Reinhard Bonnke (April 19, 1940 – December 7, 2019) was a German Pentecostal evangelist. Bonnke held an event in Nigeria in 2000, 6 million people attended, and more than 3 million people made decisions for Christ, according to CfaN . (File/Courtesy Photo)
Uganda Christian News recognises the huge contribution Reinhard Bonnke made to reach Africa and the entire world with the gospel.
The Popular German evangelist passed away on December 7, 2019.
His wife Anni Bonnke, in a statement shared on the preacher’s Facebook page, said he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.
Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke was principally known for his extensive gospel crusades throughout the continent of Africa. The son of a pastor, Reinhard gave his life to the Lord at age nine, and heard the call to the African mission field before he was even a teenager.
After attending Bible College in Wales, and his ordination in Germany he pastored a church and then went on to start missionary work in Africa.
It was there, in the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho, that God placed upon his heart the vision of ‘the continent of Africa, being washed in the precious Blood of Jesus’ — an entire continent, from Cape Town to Cairo and from Dakar to Djibouti that needed to be reached and to hear the proclamation of the sign-following Gospel.
(Picture: Robert Franz)
Evangelist Bonnke began holding meetings in a tent that accommodated just 800 people, but, as attendance steadily increased, larger and larger tents had to be purchased, until finally, in 1984, he commissioned the construction of the world’s largest mobile structure — a tent capable of seating 34,000 people! Soon, attendance at his meetings even exceeded the capacity of this huge structure, and he began open-air Gospel Campaigns with an initial gathering of over 150,000 people per service! Since then, he has conducted city-wide meetings across the continent with as many as 1,600,000 people attending a single meeting using towering sound systems that can be heard for miles.
It has now been over forty-five years since Reinhard Bonnke founded the international ministry of Christ for all Nations (CfaN), which currently has offices in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong.
Since 1987, through a host of major events in Africa and other parts of the world, the ministry has recorded more than 77 million documented decisions for Jesus Christ.
Video: Reinhard Bonnke in Nigeria
As part of the discipleship-training program, 185 million copies of CfaN follow-up literature have been published in 103 languages and printed in 55 countries. Millions of books have been printed and freely ‘seeded‘ in nations around the world.
All this is in addition to the Reinhard Bonnke School of Fire, an online, self-study course, aimed at inspiring others to Holy Spirit Evangelism and leading to either a certificate or university credits.
Reinhard Bonnke is also recognized for hosting ‘Fire Conferences’ in many different countries of the world, events that are aimed at equipping church leaders and workers for evangelism; for distributing over 95,500,000 copies of Minus to Plus, a profound salvation message, to homes around the world; and for seeking every opportunity to reach and to save the lost.
More recently, Bonnke spent several years developing the ‘Full Flame Film Series,’ a series of eight inspirational films aimed at inspiring and challenging the church to Holy Spirit evangelism.
He was known as one with a burning passion for the Gospel, a vision for Africa and a message for the world.
Evangelist Bonnke was married to Anni, father to Kai-Uwe, Gabrielle, and Susie, and grandfather to eight grandchildren.
