C. Peter Wagner and Joseph Thompson: Out of Africa
C. Peter Wagner and Joseph Thompson, eds., Out of Africa: How the Spiritual Explosion Among Nigerians is Impacting the World (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2004), 219 pages, ISBN 9780830732920.
Every once in a while, I get to review a “must read” book and this is one that every sensitive person in Christendom must read. I was challenged from the moment I began to read the introduction, and I did not halt my reading until I had reached the end of the book.
Peter Wagner has partnered with Joseph Thompson, a Nigerian born minister who is part of Ted Haggard’s New Life Church in Colorado Springs, to produce this short book that describes a move of God that most of us in America know little about.
Wagner starts this inspiring book with the introduction that sets forth some numerical statistics that are necessary preparation for what follows. I have been to West Africa, Northern Africa and my engineering firm had a good-sized project in Cape Town, South Africa. I had acquaintances in both construction and missionary efforts in Nigeria including Sam Odunike, who at one time was a local leader in my denomination’s efforts in his country. I have read about the “success” of Christianity in Nigeria and news accounts about the rivalry between the Muslim and Christian populations there. Even with all of that background, I was astonished by what I read.
I did not know that half of Africa’s people live in Nigeria or that one of every five black persons in our world lives there. I learned of the comparison that Nigeria is two and one half times the size of Texas. I knew that Africa is producing Christians every day and that it was a large number. Wagner’s introduction cites David Barrett who believes that each day in Africa 24,500 souls are added to the Kingdom of God. We add 5,000 a day in the United States.
The church in Africa grows at 2.62 percent per year. In Nigeria, half of the population professes Christianity. That means right now that there are 75 million people who claim to follow Jesus and next year there will be 86 million that say so. In ten years, Nigeria will be as Christian as any nation can become. No other nation has achieved the depth of belief that Nigeria possesses today. Peter describes his astonishment at his own experiences during his travels to this country, starting with a pastoral training session ten years ago to which 13,000 pastors came.
Joseph Thompson writes the first chapter which he titled “Rising from the Mediocre to the Miraculous.” Pastor Thompson chronicles the period in his country following the Second World War and the utter despair his people faced not many years ago—despair which can still be found. Corruption and every type of evil were pervasive as Nigerians found themselves without income and without hope. Out of this despair, Christians began gathering for annual and then more frequent prayer gatherings. These gatherings were led by a number of professionals, Nigeria’s lawyers, engineers, doctors, and architects. These leaders quickly became a force for a difference in their country—a prayer force—and our God responded.
Thompson continues to critique the movement and what he sees as necessary to sustain it for the generations to come. Training leaders who will come after us is the key. The book continues for ten more chapters each written by someone with a strange sounding name—at least to my ears. One of these authors pastors the largest Christian Church in Europe, with 20,000 who assemble weekly in the name of the One to Whom we owe all. Think of that, a Nigerian leading the largest church in Europe!
You will read of churches and audiences that number far beyond anything most of us have seen or will ever see. You will learn what brilliant Nigerian professionals, who have left “successful” careers to labor for that which is eternal, see as strengths and weaknesses in their own lives.
This is must reading. Get a copy of this book and find a quiet place where you can read without interruption. You will gain a fresh sense that God is moving throughout the earth—reconciling a peculiar people, lost people, in greater numbers than ever before. Great things are going on every day as God showers His favor on so many including you and me.
Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns
Preview Out of Africa: books.google.com/books?id=P85CgHvj0VQC
