An AFM Observation on the AABC

Anglican Frontier Missions looks at the nations and the people whom the church has neglected, the 1.7 billion people who have not yet heard the Gospel.

The All Africa Bishops’ Conference brought together all the Anglican bishops of the continent for fellowship and inspiration.

It was a very black conference. By that I mean that of the 390 bishops present, there was only one who was not black. That would be the Bishop of Egypt and the Middle East, an Arab.

The research I did before leaving Virginia showed that there are 417 million Muslims on the continent of Africa. How many of these are Arab would be hard to say. Many are black. When making estimates of this sort, my practice has been to come in on the low side. The numbers are still astronomical and still staggering.

So let’s say that only 25% of the 417 million Muslims are Arab. That means that on the continent of Africa there are 100 million Arab people. From these the Anglican Church has one bishop.

This brings me to my observation. I mention this not as a criticism, for on what grounds is there criticism for already being Christian? I mention an observation for pointing out an area crying out for new attention.

My observation is that a legitimate focus for the All Africa Bishops of the Anglican Communion should be for the dioceses to increase the learning of Islam, training evangelists, listening strategies, and bringing concentrated prayer for extending the Christian Church and its Anglican branch among these 100,000,000 Arab Muslims.