Planning strategies to evangelize the unreached districts of the North Association of Angola Union

Abstract

The North Association mission of Angolan Union of the Seventh-day Adventist Church like all other levels of church organization and institutions, was established to fulfil the great commission given by Christ (Mat 28:18-20) and to preach the gospel to all who dwell on this part of the earth. Therefore the fact that 33 out of 67 municipalities of the North Association are still un-reached is inconsistent with the mission of the church and the purpose of its founding. The purpose of the study is to find out the causes of this anomaly in order to develop and implement a church growth strategy model with a view of reaching the un-reached municipalities within the North Association territories. The following are steps that were taken in this study. The first step was the review of the literature that has direct relevance to the present study. An in-depth study was carried out from the Bible, Spirit of Prophecy, literature written by Adventists and by other Christians and non-Christians on the strategic planning, mission and evangelization as well as on management for mission. In the second step, a survey was conducted in the selected unreached areas and Luanda. After that, literature was consulted in designing a training program for pastors and selected laity. The trained people carried out the program to churches in Luanda, training and motivating the members to participate in the program. Third step was assigning, Luanda´s nine districts, to the 33 unreached districts and giving them a three-month period, to have reached their assigned areas and set up at least branch Sabbath Schools. The fourth step was to periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the program. On the 24th of April 2013 the report and final evaluation took place in the meeting room of North Association and 30 out of 33 districts had been reached with 30 Sabbath School Branches started, with 1060 Sabbath school members and 549 baptized Members. The total laity army membership involved in this evangelistic endeavour was 1156 and the total amount of money used to in the program was Kz 22 951 000.00. The goal had almost been achieved. The study involved a lot of prayer and fasting. There was a need to sell the idea to members by making them aware of the problem and need, training them, and then assigning them districts to evangelize. It would have not succeeded the way it did had the Holy Spirit not been present all the way through. The following are conclusions drawn from the study:  A biblical model of leadership brings about positive results. For example, the cascading nature of the training is taken from the Jesus model. Team work and unity brought about strength because participants supported the work physically and financially. They also encouraged one another. A mammoth task became manageable because it was done by a team.  It is possible for the Nehemiah- Acts –Pert Circular model to be employed in the churches. This study is a living proof that strategic planning is vital for any institution to advance itself. I, therefore, strongly recommend this model for churches of the North Association of Angola Union since there is still a lot of work to be done.