Two AG Districts Jumpstart Africa's Hope Discovery Series Translations

More than 4.2 million African believers worship in 13,700 Portuguese-speaking Assemblies of God churches. Over 11,600 of these churches are without a fully trained pastor.

"The Angola and Mozambique AG specifically requested that Africa's Hope speed the translation and printing of the Portuguese Discovery Series, so this was made one of the priority translation languages for this year," says John Easter, director of Africa's Hope. This 38-title Discovery Series curriculum, developed by Africa's Hope, is specifically designed to equip Pentecostal ministers in Africa.

By 2020, the Africa's Hope Journey of Discovery campaign to make the Discovery Series available in 12 languages spoken in 45 African nations, could affect every national church on the continent. Tens of thousands of African pastors are untrained or undertrained and will benefit from the Discovery Series in their heart languages.

According to Easter, due to recent investments from the West Florida and Oregon AG districts, great strides have been made to respond to the Discovery Series translation costs associated with the project.

In addition to their investment of $150,000 for Portuguese translation of the Discovery Series, the West Florida District has also contributed $125,000 to complete construction of the Huambo Bible Training Center in Huambo, Angola.

Tommy Moore, West Florida District superintendent says, "With the rising tide of anti-Christian forces, Africa is a more strategic part of the world for the propagation of the gospel than ever before. The West Florida investment in the structural project of the Huambo Bible Training Center, along with the Portuguese translation of the Discovery Series, will equip the national church to proclaim the Word of God to those who so desperately need to hear."

The Oregon District is adopting a Discovery Series translation project for the Amharic language, a major language of Ethiopia. It is a $150,000 investment in Africa.

Boyd Powers, the Oregon Ministry Network lead pastor of Administration and Missions, says there were two significant factors that influenced the decision to focus their efforts on the Discovery Series translation projects in Ethiopia.

"Firstly, equipping and empowering the Ethiopian AG has the potential of advancing the mission of God throughout the entire Horn of Africa and beyond. Secondly, offering training both in the vernacular of the people and in their context provides the necessary conditions for the dynamic work of the Holy Spirit, which we believe will lead to exponential growth throughout the region."

Each book of the 38-title Discovery Series costs about $5 to place in the hands of an African pastor in his or her own language. The $5 figure includes initial translation costs, printing, and then shipping to Africa.

"We are so thankful that we have part of this project already covered due to the generosity of our district partners," Easter says. "This investment will serve the African AG fellowship by opening training opportunities to pastors and church leaders in this part of the world."

For more information on Africa's Hope, the Discovery Series, or the Huambo Leadership Training Center project, visit africashope.org. To watch a video about the Ethiopian translation of the Discovery

Amber Weigand-Buckley