What Are Some Best Practices for Missionary Involvement in Africa?
Missionary involvement in Africa has a long history. Along the way, lessons have been learned about how to best approach spreading the Gospel in this region. Dr. David Livingstone was one of the first people to bring a love-centered approach to missions in Africa as a Westerner. His methods included offering spiritual and physical benefits for those he wanted to serve.[1]
The people in Zambia that Dr. Livingstone served saw that he wanted to help them in very practical ways, such as looking for new commercial river routes as a solution to the slave trade. The people of Zambia truly felt like Livingstone cared about them, which significantly aided his ability to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.[2]
This ability to serve both a person’s physical and spiritual needs has become a cornerstone of effective missions in many places in the world. People have real needs, which are often much more apparent to them than their spiritual needs. A hungry belly will drown out a hungry soul.
GFA World longs to reach into some of the hardest places in the world, including many areas in Africa, where the physical needs of water, shelter, health care and food are eating away at the population’s ability to survive, let alone thrive.
When local men and women are called by God to serve in missions, GFA will train, send and support these missionaries. National missionaries serve in the country or region they are from, so language and culture are not a barrier to relationships and sharing the Gospel. It’s also vastly more cost effective to send missionaries within their country of origin.
GFA World has just begun its work in Africa and needs faithful givers like you to help grow this network of churches and faithful servants. They can then connect the resources of GFA World, such as Jesus Wells and the child sponsorship program, with those who are in deep need of physical help. This combination of love, care and hope is a powerful conduit for sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
You can support this incredibly important work and the people doing it with just $30 a month. A national missionary’s name and testimony will be given to you so that you can pray for him or her in powerful ways, an important part of your sponsorship. Give today, and bring hope to Africa.
Learn more on missionaries in Africa[1] Clinton, Melanie. “Ten Ways Missions Has Influenced Africa.” International Missions Board. https://www.imb.org/2018/09/07/ten-ways-missions-influenced-africa. September 7, 2018.
[2] Ibid.