Viral Video: The Lausanne Movement and its History

As an avid supporter of the Lausanne Movement, I am thrilled that they have established a YouTube channel to post videos on their movement and modern missions work. However, I realize that many people are not very familiar with one of evangelicalism's most important global efforts. To do my small part, I am turning over today's Viral Video post to a series of videos explaining the Lausanne Movement and its history. Enjoy!

Your Prayers Can Open the Door to Africa

Today I sent out our ministry's latest update to our prayer partners. While I normally do not post these updates to our blog, I wanted to share this month's letter with you. If you would like to become a prayer partner and automatically receive our updates in your e-mail inbox, then be sure to sign up today!

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“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Dear Friend,

In the afterglow of Easter I’m reminded of how the Apostle Paul opens his well-known chapter on the resurrection. He grounds the life-changing message of the Gospel in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And by holding fast to Christ’s redeeming work, you and I are saved—what amazing Good News!

Yet many in Africa are corrupting this glorious truth, leading multitudes of unsuspecting people to destruction:

• The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus wasn’t God, that he rose from the grave as a spirit-being, and that God the Father simply discarded his physical body.

• The Branhamites, by contrast, teach that Jesus was literally God the Father who died on the cross.

• The Bahá’ís deny Christ’s bodily resurrection, calling it “a spiritual and divine fact, not a material reality.”

• The abaikiriza of Ugandan “god-man” Owobusobozi Bisaka, like other indigenous cults, have no use for Christ or Easter at all. Bisaka even claims that Jesus “was not a saviour, and never existed.”

• Missionary Islam is on the march across the region, denying the resurrection of Jesus outright, teaching instead that He was merely a prophet of God who was taken up into heaven, while someone else—possibly Judas Iscariot—perished on the cross in His place.

• Peddlers of the prosperity gospel exploit the cross of Christ as a path to personal enrichment, as if our Lord and Savior were a genie in a bottle. In East Africa there are thousands of churches with pastors who preach this distorted message.

Where can African pastors turn for help? Who will help Christians refute these false claims and faithfully proclaim the good news of Christ’s resurrection to a world starving for redemption?

For the past two years, we’ve been prayerfully working toward launching a center in East Africa to meet this very need. And today our ministry faces some critical challenges. While we’ve gained a handful of faithful new supporters since the first of the year, ACFAR’s support has essentially stalled.

To reach our goal of launching the ministry “on the ground” in Kampala by the end of May, we still need 275 prayer partners, $5,000 in new monthly commitments, and $30,000 in startup support.

Unless God does something drastic and wonderful in the next 60 days, our ministry goal will remain out of reach, and we’ll have to rethink the future of the Africa Center.

So we must pray! Please join with me in prayer and fasting this month, asking God to advance His kingdom through the defense of His truth in East Africa.

Our ministry’s future is in the Lord’s capable and all-powerful hands.

And I can’t imagine being in a better place.

Because of His grace,

John Divito, Director
Africa Center for Apologetics Research

P.S. If God is leading you to support CFAR, please join us today! Your partnership can help us change the spiritual equation in East Africa for generations to come.

Weekly Round-Up

On this Good Friday when we remember the sacrificial death of our Savior, I want to provide a couple of important articles for this week's round-up:

1) Paul Kiwuuwa, "Christians to mark Jesus’ suffering in Friday walk" in the New Vision newspaper (Uganda). How are many Ugandan Christians celebrating Good Friday and Easter? You can read more about their united plans here.

2) Andrew Rice, "Mission From Africa" in the New York Times magazine. This is a long but extremely important piece in the latest issue of the New York Times magazine. Here we learn more about the growth of Pentecostalism in Africa and their spreading influence throughout the world, mainly as reported through the Redeemed Christian Church of God. A Nigerian based denomination, this group is rapidly expanding globally and has ambitious plans here in the US. Also, be sure to listen to this excerpt of Pastor Daniel Ajayi-Adeniran preaching.

Yusufu Turaki on Western and African Worldviews

Since no one submitted a question for Ask Anything Wednesday, I thought it would be a good opportunity to point out an important article analyzing Western and African worldviews. "Sharing the Burden of Defending the Gospel" was written by Yusufu Turaki, a Nigerian theologian at Jos Theological Seminary. Turaki's paper is essential reading to understand African Christianity today, especially as it so often mixes with traditional beliefs and practices or leads to cultic groups. Here is the introduction to whet your appetite:

"This paper is divided into two major parts: (1) the first examines modern Western worldviews, philosophies and religions; and (2) the second part analyzes traditional African worldviews and religious beliefs, syncretism, and religious cults.

"In the first part of the paper, I will consider the socio-political context and the environment which gave rise to both the modern philosophies and religions that are opposed to Christianity. In the second section of the paper, in which I analyze traditional African worldviews and religious beliefs and practices, a major focus will be on the ways in which African Christians often lapse into syncretism and religious cults in the expressions of their Christianity."

Ask Anything Wednesday Tomorrow

Ask Anything Wednesday is tomorrow! Do you have any questions about the Africa Center for Apologetics Research? Do you have a question about witnessing to cult members? Do you want to know what I am reading right now? Anything is fair game!

Just ask and I'll try to answer it. The easiest way to submit a question for tomorrow is simply to post it as a comment below. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Stay Tuned!

While my family continues to recover from a very busy but productive weekend, I want to ask my friends and readers to pray for upcoming opportunities to spread the vision of ACFAR via radio.

This week, Paul Carden (executive director of our parent ministry) is scheduled to discuss ACFAR on...

• Wednesday, April 8 on The Allan Dempsey Show, WTLN Orlando (time TBA)
• Thursday, April 9 on The Morning Show, KFUO St. Louis (9:30 am Eastern, 6:30 am Pacific)

Also scheduled:

• April 21—CDR Radio Network, Cedarville
• April 27—WWJC, Duluth and USA Radio
• May 20—CJCA, Edmonton

Our Lord has truly blessed us in raising awareness of our ministry through the radio! Please pray that He will be glorified as we make the case for ACFAR across the United States and Canada. And pray that many more will join with us to advance biblical discernment in East Africa.

Blog Break

Since my family is going to the annual Indiana Home Educators Convention this week, African Apologetics will be "on hold" until we return. If any of you happen to be attending the convention and spot me in the crowd, feel free to stop by and say "Hi!"

Meanwhile, please be sure to pray for our ongoing efforts to raise awareness (and support) for ACFAR via radio! The next interview is scheduled for next Thursday, April 9, on KFUO (St. Louis).

More on this next week!