faces. According to Global Young Voices, Africa’s top issues include:[1]

  • poverty
  • poor education
  • ill health
  • violence
  • hunger
  • sustainable agriculture
  • nutrition and food security
  • access to financing
  • slow economic growth

The huge and growing population is putting a heavy strain on resources in almost every African country.[2] This pressure adds to long-standing problems that have existed in many of these nations for decades. Violence and corruption have made governments and infrastructure unstable. Water is scarce and often far away from the people who need it most.[3] Missionary involvement in Africa is needed now more than ever.

The first recorded missionaries to sub-Saharan Africa arrived in 1490. Yet Christianity had been present in other parts of Africa, off and on, since about 50 A.D.[4][5][6] Early missionaries focused mainly on spreading the Christian faith. In more recent times, Christian missionary work also has a strong humanitarian side. Christian missionaries in Africa long to bring the Good News of Jesus and to show the love of God through practical, physical aid wherever they can.

Long before any European colonization, missionary work in Africa often meant pioneering and exploring new areas that outsiders had never seen or experienced.

“The London Missionary Society sent David Livingstone to South Africa in 1840, where he became one of the first Europeans to traverse the continent,” reports Ariel Marcus of Center for Research Libraries. “When Europeans began to colonize central and southern Africa toward the end of the century, international coordination featured prominently in both missionary and colonial projects.”[7]

Missionaries in Africa have a long, complex history. It is closely tied to the political ups and downs of colonization and exploration. That history, though marked by tragedy and conflict, has also produced much fruit for the Kingdom of God. Today, the continent of Africa has approximately 684,931,000 professing Christians.[8] Yet much help and hope is still needed for this rapidly growing population.

In response to these needs, we felt called to seek God about ministry opportunities in Africa. God has recently opened doors for GFA World to expand into Africa, beginning in Rwanda.

This work will follow GFA’s missionary model. We raise up national missionaries from the very countries where we serve and plant them in the mission field of Africa. There they can walk closely with African churches and other local churches. This approach has worked well in Asia, where many nations do not allow missionaries from other countries. It also strengthens community-based missionary activity that grows out of everyday relationships.

Training and commissioning a missionary from their own home country offers many advantages. First, it is cost effective, so financial support can go farther because GFA missionaries live very simply. Second, it is compassionate, because a national missionary already knows the language and culture; these are part of who they are. Their ability to communicate in the most loving way possible is key to sharing the gospel with people who may have never heard much of Jesus Christ. With fewer cultural barriers, they can quickly relate to those they are serving.

It’s possible to sponsor a GFA missionary for just $45 a month. Most importantly, once you as a sponsor receive the name and photo of one of these special missionaries, you can pray for them regularly and bring them before our Father in heaven.

You can help GFA World expand into Africa with more national missionaries by becoming a monthly sponsor. Through your giving, these missionaries receive the support they need to walk into places like the slums of Kigali, Rwanda. There, some of the most vulnerable people in Africa live.

As the population of Africa continues to grow, more workers will be needed for the fields “white for harvest” (John 4:35). Please help GFA World stay ready with national missionaries . They can bring practical help—such as clean water, education, slum ministry and leprosy care—and, most importantly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In addition to your generous gift to support a GFA national missionary, please pray for those training missionaries and for those who are considering such training. Jesus said that “the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:37). With 1.2 billion people on the African continent and many different languages and cultures, national missionaries from those cultures are needed to make a difference for God.

Be a Kingdom builder with Jesus through GFA World. Your prayer and support can help change the face of a continent.

Learn more on women missionaries

[1] Boutros, Christina. “Top challenges facing Africa today.” Global Young Voices. https://www.globalyoungvoices.com/fast-news-blog/2016/5/5/top-challenges-facing-africa-today. Accessed November 26, 2022.
[2] Degn, Emily. “15 Facts about Poverty in Africa.” The Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org/15-facts-about-poverty-in-africa. April 6, 2018.
[3] Ibid.
[4] “The Story of Africa Christianity.” BBC World. https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/8chapter3.shtml#:~:text=In%201490%20the%20first%20missionaries,)%2C%20and%20baptised%20the%20King. Accessed November 26, 2022.
[5] “Missionaries in Africa.” Enclycopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/missionaries-africa. Accessed November 26, 2022.
[6] Eusebius of Caesarea, the author of Ecclesiastical History in the 4th century, states that St. Mark came to Egypt in the first or third year of the reign of Emperor Claudius, i.e. 41 or 43 A.D. Meinardus, Otto F.A. “Two Thousand years of Coptic Christianity”, p.28. Accessed November 26, 2022.
[7] Marcus, Ariel. “CRL Resources on 19th-Century Christian Missionary Work in Africa.” CRL. https://www.crl.edu/focus/article/6696. Accessed November 26, 2022.
[8] “Status of Global Christianity 2021, in the Context of 1900–2050.” Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/12/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2021.pdf. Accessed November 26, 2022.