The impact of the “World Evangelisation” book

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Published: Saturday, 04 January 2025 00:00

The impact of the “World Evangelisation” book

I’m Philbert Nzohabonimana, a missionary mobiliser from Burundi. I am married with Mellissa and we are blessed with two daughters Shammah, Heri and our adopted son Bonheur.  I’m engaged in mission mobilization using Steef van ‘t Slot’s book “World Evangelization – That All May Hear” (hereafter W.E.) in Burundi, in Africa and beyond.

Since I first became acquainted with this teaching tool in 2017, I’ve used it throughout the world in different countries, teaching W.E in different international mission mobilization conferences.

In Burundi, I started to translate the book into Kirundi in 2018. The main challenge we have in our country, is that many useful books come in languages that we don’t speak, like English, Swahili, French, etc. Churches and mission agencies had no Kirundi material to use in their mobilization for missions.

Therefore, after translating and using the W.E book, many churches understood the purpose of God for reaching unreached people groups. They also understood that the Great Commission is present in the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Now we see the involvement of the church of Burundi to participate in God’s mission by praying, giving and preparing to send missionaries into the north of Africa.

I have a committed team that was raised from the training and teachings of the W.E book. This team helps me to teach and mobilize churches in Burundi and in other African countries. In our missions center in Bujumbura, we have a store of printed books. So far, we printed thousands of W.E. books in Kirundi, French, Swahili and in English that we are using in Africa.

Recently, we also translated the three volumes of Steef’s Theology of Missions, “The Bible’s Missionary Message” into Kirundi, which form a welcome addition to the resources we now have to mobilize the church in Burundi.

Other countries where I introduced and taught W.E. are: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Chad, Zambia, Malawi the D.R. Congo, Brazil, Peru, Argentine, India, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Nepal. The people we trained, now train others in these countries.

As a result of the introduction and teaching of the W.E book, we see a great impact on people, because it helps them understand their calling from God, to respond to the Great Commission. The book, over the past years, has become a treasured tool for them, because they had no other materials that were helping them to mobilize the church in their language.

For example, in Brazil, the Portuguese translation is being used. Pastor Rodrigo from the Baptist church has trained a team that uses the W.E book to mobilize churches in his country. They have printed many books at their own initiative and for their own cost.

Moreover, in 9 Spanish-speaking countries in South America, Pastor Martinez with his team, is using W.E books to mobilize churches and Christian organizations at mission mobilization conferences. The books help people to understand their possible role in missions and so respond to God’s calling. I have seen many missionaries being recruited through W.E teachings. They print the book in increasing numbers in Spanish, and do so without outside sponsorship.

In Indonesia, the book is being used in Bible studies, seminaries, schools of mission and in mission mobilization conferences. Since its introduction and teaching in 2022, it has raised a movement of 500 graduate university students who have responded to God’s missionary call. They are now being prepared as missionaries to go to mission fields in Asia and North Africa. They have printed many books in English and are using them. They plan to translate the W.E book into their own language and will print it from their own funds.

The book is also used in India to mobilize university students and churches. In Nagpur Theology University it forms part of the curriculum as missions course. Pastor Emmanuel helped me expanding the treasures from this book after meeting him in 2022, when I was introducing and teaching it in a mission mobilization conference in that city.

During these three years, (2021-2024) I managed to travel in 20 countries to teach this book in mission mobilization conferences, mission summits, pastors- and church leaders’ training, university students’ mission conferences, schools of mission, global mission mobilization consultations, at a Presbyterian missions congress in Seoul South korea, as a panelist, facilitating different workshops, and sharing my own mission experiences.

Its impact also shows from the fact that many who heard about the results, invited me to come to their  countries to speak and teach the contents of the book. When I do that, I take W.E. books with me, which they buy as a contribution of helping us continue printing more copies.

During these 3 years, the W.E book was used by more than 20 churches and Christian organizations. Wherever it is used, people testify that it’s changing their lives and that’s why they respond to God’s call as they start  to see what God is doing and how they can partner with Him in His mission.