HIU Professor John Hendee traveled to Africa to provide a three day relational evangelism training this January. This opportunity was provided by Team Expansion, an international organization that partners with local churches to mobilize and train individuals in the church planting movement. Hendee has worked with Team Expansion over the past few years and was delighted to take his first trip to Africa to train fellow Christians in evangelism.

Over 200 of the local church leaders attended the training It’s All About Relationship (IAAR), which focuses on fostering relationships in order to minister to their community.  

The request for this training was a result of major church growth after a mini introduction to IAAR. Previously, 60-70 churches reported 50 baptisms about a year after the intro to IAAR those same churches reported over 900 baptisms.

Several of the attendees stated that they “had never received this kind of training before”. The pastor of the congregation where the training was held told an administrator of Team Expansion that about 2 weeks after the training he could see the great impact the training had made on his local and church community. 

Because of the results of this training and the demand created, Team Expansion is now planning to train 4,000 African church leaders with IAAR over the next five years, in hopes to spread the Gospel.

The IAAR course is part of the Relational Evangelism course offered by HIU. This course prepares people to effectively engage with those open to learning more about Jesus. Students learn how to bring up the subject of the Gospel with others they know and then how to share with those interested, what the Gospel is. For more information on this program contact Phil Towne at [email protected].