West Africa Church Planting Institute Conference Summary

Approximately 250 indigenous African church leaders representing more than 20 denominations from 12 West African nations attended the first annual West Africa Church Planting Institute (CPI) Conference held June 18-22 in Accra, Ghana, on the campus of the University of Ghana.

 In spite of multiple challenges and attacks from the enemy, including:  

·        all the GCA team leaders getting sick in Africa,

·        losing our luggage (I didn’t get my luggage until late the fifth night in Africa so they made my clothes and gave me their clothes to wear as I taught daily),

·        the African conference director’s key leaders were in a very serious car accident on the first day of the conference, resulting in the death of one and placing others in comas for several days.

·        huge logistical problems like translators not showing up, the video projector and training manuals missing with the lost luggage, electrical problems, my laptop died, etc.,  

the Lord was faithful to show His strength in our weakness, through your prayers. 

Church leaders in attendance represented the whole spectrum of West African denominations including Anglicans, Assembly of God, Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, et. al. It was thrilling to see all these diverse leaders from many nations unite in worship and learning around a common vision for God’s name to be glorified, for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done through His Church in West Africa. 

In a country where it is relatively easy to draw very large crowds, this conference was intentionally limited (by invitation only) to 250 indigenous “leaders of leaders” in West Africa. It was modeled after the annual interdenominational CPI Conferences that have been held in Japan for more than ten years (http://www.jcpi.net). 

A Church Planting Institute is “a community of church leaders who share a common kingdom vision and a commitment to cooperate (and share ministry resources) in order to multiply gospel-centered churches that help birth movements among all nations.” The first annual West Africa CPI Conference goals focused on: 

• Uniting leaders around an International Kingdom Vision for Church Planting
• Renewing Church Leaders through the Power of the Gospel
• Renewing Churches through the Power of the Gospel
• Raising Up Church Planting Movement Leaders

The 15 major training sessions (90 minutes each) offered during the conference were highly interactive, including topical presentations (based on the GCA training manual in English & French) followed by peer-learning exercises (Action Points), West African ministry case studies and extended times of prayer. (Although I led 14 of the 15 major training sessions this year, all the training will eventually be led by African leaders.) During the evening sessions, there were also dramatic presentations of African dance led by a University of Ghana professor (a Presbyterian elder) and indigenous worship led by a well-known African vocalist. 

The response of the African leaders to the training conference was overwhelmingly positive. Almost 200 leaders purchased the entire set of audio/video messages from the week (audio cassettes, CDs or DVDs) and made a strong, public commitment to train (using the GCA curriculum) at least 2 other church planters/pastors in order to start forming a regional Church Planting Network when they returned to their home nation.  

The GCA Master Plan is to help start regional Church Planting Networks that form Church Planting Alliances (interdenominational) with other networks to birth Church Planting Movements. Denominational leaders from the various nations, with the support of GCA staff, are now establishing accountability plans with these leaders on the field. 

Serving the “Least Livable” Countries of the World

Last year the United Nations conducted an in-depth study to determine the “Least Livable” countries of the world. Ten of the top 20 “Least Livable” countries are in West Africa (which consists of 16 countries). Church leaders from the top 4 “Least Livable” countries (Niger, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso) and many others from the top 20 countries were attending the conference. 

One of the major CPI Conference themes emphasized throughout the week was “God

takes great pleasure in manifesting His presence and pouring out His power on those who will dare to align radically their purposes with His.” Conference training sessions were replete with the teaching from Scripture that “God has a heart for the nations and a special heart for the poor”. 

Therefore, the kingdom vision for a new spiritual awakening in West Africa was presented as being integrally linked to the West African leaders’ willingness to radically align their hearts with God’s heart for both the nations and the poor. The vision cast throughout the week was not merely for movements to reach West Africa but for West Africa to become a sending nation to the world.

Training Indigenous Church Leaders of Leaders

One of the goals and prayers for the CPI conference was that the Lord would begin raising up several key interdenominational “catalytic church planting movement leaders” from the West African nations who would truly share the CPI vision and be interested in developing kingdom partnerships. The Lord marvelously answered that prayer. 

We have now identified approximately 12 potential “catalytic church planting movement leaders” from several West African nations (English & French speaking) representing a wide array of evangelical denominations and mission agencies. These leaders are excited about the CPI vision and have significant influence throughout West Africa.  

At the end of the conference, I distributed several copies of a book called Renewal as a Way of Life (Richard Lovelace) for these leaders to read before we return. We use the concepts in this book in the basic GCA training curriculum to help leaders develop a more biblical and theological understanding of personal, church and cultural renewal. 

