Christ Is For All Nations
Maseru, Lesotho. The destination, in 1969, of a young German missionary named Reinhard Bonnke, his wife Anni and their baby son. The place where it all began as God shaped a young man of faith and began to mold the "character of faith" in him that would later challenge the devil across the entire continent of Africa and in scores of still undreamed-of places beyond.
The Bonnke family spent seven long years in Maseru, doing traditional missionary work. But during those years the call to evangelism that burned in Reinhard’s soul took wings, until by repeated miracles and moves of the Holy Spirit, literally millions of men and women across the world have heard the good news of the Gospel through his anointed ministry. Back then, he would never have imagined the impact of his life and legacy on a generation of young evangelists to come!
our ministry through the years | gallery
In those early days in Lesotho, God showed Reinhard a vision of a “blood-washed Africa.” Even though at that time there was little or no evidence in his ministry that such a grand idea was even remotely possible, Reinhard took hold of the vision and in Jesus’ name began to speak it and live it.
In 1974, the evangelistic organization Christ for all Nations was born, with a small team gathered around the young evangelist to reach out to the peoples of Africa. They hosted their first meeting in Botswana with just one small fellowship co-operating and only one hundred attendees. Reinhard was disappointed, but nevertheless preached as if the place were full. To his complete amazement, after only a few minutes, a man in the congregation jumped to his feet and disrupted the proceedings by shouting out, “I’ve just been healed!” This was repeated five times over as others shouted out the same thing, resulting in an outburst of joyous praise.
The news that God was doing miracles in the stadium soon spread across the city and by the final meeting, for the first time in his life, Reinhard preached to a packed stadium. Thousands streamed forward for forgiveness of their sins, hundreds were healed and thousands more were baptized in the Holy Spirit - and this was just the beginning. On a return visit to Botswana twelve years later, the leader of a large denomination reported that eighty percent of his current pastors were converts from that first crusade in Gaberones.
From that point onwards, the preaching of the Word continued to produce a harvest of souls and people were healed of all kinds of diseases.
The Yellow Tent
Events moved rapidly after this as the Yellow Tent seating ten thousand people was built and the fruit of the ministry began to increase. Follow-up teams were formed to help usher the new converts into the local churches and preparation teams began to travel in advance of the ministry team to prepare the ground for harvest.
The Big Tent
Before long the need for a larger tent was confirmed by a word from the Lord about the biggest tent of all, one that would seat thirty-four thousand people. Large enough to completely cover three football fields, with masts that rose as high as a six-story building, the "Big Tent" was a giant in every respect. It stood like a gigantic combine harvester, ready to move out into the ripe harvest fields of Africa.
Greater Things
As massive as it was, the “Big Tent” quickly became too small for the crowds. Open-air crusades became the order of the day as hundreds of thousands flocked to every meeting. At one particular crusade held in Lagos, Nigeria, 1,600,000 people came to a single meeting with a total of 6,000,000 attending the five days of services. The ministry team moved from East Africa to West Africa and back again as two separate technical and support teams, organized events on opposite sides of the continent.
Influential leaders started noticing the huge crowds and the positive impact of the Gospel. Reinhard Bonnke was asked to meet State Presidents and address Houses of Parliament. Many leading national figures opened their own hearts to the message of the Gospel while meeting privately with Reinhard. Throughout his life, he personally met with fourteen different State Presidents in Africa, and several became personal friends.
Throughout his life, Reinhard Bonnke preached face to face to multiplied millions of people in Africa alone, and of that vast number, over 79,000,000 responded to the call of salvation by filling out decision cards and were ushered into the church follow-up program.
Beyond Africa
The ministry continued to increase the yearly number of crusades in Africa. They also began to branch out to Asia holding crusades in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and India. Next, they started reaching South America and other regions with gospel crusades. Each event resulted in tens of thousands receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior, and multitudes were healed and delivered.
As gospel crusades were planned throughout the world and an explosive harvest of salvations continued, the need to have regional offices for the ministry became evident. New offices were established in strategic locations around the world, resulting in over ten offices that currently reach people locally and facilitate the growth of the ministry. While it is still one ministry with one vision, each regional office is equipped to communicate and provide resources that are more relevant to the cultures near them, enabling our staff to continue serving our partners with excellence.
CfaN Publications
An impactful and important arm of this ministry is CfaN’s literature work. Reinhard Bonnke wrote a number of books and booklets, as has Daniel Kolenda. At present, a total of over 200,000,000 books have been printed in 53 different countries, and translated into more than 111 languages and dialects.
Our emphasis on preaching the Gospel and reaping the harvest also includes a strong discipleship component. CfaN has always had a very strong follow-up system, working hand-in-hand with local churches. To carry this out, we have printed over 100 million booklets entitled, “Now That You Are Saved”, which are the vital follow-up booklets new believers receive after accepting Christ! These booklets handed-out at Gospel crusades outline the next steps new believers should take to grow in their faith, and helping to connect them to a local church for discipleship. To date, we have translated “Now That You Are Saved” into 67 different languages and dialects!
But that’s not all! Did you know that over 60% of the entire population of Africa is under the age of 25? And more than half of those are under the age of 16! When we say, “Africa shall be saved”, we have to be intentional and committed to reaching the children and youth of Africa. That’s why we realized the important need to provide children with their very own follow-up booklet when they accept Jesus at our Gospel crusades and Kids Outreaches, entitled “What’s Next?” This children’s version is the same, powerful Gospel message, but in language that young children can understand, read and reread, building the same first steps in faith that adults do. The distribution of “What’s Next?” began in 2021 with more than 2,300,000 copies printed, and translated into 8 languages and dialects. This is only the beginning! Even now, additional languages are being translated!
