“Where there’s a whisk, there’s a way”
Five young ladies will graduate soon from the bakery training, a vocational training course offered by AE Ghana as part of the Street Children Apprenticeship Program (SCAP). One of the current students, Freda Omari, said her heart is gladding for an amazing opportunity to better her life. She further stated that she will go all out to learn and put to use the skills she will acquire.
Each year the SCAP program transforms the lives of young adults who were unable to finish school or enrol in tertiary studies.
Ohene Akrofi Enid
Enid Ohene Akrofi is 25 years old and a beneficiary of the AE Ghana project.
Enid heard about AE during the Akwapim Mission in 2018 when her church was one of our partner churches for the mission. She became deeply involved with the Akwapim Mission, especially youth events. In 2021 her church recommended her for the Street Children Apprenticeship Project.
Enid completed School in 2018 but her desire to further her education could not be fulfilled as her parents were unable to provide financial support.
As a diligent and hardworking lady she engaged herself in doing menial jobs to raise the money herself for tertiary education. Unfortunately, her meagre earnings were not enough to cater for herself, let alone support her through tertiary education.
After joining the SCAP program in 2021, Enid committed herself fully to the intensive training – comprising of skill training, entrepreneurship, costing, packaging, etc.
After completing the program Enid started in her own small way to apply the skills she acquired. She baked and sold varieties of bread and other pastries. Gradually Enid was able to save some money and she finally enrolled at the Accra Technical University to study Home Economics which is in alignment with the AE vocational training.
Enid is very happy, and she is very appreciative to AE donors for giving her the opportunity to add value to her life.
According to her, without AE’s support, she couldn’t have acquired the vocational skills.
She said, “I will gladly support some needy ladies in future when I have established myself.”
Each year the SCAP program transforms the lives of young adults just like Enid who were unable to finish school or enrol in tertiary studies.
Mark 16:15 NIV
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
African Enterprise was founded in 1962 by Dr. Michael Cassidy. A man with a mission to evangelise the cities of Africa, through Word and Deed, and in partnership with the church. How wonderful that Michael is still here, looking back over the past years with all of us, and being grateful together, for the work that was done so far in the Lord’s Harvest field in Africa.
This year we are celebrating African Enterprise’s 60th anniversary. 60 years of sharing the Gospel, bringing aid to the needed, finding ways to overcome the unreachable.
All we can do is say thank you heavenly Father, for being able to bring the Glory of God to the African nations.
In 2013 Dr Stephen Mbogo became the third international team leader. A man with a heart for preaching the Gospel since he was a little boy. He once said: “We seek, with the help of God, to take this ministry, and the message of Christ it enshrines, to the territories that still remain unconquered with Christ’s love.”
Click on the link below to see Dr Stephen Mbogo’s message of prayer and giving for the 60th celebrations.
Video: 60 Days of the Gospel
Prayer Points – We are thankful to the Lord for the 60 years He has journeyed with African Enterprise, as we have sought to evangelise cities in Africa!
We will start our 60 Days of The Gospel from 29th July 2022. Please join us in these 60 days of prayer and thanksgiving.
Gratitude – Pray and be grateful for all the blessings given to us over 60 years, a milestone indeed. (29 July – 7 August)
Open heavens – Let us pray that God will continue to shine His light on the African nations. (8 August – 17 August)
Social Action – Let us pray for each one of the social action programs. Pray that we’ll be able to continue to reach out to more and more people each year to give them a hand-up in life, so that they may escape poverty and find new hope as well as sharing the wonderful news of the Gospel. (18 August – 27 August)
Proclamation – During proclamation week let us pray for thousands of people to gather in Jesus’ name, to hear the good news of the word of God. To drink the message in and to give their lives to Christ. (25 August – 4 September)
Empowering the youth – Pray that our Foxfire teams will reach the young people of Mombasa, show them who the True God is and win them over for Jesus. Pray that they will be able to see where their true Hope lies. (25 August – 4 September)
Loving the new believer – Pray that our new believers will be well supported and loved in a partnering church. Pray that they will continue to grow in their faith and become stronger in Christ. (5 September – 14 September)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9
Kenya Mombasa West Mission – 2 – 12 June – 382,880 – heard the Gospel – 20,492 saved by grace.
Rwanda Rwamagana Mission – 18 – 24 July – 60,251 – heard the Gospel – 4,815 saved by grace.
