The Free Methodist Church in
Africa
FMWM IN AFRICA
ALL COUNTRIES
ALL MISSIONARIES
FMWM West Africa Area Fellowship 2022
A Glorious Tapestry
Imagine the countless mighty acts of God in salvation history as pieces of cloth, stitched together ̶by prayer. Think of Abraham’s intercession for his nephew Lot, Samuel’s unending prayers for Israel, David’s cries to be saved from his enemies, Jeremiah weeping for God’s people, the church earnestly praying for imprisoned Peter. Many others could be added to a list like this. And then, we could go beyond the pages of Scripture and find more prayers that have stitched together God’s great salvation and spreading the gospel from its origins in Judea outward in all directions, including southward, to AFRICA!
This “stitching” together of gospel expansion has propelled pastors, evangelists, mechanics, doctors, nurses, teachers and more to cross the vast African continent. It brought the lives of many from outside Africa into the lives of Africans. Again, by the mysterious but marvelous ways of prayer, the Lord has stitched together a fabric of Christian Africa, and our Free Methodist brothers and sisters are part of it. They are guiding, nurturing and extending the Church in more than half the countries in Africa.
Thank you for caring about prayer and making use of this directory. I invite you to see yourself as an essential contributor to the fabric of Christian Africa. Your prayers are as vital as those noted in Scripture and in the history of the Church that followed. The Lord’s saving work is marching forward. Like in the beginning, God’s people today encounter enemies, persecution, heresies and hardships. But through these challenges, the Church is and will be triumphant when supported by the prayers of the saints. Please be encouraged. Your prayers for the Free Methodist work in Africa will be like the prayers of Abraham, Samuel, David and Jeremiah are drawing divine responses from heaven resulting in a glorious tapestry on earth.
Mike Reynen, Africa Area Director
Countries
Africa Area Director
Mike Reynen
Area Director Newsletters
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.
Rufus Kahn
Rufus Kahn is superintendent of the Liberia Provisional Annual Conference and serves as an international missionary for the new work in Sierra Leone. Rufus is just finishing a master’s program and is looking forward to having more time to devote to his leadership in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He is also exploring the start-up of new work in The Gambia
Glenn Lorenz
Glenn Lorenz began serving as the Africa Area Associate Director in October 2022. His work will focus on recruiting, onboarding, training, and coaching missionary teams to live in Africa and support the national church leaders. This revitalized focus will strengthen the connection between the U.S. church and FM ministries throughout Africa.
Glenn and his wife, Wendy, began serving as FMWM missionaries on the Latin America team in 2017. Glenn had experience working with missionary teams and developing healthy leaders in Latin America. Before his missionary service, Glenn chaired the Ministry and Theology Department at Central Christian College of Kansas, planted a church in Arizona, and served a church in the Sierra Pacific Conference.
Glenn’s wife, Wendy, continues working for the Latin America Area, caring for Third Culture Kids (TCKs) in Latin America and providing direction to the Free Methodist TCK Global team.
Emmanuel & Rachel Nzungize
Emmanuel and Rachel met in Kibogora, Rwanda, in 2015 while Rachel was volunteering as nurse at Kibogora Hospital. Emmanuel, a Rwandan, was her translator. Their friendship developed and they were married in 2018. After a few years in the United States, they feel God is calling them back to Kibogora. Both Emmanuel and Rachel are nurses and are excited to care for patients and provide education for other nurses and nursing students. Rachel recently completed her master’s degree in global health and hopes to assist hospital staff with quality improvements as needed. The Nzungizes also look forward to welcoming short-term volunteers and serving as a bridge within the community. They have two young children, Noella and Matayo.
Mike & Vickie Reynen
Mike Reynen works on the formation of churches in Africa by collaborating with African leaders to develop the various aspects of well-rounded church life. Church planting and ministerial education are vital. Mike and Vickie both encourage the missionary team in empowering national leaders. Vickie puts much of her energy into Tumaini Women Kenya, a discipleship-oriented micro-savings and loan ministry, and Thrive (also Kenya), a young women’s ministry discipling and advocating against gender-based violence and sex trafficking.
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 the superintendent of the Togo Provisional Annual Conference. As an international missionary, he now assists in supervising four other countries: Guinea, Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau and Mali. In addition, Dosseh serves as the regional administrative assistant for the area director and the director of the Wesley Missionary Institute.
HEARTBEAT
Obedient to the Call
When forced to leave their home in the Congo, many Free Methodists landed in the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania.The Nyarugusu camp in Tanzania...
Available and Willing
Pastor Yembekezeni Kantini leads a growing Free Methodist church just outside the capital city of Lilongwe, Malawi, in a village called Mtonda. Though a fully organized society, the Mtonda Free Methodist Church had been without a pastor for some time following the death of its pastor. The conference had been unable to provide one, as there was no available trained pastor. During this time, Yembekezeni Kantini volunteered to lead the church. Yembekezeni had no theological training, but he was willing and available.
The Logical Choice
Kalson was a member of Full Gospel Mission back home in the north. But when he came to Douala (Cameroon), he occasionally fellowshipped with the Free Methodists. “Occasionally” is an honest and generous adverb. Kalson is a teacher of philosophy and logic. About two years ago, he came south looking for work. He did find work but did not find time for God. He felt he needed God but says about those days, “Because of rent, I needed to work, and so I set the things of God aside.”
GIVE
Give to Church Planting & Development
Give to Extra Mile Projects
Africa Funds
Burundi
Democratic Republic of Congo
Kenya
Liberia
Nigeria
Rwanda
Togo
West Africa
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.