Emmanuel Kwizera is the Mission Director for African Enterprise, a ministry started by Michael Cassidy in 1963. Now the ministry has been handed over to a new generation and they are actively leading people to Jesus all over Africa. Today Emmanuel talks about what God is doing through African evangelists who have a heart for evangelism in Africa.

Learn More: https://africanenterprise.org/

Transcript: 

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Emmanuel Kwizera is from Rwanda and he is the mission director for African enterprise. A ministry started by Michael Cassidy in 1963. Now the ministry has been handed over to a new generation and they are actively leading people to Jesus all over Africa today. Emmanuel talks about what God is doing through African evangelists who have a heart for evangelism in Africa.

Evangelism Podcast Host (00:42):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews, full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary and evangelist Daniel King.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:06):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest brother, Emmanuel Kwizera from Rwanda. Thank you for being with me today.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (01:20):
Yeah. Thank you so much. My brother king. Thank you so

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:23):
Much now, can you tell me your last name? How do you pronounce

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (01:26):
It? So my last name is QRA. K w I Z E R a QRA.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:32):
And you are with African enterprises, which is a great organization, which is doing evangelism all over Africa. Tell us what you do with them.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (01:42):
Yeah. Thank you so much. As you said I work with African enterprise. Our vision is evangelism it’s proclamation evangelism. So we have teams in 12 African countries. We do evangelistic missions every year. So my role I’m the international missions director, which is like international evangelism director. So I’m overseeing all our 12 offices, but also we also do other evangelistic outreaches in other countries in addition to those 12 countries in Africa.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:11):
So tell us some of the countries that you’re involved in.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (02:14):
Yeah, we involved in South Africa in Zimbabwe, in Zambia, in Malawi, in Kenya, in Uganda, Tanzania South Sudan at DRC Congo in Rwanda, my country also Ghana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ethiopia,

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (02:29):
And as the, the missions director, what is your role? What are you doing to mobilize people to do evangelism? Yeah,

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (02:36):
First of all, I’m an evangelist by coding. It’s not about what I do in organization. I’m an evangelist. I was born in a family of an evangelist. My dad was a pastor, but an evangelist and then God called me to be an evangelist. So my role, first of all, we train evangelist, local evangelists like in those 12 countries, we also engage the church to partner with the, a local evangelist to reach their cities. So the other thing I do, I, I develop materials. I mostly work on making sure that we have good materials with Bible teaching or evangelism and discipleship. The other thing I also am in charge of strategic partnership because we cannot reach Africa alone. We have been in Africa for 60 years, 60. My organization started 1962 with a micro acid who was an, a evangelist from South Africa. We are now 60 years, but still there are so many places. There are so many people who really needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s why part of my role is to make sure that we have strategic partners like ministry.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:40):
That is so wonderful. And I think it’s so beautiful to see that God is raising up evangelists all over Africa. You know, for many years, people here in the United States, in Europe, they considered that Africa was a mission field in missionaries would go from north America or from Europe to Africa in, in order to, to do evangelism. But you know, God spoke to me and said, Daniel, the mission field shall become a mission force. Yes. And now when you go to Africa, the churches are on fire for God. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. They are excited about sharing their faith in many African nations are actually more saved than America. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, and there’s more Christians there on fire for God than even here. And, and so now God is raising up African evangelists that are bold in sharing their faith. Tell me some of, of what you feel that that God is doing in Africa.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (04:41):
Wow. That’s a good question. King. Yeah. First of all in 2018 Louanne movement a ministry started by Billy Roham. They just published a research done, and they saying that in 2018, Africa has the biggest number of Christians worldwide. So like since 2018, the most Christians live in Africa. So Africa is no longer what people used to think is at that continent, which I don’t even agree on that. But in terms of number statistics from 2018, we have the biggest number of Christianity. Like the Christianity is growing in Africa. That’s number one, number two, we know that by 2050 half of evangelical born again, Christian, when you say evangelicals in Africa means born again, charismatic those people who really believe in the gospel. So I don’t want to go into details about who’s an evangelical, but it means it’s a born again. So we, Africa will be having half of evangelicals worldwide will be Africans.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (05:35):
So those statistics, it’s just a confirmation that actually Africa is the hope of the global mission. So we are ready. We are, we are getting ready to send missionaries. In fact, it started, if you come here in the us, you hear so many Africans who are planting churches, evangelists, who are in diaspora. So that, that’s why for us, we feel like as evangelistic ministry, we need to train the church in Africa to be effective in evangelism. Yes, Christianity is growing, but we have to make sure that the pro the gospel is where are proclaimed or, or, or, or shared. So that’s why we are training evangelist. Number two, we are also, we believe that there’s a revival in Africa. Cause if you come to Kenya to Rwanda, to kegar to South Africa, to, to Zimbabwe, you hear so many people coming for crusade for one on one evangelism, home based evangelism, radio evangelism, internet evangelism, we are using all different ways of evangelism to make sure that everyone Africa is hearing the gospel. Why? Because also Islam is growing very fast in Africa. So we, we have some good side, but also we still have challenges. We still have unreachable groups, but still Africa is the hope of the future of the global mission.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:47):
Amen. And, and it’s so vital to be proclaiming the gospel in Africa, because you mentioned Islam. There is a, a line across the middle of Africa. Yes. Where many of the Northern African nations have a very high percentage of, of Muslim. And if we are going to lead the world to Christ, we have to start thinking and strategizing about how are we going to, to reach them. And it is very difficult. Sometimes the, the churches are burned down. Pastors are persecuted, they’re run out of town. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. And, and so I, I think God will raise up mighty African evangelists that are going to do great things that, that when the, the history is written in heaven, yeah. There are going to be many great Africans that are, their stories will be written of, of all the people that can