Uganda Festo Kivengere Mission, 24 – 31 July, happening now.
What a joyous moment it is when someone gives their life to Christ, when someone decides to follow Jesus. After a mission, I tend to stare at the numbers for a bit and just say thank you to Jesus for His grace, compassion, forgiveness and salvation. Each one of those numbers is a person like you and me. Long before our missioners reached the people from the stories below, God was there. Preparing their hearts and making sure they were on the right place at the right time where they could respond to the Gospel. All by the grace of God.
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. – Luke 15:7
Stories from the mission field:
Kenya
Located in a quarry area in Likoni, Ebenezer Worship Centre church sits in a unique raised place. Construction in the area was supplied by stones extracted from a quarry area which is now dormant. Settlements have now been set up in the area and Ebenezer Worship Center, led by Pastor Naomi Furaha, is their worship center. The fellowship has unique neighbors, drug addicts. The addicts spend their days in a cave situated just below the church – a cave formed due to the former quarry activity. Pastor Naomi, who is also part of the Likoni Pastors Fellowship, invited them for a hot cup of tea and a snack. Together with missioners at the Reach Mombasa and Diani Mission, they managed to feed 38 addicts – feeding them with the Word as well. Many of the addicts admitted that they were interested in a new life but the bondage has kept them there. The missioners led them in prayers with 12 giving their lives to Christ. Having their church as “their home”, they were receptive of the idea to go to church and Pastor Naomi mentioned that she will remain dedicated to reach out to them. With the church above and drug den below, the positioning seems as if holiness sits above while evil lingers below. What is unique is that those below are looking up – looking up to a new life in Christ. We pray that these addicts will be freed of their bondage and that through them, many will get to turn to Christ.
Rwanda
This is a new convert with joy – Niyomungeri i Emmanuel. He is 31 years and a father of 2 kids.
“I went through life’s challenges in my family at the extent of stopping my studies. This made me feel hopeless in life. Because of this kind of life, I took a decision of engaging in drug abuse leading to me being addicted by them. In the midst of this kind of life, I got married but my marriage was not successful at all just because of my bad behaviours. I ended up in divorce and I remained hopeless and vulnerable. But today, when the preacher was sharing his testimony about his journey of salvation, my heart was convicted that I have to repent and be saved and turn to my creator. After hearing the gospel, I have a plan of joining the local church so that I may continue growing in Christ. I want to bring back my lovely wife because she was innocent; I believe that she will respond positively to my repentant request.”
Uganda
During School Ministry at the Bishop Festo Kivengere Girls School, the school was filled with angelic voices singing spirit filled praise and worship. The students were dancing and surrendering their lives to Christ. The Holy Spirit was ever present and many of the students testified to the Glory of God.
At Trinity College, the young students were thirsty for the word of God. Ministering to them, Oscar Sabit encouraged the students to remain focused on the right path referencing his teachings from 1 Peter 1:24-25. By the end of his sermon, several students gave their lives to Christ.
Thank you our beloved supporter, for your prayers that carry our missioners through every day, thank you for praying for our missions and for every new believer. Continue to pray with us for the upcoming missions in South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia. Pray for every new believer, that they will be connected to a church where they can learn and grow in their faith.
My name is Melisachew (Mel) Mesfin. I am the team leader of AEE Ethiopia.
My first thought when I rise in the morning is to thank God for waking me up alive, healthy and in good spirit. I also recognize that this day is precious to serve the purpose of God in my time, and so the need to redeem it properly.
I take a few minutes in bed to think and plan for the new day. Then I and my wife Bitsat kneel down before God seeking his face before we face the day. We thank Him for his fatherhood granting us good and safe sleep and also entrust the day to him in prayer. We read a passage of scripture and reflect on our understanding of that portion.
Together we come to breakfast and often eat Chechebsa. Chechebsa starts with preparing a batter that is fried to make a large flatbread called Kita. That bread is broken into small pieces and is mixed with spiced butter until it’s moist and soft and sweetened with honey and fruits. It is lovely and delicious.
I resort to looking at emails and messages for about 1 hour. This helps me to catch up with the time zone difference with our partners from East to West; from Australia to America. I respond to urgent ones and schedule and prioritize others depending on their importance and urgency. I also make important and urgent phone calls that necessitate attention.
