Nearly 600 Nazarenes from 12 countries in east and central Africa gathered at Africa Nazarene University in Nairobi, Kenya, with others from around the world for prayer, worship, and the study of God's Word during the second Africa Regional Conference, held 16 to 21 August.

Before the official opening of the conference, Nazarene Theological Seminary President Carla Sunberg challenged listeners on Sunday morning to change the world for Christ.

"As we love Christ," Sunberg said, "we will love others and want to serve them as Christ did, leading to Christlike transformation of self and society."

Serving Christ through engaging fully in ministry was also a theme followed by General Superintendent Eugénio R. Duarte, keynote speaker, at the Africa East Field ordination service. Through a personal testimony of how he passed up a coveted engineering scholarship to pastor a local church in Cabo Verde and contrasting the actions of Judas and Peter when faced with confusion in ministry, he reminded his listeners that ministers of the gospel do well to keep an attitude of gratitude, maintain fellowship, and take advantage of opportunities to nourish the soul.

The regional conference opened with a Sunday evening service in which Regional Director Filimao Chambo shared from Isaiah 52:10, "...Prepare the way of the Lord..." His testimony of his grandmother's frequent prayer at the breakfast table reminded his audience they should be thankful for a godly heritage. He used Romans 10:13-15 to challenge the audience to not grow complacent: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?"

Sending and going to make Christlike disciples in the nations was infused in teaching throughout the week, from Sunberg's session on the need for discipleship to workshops lead by Discipleship Ministries Coordinator Daphne Mathebula and others to inspiring personal testimonies of African missionaries like Friday Ganda, called to "Prepare the Way of the Lord" in new areas of Africa, to panel discussions focused on missions led by Africa East Field Coordinator Don Gardner, and in brainstorming sessions led by Global Mission Director Verne Ward.

"During early morning and late night prayer, during the worship music of the Africa East Field and Rwanda's New Generation worship teams, in the dance of the Maasai, and during the powerful, Spirit-filled holiness messages shared by West Field Coordinator Daniel Gomis, over and again the cry was raised for Africans to go out and reach other Africans for Jesus," said missionary Monica Carr. "As Gomis shared, our time is now. Like David, we are to come in the name of the Lord. Though the devil tries to make believers think they are still slaves, we have been liberated. We are no longer like a caged lion, but a lion roaming free, ready to go and share the Good News with others, ready to sing a redemption song so that others, too, might know of Christ's perfect and transforming love."

--Church of the Nazarene Africa Region via Out of Africa