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (07:40):
Say. Yeah, yeah. Maybe I can just make, make, make some comment. One. I have a friend of mine, he write a book called Africa to the rest. So first of all, we believe that AF God is really using the church in Africa to send missionaries. But when you are saying to send missionaries, also, we have some part of Africa that needs to hear the gospel. Yeah. Now we are changing our understanding of, of who is an evangelist, because we used to say that there’s some, some are evangelist and others are missionaries for us. We believe that evangelist, he’s a proclaimer, he’s a trainer. He can also be a missionary because if you go to any, any, any other culture, you are still an evangelist, but also you are preaching the gospel to people from other culture. That’s why, for example, in west Africa and north Africa, we feel like at the church, from, from Subara African the region, which has so many churches, we feel like those churches have a responsibility to reach those places as part of us, as part of Africa.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (08:34):
That’s number one. The other thing that I can mention on that, we are using different ways of evangelism. Yes. Sometimes people say, oh, in north Africa, crusade, we not work. Or maybe in west Africa, crusade, we not work, but there’s a different ways we can do evangelism. For example, TV, evangelism, like a television evangelism. We are now coming up with another model called homebased evangelism, how you use the available social media platform in those communities. And then you train people in homes either to invite people, to come, to hear an evangelistic message. And then you connect with a discipleship and also church planting. The other story, which I can share with so beautiful. We are now thinking about engaging the whole church to do evangelism because we believe that evangelist is a trainer. Most of the time in Africa, we see that evangelist, they are revived.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (09:21):
They bring revival, but that revival it’s, it’s not only to get money or buying because it’s actually to have a passion in the passion in the heart to preach the gospel. So we are now engaging the whole church to be involved in evangelism. We are reviving our people to reach their neighbors. We are, we are engaging for example, in leadership, like how believers, who are the business or in leadership, how they can share the gospel with their colleagues, because they’re the same setup. Everything we do, it’s about promming the gospel, but ensuring discipleship and the church growth in different communities

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:59):
Right now, you are actually living in Chicago, Illinois, because you are going to Wheaten college working on your master’s in evangelism. What has that experience been? Like? What have you been learning about evangelism in the, the academic context?

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (10:17):
Yeah. Oh, that’s, that’s very good. So in terms of academic, let me, first of all, quickly say that I, the reason why I made a decision to come and do a master’s in evangelism, we didn’t courage here in Chicago. It’s because I, we realized that we need to influence also the thinking of the church, the theological thinking. So we need to have some evangelists who are also engaging the church on the theological understanding, because one of the biggest problems, especially in the us, you don’t hear much evangelism in the churches. You don’t see Christians really engaging in the community in evangelism. So that’s why I said, let me come in the study, but also have a group of perspective. So I’m trying now to understand how people like at the global perspective of evangelism, but also making sure that me to be there. It’s African voice, it’s a voice of the global south to the global north. I’m sure that there’s so many things that we can learn from the global north, from United States of America, churches with the experience, but also there’s also our contribution to the global church. For example, in my studies, I write all my papers, my research, my academic research on Africa, how the church is going in Africa, challenges of evangelism in Africa, like opportunities of evangelism in Africa. I think now evangelism or missions is from everywhere to everywhere. That’s why I’m learning something with a global perspective, but also I’m contributing as an African evangelist for the global church.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:38):
And your voice is so valuable. It’s so needed because every community, every country is going to be different. There’s different challenges. And in what works in north America may not necessarily work in parts of Africa. And, and so I, I think you’re absolutely right that the voice of the Africans must be heard both theologically and academically. And it, you know, it’s so important to, to have the learning. But I think that the thing that Africa brings is the burning. You are on fire for God. Yes. Which is so valuable. And we need it here. And, and also you are working with Luan. Tell me what you’re doing with them.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (12:19):
Oh, thank you so much. Part of the things I do, I’m also working with the Luanne movement. It’s a movement is started by Billy Roham in 1974. It is starting Luanne. The vision of Billy Roham was to mobilize the church again for proclamation evangelism for the, the Evangel evangelization of the world. So I’m part of that movement. I’m, I’m, I’m in charge of proclamation evangelism issue network, because proclamation evangelism, again, is another thing that most of the time, this time you don’t hear much about proclamation evangelism, which is more encouraging proclamation, evangelism, training, networking, and also bring together some ideas, how we can continue proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:59):
So let’s imagine that you are in Africa and you are on a, a platform and you have the opportunity to proclaim the gospel. What is your message?

