A Revolution in Church Multiplication in East Africa

by David F. Hunt
June 1st, 2009
The project began with a simple but ambitious goal - to catalyze the planting of ten thousand churches in East Africa by 2010. By the end of 2008 just over four thousand new churches had emerged with approximately one hundred and forty-thousand new believers. God is powerfully at work in this troubled region of the world!

From the outset it was clear that a different model of church and a different strategy of church planting had to be developed. The current model of church was too complex and sophisticated, and contained too many foreign elements to be quickly embedded into thousands of new communities. The strategy for planting new churches was too slow and resource-intensive to achieve the momentum necessary to reach the goal. And the current system of leadership development was simply not able to produce enough leaders to support this desired rate of multiplication of new churches.

At the same time the project participants had no desire to establish a new denomination or even to build a large organization. Instead we developed partnerships with more than one hundred existing indigenous organizations and churches looking for those transformational leaders who would be inspired by the vision and willing to break with the traditional models in order to find a new way.
The project was initiated with national level partners in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Sudan in late 2005, soon after I began my doctoral studies at Bakke Graduate University of Ministry. The project leadership in Ethiopia has managed the project in Somalia and Djibouti. In October 2006 our Eritrea partner and several church planters in that country were imprisoned because of their mission activities. As a result the project in Eritrea is currently not operational.

Within the first year these key national leaders had adopted a whole new paradigm of church, had redefined the characteristics and role of the church planter, and were working diligently at implementing a new set of church planting principles. Results varied but in each country the new strategy began to take root as many new vibrant churches emerged. The development of a new kind of leader at the grassroots level quickly became the primary focus and so equipping centers (twelve to date) were established throughout Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Sudan. A simple curriculum supporting the new strategy that had evolved was developed and instituted in 2007 and 2008 and is currently in testing stages.

With two more years to go, we believe the project will achieve the original goal of ten thousand new churches by 2010. However, more importantly, what has happened is that a number of truly transformational leaders have emerged who have developed and are implementing a self-sustainable model that will see the church continue to multiply rapidly throughout this seven country region and beyond.