Reunion at the African Union

It's the United Nations of Africa—a huge, modern, impressive facility located in downtown Addis Ababa which is now the place where all of the nations of Africa periodically gather to discuss and decide on key issues related to the political progress of the continent. From March 7-11, however, it was the venue for MANI 2016, a continental missions conference that brought 550 key leaders together to challenge each other on how to advance Christ’s Kingdom in their own countries and abroad.

MANI is a network that emerged out of the AD 2000 & Beyond movement of the 1990s that first challenged Christians to reach unreached people groups and coined the concept of the 10­-40 Window. When it concluded on December 31, 2000, all of the African delegates decided they wanted to sustain the momentum, so they formed the Movement of African National Initiatives (MANI). The objective was to help spawn a missions initiative in every country of Africa that would bring God’s Good News to the remaining unreached as well as mobilize African participants in global missions.

Having served on the MANI leadership team for the past three years, I found myself immediately immersed in the logistics of the conference. From planning the daily agenda to creating and operating the PowerPoint backdrops for all the sessions, it was quite a challenge to work alongside the rest of the MANI leaders to offer a smooth-flowing schedule of events each day. But despite our human frailties, it was clear that God was very able to accomplish his divine purposes of orchestrating strategic encounters among the many delegates from fifty different African countries. One such encounter happened when I introduced Jason Mandrake, the editor of Operation World, to a good friend from Nigeria, both of whom are working on similar visions for initiating global prayer centers that they now may be able to link together.

Probably the most meaningful event of the conference to me was the final session when everyone was challenged to fill the huge stately hall, the symbolic center of African political power, with praise and worship to God. That was the first time it had ever been done. Even my wife, Anita, was able to join in with the worship team and, in typical, joyous African fashion, help lead the delegates in worshipful song to our Lord.

So if the forces of spiritual darkness think they have an exclusive hold on the direction of African politics, they just may have another guess coming the next time African leaders meet in that hall and find the lingering impact of that special celebration of praise to the one true God!