Providing Holistic, Gospel-Centered Training

 Despite the remarkable spread of Christianity in Africa and the global south today, spiritual darkness, cultural and societal decay are reaching unprecedented levels. An “inch deep, mile wide” form of Christianity, heavily influenced by a Western focus on attaining physical and material prosperity, seems to be the norm. These churches are often marked by two things that seem to represent a frightening global trend: 

1. Lack of Spiritual Formation—rampant nominalism evidenced by little or no commitment to discipleship aimed at spiritual maturity.
2. Lack of Social Transformation—a gross neglect of social and cultural engagement.

One of the primary problems underlying this phenomenon is a very narrow and limited understanding of the Gospel. This form of Christianity emphasizes an unbiblical division between things like: 1) the soul and the body, or 2) the spirit and matter or 3) the spiritual and the social  

In response to this, throughout the conference, our training focus was on the church’s need today to recover the Gospel of the Kingdom, which emphasizes: 

·         Good News for the Lost:     Evangelism/Conversions

·         Good News for the Found: Spiritual Formation

·         Good News for the Community: Societal       Transformation 

It was amazing and exciting to see the lights turn on in the minds of these West African leaders when they heard the whole gospel of the Kingdom, many of them for the first time. It was especially encouraging when they began to connect the dots by seeing the illegitimacy of evangelism that does not result in discipleship or spiritual formation that does not result in societal transformation. 

A strong emphasis throughout the conference was on the role of the church in “making the crooked straight” and “dispelling darkness with light” not only in individual hearts but also in the societal structures of their villages, cities and regions. In one of the peer learning exercises the leaders were asked to discuss their answer to the question, “What would your village, town or city look like if you woke up tomorrow morning and the invisible kingdom of Christ had been made visible?” 

Many of the answers they first shared in their small group discussions, they then began to share with the larger assembly. It was a dramatic and emotional time as they began to yell out things like: “There would be no more HIV/Aids in my village…no more poverty and hunger in mine…there would be no more Trokosi (ritual child slavery)…no more political corruption, etc.” A new kingdom vision for their lives and churches began to emerge. 

During the last day I was in Africa I met with a woman named Jennifer who works for an international ministry that focuses on helping African churches serve the poor, the sick and the most vulnerable—such as children in slavery and prostitution. Our plan is to use the CPI platform to help these African church leaders establish and strengthen their partnerships with credible relief and development ministries (including those with a microeconomics focus) as a vital part of their future local church ministries. 

Equipping Leaders to Start Church Planting Movements

One of our goals for the CPI conference is for the church leaders to start seeing themselves as no longer merely planting one church but also helping to plant a church planting movement in their region. The focus of the conference is on training church leaders to “work hard toward their goal”—of establishing a regional Church Planting Network and Alliance and to “pray hard for their desire”—that God, by His Holy Spirit, would produce through their networks and alliances a Church Planting Movement”. 

We define a Church Planting Movement as “a work of God’s Spirit that produces indigenous, healthy, growing, reproducing churches that result in the spiritual, social and cultural transformation of a city, region and/or nation.” The African leaders became so excited about this vision that one of them recommended to me on the last day that we change the name of the “Closing Ceremony” to the “Opening Ceremony”. We did just that and the other leaders loved it! 

Developing a Three-Fold Cord

for the Sake of God’s Kingdom

I am deeply humbled and truly grateful to God for all the support we have received from so many people to make the first West African CPI Conference such a huge success. This conference could never have taken place without all the vital kingdom partnerships that have been established with so many individuals, churches, ministries and foundations. 

While at an African market on the day before I left Ghana to return to the U.S., I found a small wood carving made by an African artist that has three wooden figures kneeling down with their hands stretched up high above their heads holding up a globe. That carving made me think of how there are three unique types of people needed if the GCA vision is going to become a reality: 

1. Global Church Advancement (GCA) - Examples: GCA Staff, Trainers and Volunteers

2. Indigenous Church Leaders -  Examples: Nathaniel Adawonu with New Harvest Mission International in Togo, Jude Hama with Scripture Union in Ghana, African denominations and ministries.

3. Kingdom Partners - Examples: Individual pray-ers, donors, churches, ministries like Mission to the World (PCA) and Foundations

By God’s grace, GCA has done remarkably well establishing strong relational and ministry ties with key indigenous church leaders around the world. In fact, when I returned to the U.S. I received an email from a key national leader in West India (with DAWN) asking GCA to consider developing a new kingdom partnership with him to launch a West India CPI! 

But for the rapidly growing ministries of GCA to continue and expand we must now greatly strengthen the third cord—with Kingdom Partners like you who share the GCA ministry vision and want to be a part of what God is doing through us. Frankly, most of my focus and energy recently has had to be on maintaining and developing the various ministries of GCA instead of fundraising. 

We are now in need of both immediate and long-term funding in order to keep moving ahead in response to all that the Lord is doing through GCA. I would like to invite you to become a Kingdom Partner with GCA in equipping leaders to start, grow and multiply gospel-centered churches among all nations. Giving a gift to GCA is easy. Simply click here to learn how.

For the Nations!

Steve Childers