The Free Methodist Church in
Africa
FMWM West Africa Area Fellowship 2022
Staggering Prayers of Faith
The Apostle Paul was a great man of prayer. Our perception of him comes, partly, from references to his prayers. To the Ephesian believers, he writes with a fatherly heart, praying that out of His glorious riches, God –
… may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19).
What Paul believes can result from his prayers is staggering! He believes the people for whom he prays can be strengthened with power by God’s Spirit, which is in them. It is amazing! One believer is praying for another. God’s answer comes in this way: He strengthens the believers by His Spirit so Christ abides in them. Then, even more, Paul prays for them to grasp the magnitude of the love of Christ, which is essential and indeed leads to being filled to the measure of the fullness of God! Just ponder this prayer for a moment. Paul is envisioning the believers in Ephesus as filled with the fullness of God. Can we even explain what the fullness of God means?
Nevertheless, Paul believes it can come about by his involvement in praying for them. May we take Paul’s prayer as our inspiration in praying for our African brothers and sisters? Please raise staggering prayers of faith like this, believing that YOUR prayer can have essential involvement in others coming to grasp the love of Christ, which will transform them – filling them with the fullness of God. Pray for pastors and all church leaders to be formed in this way so that the church in Africa will be established on a firm foundation.
Mike Reynen, Africa Area Director
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GIVE
Give to Church Planting and Development (CPD)
Give to Area Development and
Extra Mile Projects (EMP) for Africa
About the Africa Love Fund
Do you have a heart for Africa and want to help us where we find our greatest need? This is where you can do that! Africa Love Fund enables us to aid certain projects, meet small needs in a missionary’s support, or complete a country support budget. It gives us flexibility and the ability to provide funds where needed most.
About the Africa Area Village Church Planting
This fund helps train, equip and resource African leaders in establishing village churches.
About the Africa Area Leadership Development Fund
The task of developing leaders involves gathering people for instruction, delivering instruction, and mentoring those who are becoming leaders. FMWM personnel are involved with developing leaders in several African countries.
About the West Africa Mission Alliance
This will fund the West Africa Mission Alliance for the purpose of meetings for West Africa Area Leaders annually or bi-annually. Also this will engage short term teams from FMCUSA with the ministry in West Africa by including them in these meetings.
About the West Africa Area Fellowship
This will fund West Africa Area Fellowship for the purpose of the Quadrennial meetings for West Africa Area leaders.
Give to Extra Mile Projects (EMP)
Burundi
Democratic Republic of Congo
Ethiopia
Kenya
Liberia
Nigeria
Rwanda
Togo
Zimbabwe
Missionaries
Scott & Natasha Edinger
Scott and Natasha Edinger provide pastoral care for FM missionaries in Africa. This role includes encouragement and spiritual nurture via emails, phone calls and field visits; special care in emergencies or times of crisis; and organization of prayer support.
Jordan & Audrey Kaufmann
At the beginning of February 2025, the Kaufmann family moved to Lomé, Togo. Jordan is the VISA coordinator, facilitating short-term mission trips and projects between U.S. churches and West African congregations. Audrey focuses on administrative support for the FMWM West Africa missionary team.
Tim & Connie Kratzer
Tim and Connie Kratzer served in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in the 1980’s. Tim was the medical director of Nundu Deaconess Hospital and Connie homeschooled their sons while also serving as the mission treasurer and provider of support services. After 1996 war prevented them from returning to Nundu. After years away, they returned in 2012 to see the hospital providing medical care under the leadership of the national church.
Glenn & Wendy Lorenz
Glenn Lorenz began serving as the Africa Area associate director in October 2022. His work includes recruiting, training, and coaching missionaries who will live in Africa and assisting national pastors and leaders as they plant churches and develop new leaders.. Wendy works with the FMWM missionary team in Africa and around the world, leading a team focused on caring for missionary kids (MKs). These MKs are better known as Third Culture Kids (TCKs).
Emmanuel & Rachel Nzungize
Rachel and Emmanuel Nzungize serve as associate missionaries at Kibogora Hospital in Rwanda, where they are both nurses. They also assist with responsibilities at the mission guest house and teach at the local nursing school.
Mike & Vickie Reynen
Mike Reynen works with African leaders toward the expansion of the church and the formation of local churches. Church planting and ministerial education are vital. Mike and Vickie both encourage the missionary team in its work of strengthening and developing national leaders.
Hendrik & Kaylene Smidderks
As FMWM missionaries, Hendrik will lead a team supporting church leaders and mission districts in West Africa and assisting in pastoral training and formation. Kaylene will serve the work of the international missionary team to West Africa, focusing on financial administration and communication.
Moisés & Jacione Souza
Sent by the Free Methodist Church in Portugal, Moisés and Jacione Souza serve as international missionaries to the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe off the west coast of Africa. They launched the first Free Methodist church in São Tomé in January 2019 and now work consistently through various discipleship ministries for children, youth and adults. Many believers are growing in their faith. The couple’s next goal is to identify and train leaders for pastoral ministry. Both Moisés and Jacione were ordained as elders at the 2020 annual meeting of the Free Methodist Church of Portugal. Because the church in Portugal is the sending church, this mission district is under the European area.
Children: Filipa, Giovanna
Dosseh Takpale
Dosseh Takpale is superintendent of the Togo Provisional Annual Conference and pastor of the FMC in Lomé, Togo. As an international missionary, he also supervises FM work in several other countries: Guinea, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso (Creative Access-BA). He serves as director of the Wesley Missionary Institute.
GO
Africa VISA Voyagers: Resident Teachers for Ministerial Education
Potential locations for assignment include Great Commission Bible School, Malawi, Wesley Missionary Institute, Togo, or Liberia in its pastoral education program. Individuals would commit to a year or longer service. There are great opportunities to help individuals develop in ministry. Malawi and Liberia systems are modular, Togo is residential. Interested teachers will discuss with field leadership to discern a best place of service.
Africa VISA Team: Church Construction/School Repairs
This is for teams who wish to participate in the project of constructing a church or repairing school buildings. In most cases this would include working under the direction of local builders. It could include cement block laying, cement work, basic woodworking. Often the projects are in hot environments. Good health is a necessity. Team size could be between four and ten members.
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ALL MISSIONARIES
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