A Testimony to the Success of Mass Evangelism
One of the greatest success stories I have heard about
the power of mass evangelism is from the nation of Ethiopia. Over the
past twenty-five years, the evangelical church has experienced rapid growth in
Ethiopia. In 1992, when the Communist regime fell in Ethiopia, the nation was
approximately 3% evangelical. In a recent census, almost 20% of Ethiopia is now
evangelical. During the same time period, the population of Ethiopia increased
from around forty-eight million people in 1990 to over one hundred million
people in 2016.[1] More
than nineteen million people have been born-again over the last two and a half decades
in Ethiopia.[2] Much of this growth can be traced directly to crusade
evangelism.
One organization that has
contributed to this rapid church growth is The Joshua Campaign led by Swedish
missionary, Karl Hargestam. Since 1994, his ministry has conducted over one
hundred Gospel Festivals across the nation of Ethiopia. Many of their Gospel
Festivals have attracted over 100,000 people in attendance. The goal of their
ministry is to give “one chance for every person” in Ethiopia to hear the
Gospel.
The Communist period in
Ethiopia’s history is referred to as “The Dark.” Per Akvist, the Ethiopia
director for The Joshua Campaign shares this story, “We were recently doing a
great Gospel Festival in one city and I noticed an older pastor who was crying.
He explained that under the Communists, over twenty of the young men in his
church were shot in front of his eyes because he would not forsake Christ. He
was crying because in the place where their blood soaked into the ground, now
people are dancing and worshiping God.” Light has come into the darkness.
[1]
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/et.html
[2] 3% of
48,000,000 = 1,440,000. 20% of 102,000,000 = 20,400,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment