A missionary project leader who works on the front-lines in Africa, credits rapid advances in technology and communication for changing the way the Gospel is shared with unreached people but, fears terrorism is becoming a rising obstacle for Christian missions.
Missionaries to Africa from USA were founded over 130 years ago for Evangelism. They continue today to remain faithful to their call to share the life and mission of Jesus, and to give witness to the Gospel in Africa and among Africans wherever they may be.
U.S. churches have sent Christian missionaries to Africa. Global Christianity reports that United States sent in 2010 127,000 of the world’s estimated 400,000 missionaries.
Brazil sent the second most with 34,000.
“The biggest changes have come in the area of technology and communication. The world has become so much smaller and far more interconnected because of cell phone technology, computers, and social media,” said Lee Sonius, director of sub-Saharan Africa at Reach Beyond, a Colorado Springs-based ministry to the unreached, in an interview with The Christian Post.
“When we first started out as missionaries almost 30 years ago, we were still writing letters back and forth to the U.S. which would have a turn around time of two to three weeks minimum,” Sonius added, noting that phone calls from the U.S. to Africa would cost a minimum of $5 per minute, while now there are a number of ways to speak for free on Skype and plenty of other social media platforms.
Sonius also reflected on the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak that spread primarily throughout Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, leading to over 11,000 deaths in total, and affecting many ministries along the way.
The Reach Beyond regional director said that ministry efforts were greatly affected by the outbreak. A medical team was scheduled to go into Sierra Leone in March 2014, the month that the Ebola crisis really began hitting the news, but those plans were forced to change.
Last month, two U.S. missionaries died in a car accident outside Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Scott Volz and Ed Pohlreich served as missionaries with World Outreach Ministry Foundation (WOMF), a U.S.-based nonprofit that plants churches and offers other services in several countries.
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cnakalungi@ugchristiannews.com – Lee Sonius, sub-Saharan Director Africa for Reach Beyond, helps a Kenya town build its first radio station in their district in May 9, 2015. Reach Beyond has planted 5 radio stations in Kenya and 100 stations throughout Africa.