Passing The Baton
At his farewell crusade in Lagos, Nigeria in 2017, Reinhard Bonnke officially and publicly appointed Daniel Kolenda as his successor. Daniel had been serving as President and CEO of Christ for all Nations since 2008. An evangelist from a young age, with a passion for the Gospel, Daniel first pursued his ministry calling as a pastor and church planter. To financially support his family, he took a job in the Christ for all Nations warehouse. This led to a position assisting and traveling with Reinhard Bonnke. As they worked together, Reinhard recognized the calling on Daniel’s life, giving him more preaching and leadership opportunities. A similar anointing, passion to reach the lost with the Gospel, and a vision for the global harvest were key qualities of Christ for all Nation’s new leader.
A Legacy To Be Remembered
On December 7, 2019, heaven gained a great general of the faith, Reinhard Bonnke. Countless people impacted by his ministry carry on his legacy and millions of souls’ eternal salvation will forever remain the greatest fruit of his life. His ministry saw more than 75,000,000 people come to Christ in a thirty-year window, between 1987 and 2017. That number had reached 79,000,000 when he died, 1,000,000 salvations on average for every year of his life. Imparting something to the next generation for the sake of the global harvest was a burden he carried, especially in his later years, after hearing the phrase, “Oh Reinhard Bonnke was just the forerunner of a whole generation of Holy Spirit evangelists,” in a dream. Training an army of evangelists to reach the nations remains a central mission of Christ for all Nations.
The Decade of Double Harvest
The Decade of Double Harvest is vision from the Lord received by Daniel Kolenda to reach 150 million souls in the current decade. The vision extends beyond this accelerated harvest to training a generation of Holy Spirit evangelists. Multiply and collaborate are the key components to this strategy. Multiplication centers on training, equipping, and launching through Schools of Evangelism, Evangelism Bootcamps, and a School of Ministry. In January 2020, Christ for all Nations launched the first Evangelism Bootcamp, a highly intensive training for crusade evangelism, which starts in Orlando and finishes with an initiation trip to Africa. Students are trained to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, and bring multitudes into the experience of the Holy Spirit. This growing team of co-evangelists is impacting the nations, especially through pre-crusade strategies like Gospel trucks, school outreaches, and one-on-one evangelism.
Decapolis and Other Harvest Strategies
Operation Decapolis campaigns were started with the goal of reaching ten cities at a time with simultaneous crusades. CfaN organizers, technicians and support staff prepare and carry out these crusades with Bootcamp co-evangelists. Daniel Kolenda preaches at each location for one night. The first Operation Decapolis Event in June 2021 reached 553,300 people in five Tanzanian cities with five simultaneous crusades preached at by ten Evangelists, and 60,752 people made documented decisions for Christ! The second Operation Decapolis in October 2021 targeted six locations across Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania with six simultaneous five-day crusades. The total number of documented decisions for Christ during the crusade and pre-crusade outreaches was 210,553! Operation Decapolis is slated to continue increasing in the coming years for a multiplied impact!
Further Multiplication
Standalone Outreaches are also increasing around the globe, reaching schools, and utilizing Gospel trucks to preach in villages. CfaN’s impeccable reputation of integrity for over 40 years of ministry in Africa has given our teams access schools across Africa. Most people make a decision for Christ in their youth, making students a critical population. Our co-evangelists are also trained, empowered and resourced to hold Standalone Crusades wherever God calls them. When considering this great army of evangelists reaching the lost, the prophecies of a billion-soul harvest seem entirely within reach!
Collaboration
As one of the most influential evangelistic ministries in the world, Christ for all Nations is committed to helping other ministries and bringing evangelists together in Kingdom collaborations for the sake of the harvest. To reach the end time harvest, collaboration is imperative. In 2017, under the umbrella of Empowered 21, CfaN was commissioned by global apostolic leaders to establish the Global Evangelist Alliance (GEA) with members from every region of the world. Every year, GEA leadership and members meet for inspiration, training, fellowship, and strategy. Additionally, the Christ for all Nations Evangelism Alliance (CfaN EA) offers evangelists in the CfaN community ongoing training, resourcing, and collaboration. Another powerful initiative, The Send, joins many together in large gatherings to spark the worldwide missions movement, calling young people to missions, evangelism, and prayer.
Nations Church
August 15, 2021 was another marking moment in the history of Christ for all Nations, the launch day of Nations Church. The vision for Nations Church came as an army of evangelists gathered in Orlando reaching the lost for Jesus. Nations Church is a modern-day Antioch for these evangelists and their families, a hub for global ministry. It is also a local church reaching the neighborhoods of Central Florida with the same Gospel power that’s shaking the nations. People are experiencing God, receiving salvation, healing and deliverance, and finding true community at Nations Church. It is the local church expression of Christ for all Nations.
Yet Greater Harvests
Such is the magnitude of what God has done and is doing as His servants are obedient to His words and go out to bring in the harvest, locally and globally. Reflecting on this rich history, it is clear that there is nothing God cannot do! CfaN continues to expand as this army of Holy Spirit evangelists reaches the nations with the Gospel, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is truly Lord of all. As we collaborate and multiply and as you stand with us faithfully in prayer and financial support, we will see greater and greater harvests. Together, we will indeed be able to save countless souls by plundering hell to populate heaven.