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (13:09):
Oh yeah. That’s a very good one. That’s a good question. So normally I focus my message on the five things. One, it’s a God’s plan for human being. So God created us in a, in, in his own image. Number two is the problem of human beings. It’s seen. It’s not about where I live. Like in Africa. It’s not about poverty. Yes. Those are also problems. And we need also to respond the community need. But the biggest problem of human being is seen. Number three, I proclaim about God’s answer to the man’s problem, which the cross of Jesus Christ, there is no evangelism without the message of the cross. So Jesus died on a cross so that we can reconcile with God. Number four. I also proclaim, I also, I put my message into trying to make sure that there is a response of human beings, some God’s response, which means if God Jesus died on the cross, it’s not only enough.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (13:59):
We have to respond. How do we reform? We respond to God’s response. We respond through faith and repentance, which is salvation. And then number three of my message. I always tell people that we are here, but we are, we are waiting the second coming of Jesus Christ. So we are here because we know that very sure one day Jesus will come back. And unfortunately, the, the last point that Jesus coming back, you don’t hear much. But we said, yes, the gospel is really full. When we tell people that actually Jesus is coming back, not to die for our sins, but to come, just to, to reward to just for the end, just to reward those who have been putting their faith in him. So those are the five key things. Again, quickly. My, my God’s plan man’s problem, which sin God’s answer the cross of Jesus Christ, man’s response, faith, salvation, and then also waiting the second coming of Jesus crust.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:56):
Wow. What a great message. And I can see that that message will work in every culture. It’s very simple and easy, but every person on earth needs to know that Jesus is the answer. Yes. Well, brother Emmanuel, I love your heart for evangelism. I love everything that you are doing for Jesus. And if someone is listening and they want to get connected with African enterprises and find out more about what you are doing, what is the website or that they could find out more about African enterprise.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (15:27):
Yeah. Thank you so much. You can go to www dot African enterprise in one, one African enterprise.com. If you go to WW dot African enterprise.com, you will get some of the information that I have been sharing.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:42):
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (15:45):
Oh, thank you. So for coming and partnering with us, we’ll have you so much. We’ll have your ministry. We are very encouraged to see you coming, doing evangelism together. Evangelism is a, a gods mission together.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:58):
Amen. Thank you brother.

Emmanuel Kwizera – African Enterprise (15:59):
Thank you so much.

Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:00):
Thanks so much for listening today. I am excited about telling people about Jesus. And I want to invite you to be a part of helping us to rescue people from hell and take them with us to heaven. There’s two things you can do to help. First of all, can you go find the evangelism podcast on apple iTunes and leave us a positive review by giving a review, you will help other people find these valuable resources about sharing our faith. And second, would you become a financial partner with king ministries? Every single dollar that people give us enables us to lead at least one person to Jesus. And so that means for only $1, you can help start a party in heaven. And so today I want to invite you to become a monthly partner. You can start out for just a dollar, but if God puts it on your heart to do more, of course you can do more. But please go to king ministries.com and become a monthly partner with us today to help us to lead more people to Jesus. Thank you so much. And God bless you

Evangelism Podcast Host (17:19):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches. Visit king ministries.com. Again, that’s king ministries.com.

Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Apple iTunes

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Spotify

Subscribe to The Evangelism Podcast on Google Podcasts

Find The Evangelism Podcast on Stitcher 

Listen to The Evangelism Podcast on Amazon Audible

The Evangelism Podcast is also available on iHeartRadio