The VCP Impact :
Reaching Africa ’ s Unreached
By Chuck Rapp , Africa Regional Director
There are now more Christians in Africa than in any other continent in the world . Let that sink in for a moment . I first read this statistic about two years ago , and it blew me away . Historians tell us that in 1900 , there were around 9-10 million Christians on the African continent . Today , according to a study by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary , that number is an estimated 734 million !
That ’ s the good news . The challenge — and the opportunity — is that according to the Joshua Project , there are 985 unreached people groups ( less than two percent evangelical Christians ) in Africa . These groups represent 435 million people . Much kingdom work remains . OMS is committed to making the name and fame of Jesus known !
OMS ’ Village Church Planting ( VCP ) ministry is strongly engaged in this opportunity . From the onset more than 20 years ago , the vision has been “ to have a church in every African village by 2050 .” We realize that we cannot accomplish this on our own ; our model is to partner with indigenous evangelical African denominations to train their men and women to plant churches in villages across the vast continent .
4