Then I head to the office for 45 minute to 1 hour drive. On the way I drop my wife at her workplace and arrive at the office around 9:00 am. The first things I do are pray together with the office staff and have a short conversation on cross-checking activities and setting daily goals. The office has two staff, me and an admin assistant.
Most of the rest of the morning is utilized for contacting AE partners and associates via phone calls and telegrams. This is especially so in the months of July and August when the Students’ Discipleship Program is run throughout the country. I then take a brief lunch break and resume work. Most of the afternoon is devoted to dealing with office work, and writing concept notes and reports. I leave the office around 4:30 pm, pick up my wife on the way and arrive home about 5:30 pm. Then have a half hour walk around my home and take a shower.
At home, I have a time of fellowship with family and have dinner. Then before going to family worship I once again check on email and messages and take action accordingly.
Family worship time starts at 9 pm and goes to 10 pm. It has 4 components. We converse on how the day went by for each one of us and raise prayer & praise items. Then we do a Bible study. For instance this week we had been studying the Epistle of Jude. In verses 20-21 we observed 4 points for a healthy
Christian life: building, praying, keeping and waiting. That is building oneself up in faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping oneself in God’s love and waiting for the Lord’s mercy. After that, we sing hymns to the Lord and pray and commit the rest of the night to our Father God. Then I brush my teeth and head to bed.
This is what a typical work day looks like when I am in my home city, Addis Ababa. I work six days a week, from Monday to Saturday, and 9 hours a day on average.
However, I will also be on a field trip for program monitoring for about one fourth of my time. I carry out follow up and supervision activities for mission, discipleship and social action programs. One monitoring trip on average takes 4 days. The strength of AEE’s performance rests on the close follow up and monitoring done through project site visits and close personal contacts with church leaders, AE partners, and associates.
Current focus areas of activity
- I handle the leadership and all program activities of AEE i.e. mission, discipleship and social action programs. Currently, I am busy with:
- Mission – deal with the preparation of the Adama 2022 mission scheduled for Dec 19-25, 2022. I engage with pastors and leaders of 18 partnering local churches in the city.
- Discipleship – be in touch with most church leaders of 400+ churches in 100+ cities, to closely monitor the planned training goal of 20,000 students in the students’ discipleship program.
- Social action – follow-up the execution of the training plan for women in sewing skills and monitor the impact the training has brought on the life of sewing graduates.
Prayer points. Please pray that:
- Many people would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ through our mission programs
- The students’ discipleship program expands to reach 50,000 students a year in the coming 3 years from the current level of 20,000 students per year.
- The most vulnerable women covered in the sewing training project become capable of starting their own businesses and grow to be self reliant
- AEE Ethiopia office is strengthened by way of an increase in the number of staff, expanded programs, and resources.
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16
Burundi, the third most populated country in Africa is also known as “The Heart of Africa” because of its appearance on the map. It is unfortunately largely poor and underdeveloped. Due to its poverty, the country suffers from severe malnutrition.
This beautiful country has experienced a long history of tension between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, fighting for ethnic dominance. As a result of civil war, the country has one of the lowest gross national products in the world with most people relying on subsistence agriculture. Sadly because of the lack of opportunities, the people of Burundi are victims of forced labor and sex trafficking.
Since gaining its independence, the country has been guilty of widespread violations of human rights and corruption. On 18 May 2022, Human Rights Watch published a report that human rights abuses have worsened since General Evariste Ndayishimiye became the president in 2020.
This is a country that needs God more than ever. The truth of the Gospel has been infiltrated by syncretism and false teachings. Most Bible schools have closed down and the country is left with very few trained leaders and pastors.
Let us pray
- for reconciliation, peace and spiritual awakening among the Tutsi and Hutu people.
- that God will bless the work of missionaries and that they will be able to work freely and without intimidation.
- for so many people in the country that still suffers from trauma and sadness, that their brokenness will be healed in Jesus’s name.
- for the local churches that Biblical truth will be preached and that they will reach out in love to the suffering.
- that violence will end in this beautiful country and that Burundi will become a beacon of peace, not a country known as fear and death.
- that God will put righteous leaders in the government of Burundi so that bad governance can be stripped away, corruption can end and the economy can be steered to new heights.
- for revival in Burundi.
- let us pray if it is God’s will, to help AE find a way back into Burundi again.
