EVANGELISM AND CHURCH PLANTING IN COTE D’IVOIRE

Thirty five delegates from 12 districts in the Cote d’Ivoire annual Conference of the United Methodist Church have been trained on Evangelism and church planting skills. We thank the General Board of Global Ministries of the UMC for the support of this event and all friends who have donated in our Leadership Development Program through the Advance Project #3021990. For one week Pastors and lay people have learned a lot on how to reach the non-Christians with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God is glorified when His Kingdom is advanced. The Kingdom is advanced when multiple churches are planted. Churches are planted wherever the Gospel is proclaimed. The Gospel is proclaimed most effectively when we train missionaries, pastors, evangelists, church planters, and mission volunteers to have evangelism and church planting skills. New churches are a vital evangelism tool, the church continues to grow, there is need to train church planters with skills in personal evangelism and leadership. Churches still need to be planted in the West Africa. Church planting has become a cross-cultural task. During our training session the participants have learned the art of intercultural understanding and contextualization. Every participant was equipped to plant churches in various cultures to which God calls them. The Bible clearly shows that it is God’s desire and intention that every Christian should give witness to their faith and win others to Christ as a result. Relationships and small group discipleship are vital to the spiritual development of those who make decisions to become Christians. Being in Cote d’Ivoire as a Global Ministries Missionary, have experienced how cross-cultural communication is like the building of a bridge from one community to another. It is the bridging of enormous gaps that separate a people group from its neighbours. It is a way of providing viable access from one ethnic identity to another. Jesus Christ Himself is the greatest bridge builder of all time. Pictures of the Training