47 YEARS OF CHURCH PLANTING THRUST
By Musa Garkida
For almost five decades of church planting operations in Calvary Ministries (CAPRO) around the world, the Lord has enabled us to plant churches in about 35 countries successfully to His glory. These churches have been planted, nurtured and in a number of countries handed over to the indigenes as leaders. However, there are more unreached people groups to be reached with the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; but the challenges are becoming tougher. The command of our Lord is that we go to the remaining unreached people groups until they are all reached.
CAPRO’s church planting operations started in Nigeria and expanded to Niger, Senegal, Guinea Conakry, Cote D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Togo and Benin Republic in West Africa. The work expanded further to Mauritania and Morocco in North Africa, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan and South Sudan in East Africa as well as Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. CAPRO has been engaged in cross-cultural church planting operations in these countries.
Emerging Challenges
CAPRO adopted an unreached people group approach in her missionary work early in her existence. The New Testament Ecclesiology pattern of church planting was adopted and pursued all through these years. This gave birth to many local churches in different countries and cultures that are indigenous, self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating. Until a few years ago, CAPRO concentrated on rural church planting operations. With the developments around the world today and the movement of people, new challenges are emerging that have pushed CAPRO to add to the rural church planting operations, both urban and diaspora church planting among Unreached People Groups that are being displaced by the rise in insecurity around the world. Such operations are already on-going in countries like Nigeria, France, the United Kingdom and Kenya. This made it necessary for CAPRO to be repositioned properly to take advantage of opportunities and face the challenges that such opportunities present. There is also the challenge of New Frontiers like the Asia block of the 10/40 window countries that are considered the Last Giants. CAPRO has started engaging this region with entries into countries like India and Kyrgyzstan.
Rising to the Challenges
In rising to these challenges, CAPRO need to reposition herself by being proactive in all her church planting operations. The research operation has to be deliberately strengthened and extended to cover the 10/40 Window Asia block of unreached people groups. There is the need to step up her resource mobilization, look at recruiting professionals and volunteers (medical personnel, pilots, ship captains, aeronautical engineers, architects and engineers in various fields) into the labour force to be able to cover more areas. Our administration and resource management capacities must be upgraded in order to use resources more efficiently. The coming years for CAPRO in Church Planting Operations will be highly demanding, but we know that we are called, enabled and commissioned by the Lord of the Harvest who has promised to be with us and keep us. We need to trust God now more than ever for the Latter Rain to enable us to accomplish all these for the Lord.
Musa Garkida
May be reached atmus.garkida@gmail.com
Photo credit: pixabay
