region of the country. Even though an entirely different methodology is utilized, Islam is also rapidly expanding among the individual villages. Although there are exceptions, most villages will not have both an evangelical church and an Islamic mosque in

the same village. Once the

village chief decides on a direction for the community, other religious efforts within the same community are often shunned. If a community is reached first for Christ, however, this practice becomes a benefit as future attempts to establish Islam in that community are often rejected.

The remoteness of the region and the lack

of mobility of those in the community often hinder individuals, especially local church leaders, from traveling to and from training opportunities. While it is desired to equip every church and area leader with a bicycle or a motorcycle, such forms of transportation is often in short supply. Likewise, church planting efforts in surrounding villages are often limited to the geographical area that can be reached either on foot or by bicycle, restricting the effective evangelistic footprint of each church. Ghana’s climatology

also unique planting

seasonal challenges activities.

Northeastern presents

to church Ghana

Muss’ ministry strategy is divided into four primary components:

1) Church planting

2) Infrastructure development

3) Social ministry

4) Discipleship training & leadership development

experiences two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. Because the villagers’ very survival depends on their own ability to cultivate crops during the rainy season, church members and leaders are often occupied

with farming insurmountable activities destruction during

the months of June to October. During the peak of the rainy season, torrential rains cause

to the

primitive road system, and villages become completely inaccessible. Despite the challenges, there is no question that God has initiated and sustained a significant church planting movement among the people of northeastern Ghana, and thousands of indigenous people are now Christ-followers as a result. Through the prayers and passion of Emmanuel Mustapha and his fellow laborers in the work, God has rewarded their faithfulness with a tremendous ministry that continues to bear fruit.

John Drummond is Global Outreach team leader for St. Andrew Baptist Church in Panama City, Florida, in the United States. This article contains excerpts from a paper presented at a meeting of the BWA Commission on Evangelism. The full paper was published in Baptist Faith & Witness, Book 5.

T

CHURCH PLANTING IN EASTERN EUROPE By Daniel Trusiewicz

he European Baptist Federation (EBF), with the help of its mission partners, has developed the Mission Partnership (MP) program to facilitate evangelism and the planting

of new Baptist churches in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. The MP provides funding for suitably gifted people to work as evangelists and church planters in their own countries. The MP was launched in April 2002 as the response by the EBF

to the needs of nations that are open to the Gospel. The number of MP projects has grown steadily throughout the years. EBF mission partnerships helped start about 200 new congregations by 2014. At least 10,000 people have become members of these churches. MP church planters work in countries of post-communist Eastern and Central Europe, particularly among the Roma people, the Baltic nations, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and amongst Arabic-speaking peoples of the Middle East such as Iraq. Indigenous church planters are selected and supervised by

national Baptist unions. The goal is to start new congregations and thus encourage indigenous leaders for the long term. The MP ministry has seen significant fruit in changed lives and transformed communities. Virtually thousands have been influenced by the Gospel.

Global statistics show that the number of Christians decreased by almost 1.5 percent while Muslims increased by nearly 8 percent during the 20th

century. This statistic is rather alarming. The indigenous mission is a recommended model for successful 10 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE evangelistic work in the 21st century. In the last decade of the 20th century interesting dynamics

of spiritual movement was registered in Eastern Europe that was earlier suppressed by atheistic ideology. As new countries declared independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 and the introduction of freedom, many new churches were being planted by nationals. For example, in Ukraine, there were about 96,000 members in Baptist churches in 1990. This number grew to 150,000 in 2004. In the much smaller country of Moldova, the number of Baptists almost doubled during the same period, from 11,000 to 21,000. In Armenia, the growth has been even more spectacular as from a handful of 400 Baptists in 1991 they grew to about 5,000 in 2004. The role of MP is to facilitate these efforts of indigenous church planters. Baptists are proving to be significant in the societies of Eastern

Europe and indigenous church planters are well mobilized in doing their work. They are most effective because they know the local languages and cultures as well as have local contacts. Daniel Trusiewicz is coordinator of the European Baptist

Federation Indigenous Mission Partnership program. This article contains excerpts from a presentation at a meeting of the BWA Commission on Evangelism. The full paper was published in Baptist Faith & Witness, Book 5.