Contribution of Every Nation Mission (ENM) : opportunities for ENM missionaries in Africa

[摘要] The Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) is as relevant to us today, as it wasin the time of the early church. We, too, are sent by Jesus Christ to makedisciples of every nation, and to teach them to obey everything the Lord hascommanded us. ENM has taken this command very seriously, and in the pastdecades numerous missionaries were dispatched to nations across the globe.Twenty years ago ENM workers reached Africa, and have been working inmany communities on the continent – also in South Africa. The time hascome to study and evaluate the work that has been accomplished by theENM missionaries in Africa. There is a second reason for undertaking theabove mentioned research. It is a well-established fact that the Koreanchurches, in the latter half of the 20th century, have played a major role inevangelizing to the world. Korea has been hailed as the second largestmission sending country in the world. But, sadly, in recent times themissionary enthusiasm, in many churches, has waned (Park 2012: 62).Churches and para-church organizations - including ENM - are all battlingwith the problem in Korea.However, in Africa the need to hear the Gospel of Jesus and to make disciplesof Him, for the establishing and equipping of young churches, is as urgent asever. Korean missionaries have a great obligation to the continent, anobligation that ENM takes seriously. But in order to function at its best, ENMhas to evaluate the work that has been accomplished to date. In order tolearn from both the opportunities, and mistakes in a number of Africansettings over the past twenty years, African Christians and their Korean colleagues need to join hands, in order to face the challenges of the future.This will not only benefit the African churches, but the Korean churches aswell. Ideally, African and Korean Christians needed to learn from one another.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria