Our History

Evangelism Explosion is a Christian ministry founded in 1962 by Dr. D. James Kennedy.

Vision

Every nation equipping every people group and every age group to witness to every person.

Purpose

Equipping believers to multiply in and through local churches worldwide.

When did Evangelism Explosion start in Africa?

Evangelism Explosion was first launched in Africa in 1978, in Pretoria, South Africa by Pastor Johan Landman, with a Leadership Training Clinic for 40 pastors and church leaders. In the 1980’s, Evangelism Explosion (EE) leaders introduced the ministry in three other nations of southern Africa. In 1987, a missionary in Kenya started the ministry in the church where Dr. Ron Tyler attended, making a total of five African nations in which EE was established. Starting in August 1988, the rapid expansion of Evangelism Explosion began through the leadership of Dr. Ron Tyler. Ron, a Methodist missionary who was appointed the first EE Continental Vice President for Africa. Under Ron’s leadership, the ministry was launched in 48 of the 53 African nations by the end of 1995;

In 1989, the first Kenya and Nigeria clinics were held. Also in 1989, two missionaries and two pastors from Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) attended an EE Clinic in France. By the end of 1989, thirteen nations had started EE.
Then, in 1990 the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon held the first two Africa French clinics. Also, in 1990, Ghana and Uganda hosted their first clinics. By the end of 1990, EE had started in eighteen nations.
In 1991, the first Arabic North Africa clinic was held in Cairo, Egypt. The strategic clinic-base locations set up throughout the vast continent made it possible to expand EE more rapidly and more cost-effectively into the other nations.

In 1978, Pastor Johan Landman launched Evangelism Explosion in Pretoria, South Africa, with a Leadership Training Clinic for 40 pastors and church leaders. Since then, thousands of other clinics have been conducted in that nation. Those clinics equipped tens of thousands more pastors and leaders. From the beginning, the response to Evangelism Explosion (EE) was very positive. The ministry spread throughout South Africa to more than 1000 denominations.

Early in its ministry, Evangelism Explosion South Africa caught the Great Commission vision. It reached out to neighboring nations, taking clinics to Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Madagascar. It was even instrumental in taking Evangelism Explosion to Thailand and Russia.

Missionary Jim Smith arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Zaire, in 1978. One of his first steps was to establish a training school for pastors, evangelists, and Bible teachers. Because of his own experience with Evangelism Explosion in the States, Jim made EE the evangelism course for his school. In three months alone, his 45 EE-trained students had led 1,420 men and women to Christ!

Dr. Dale Garside and Pastor Dede Kikavuanga also had a large part in launching Evangelism Explosion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their first of 20 clinics was held in Kinshasa, the capital. The response among pastors and churches was very enthusiastic. A healthy, steady growth has marked the advance ever since. In fact, DRC may have more EE trainers than any other country in French-speaking Africa.

In 1988, EE’s newly appointed Vice President for Africa, Dr. Ron Tyler, moved with his wife Belinda and their two children to Nairobi, Kenya. There they set up a continental office from which Ron would direct Evangelism Explosion (EE) ministry throughout Africa.

Not long after their arrival in Kenya, Ron traveled to Ghana, Liberia and Uganda, selecting key leaders to attend the first Kenya Evangelism Explosion Clinic to be held at Good Shepherd Africa Gospel Church in Nairobi. Ron was assisted in the clinic by Larry Walker, the missionary who began Evangelism Explosion in Kenya; Rev. John Muehleisen, the missionary pastor of Good Shepherd Church; and Allen Avery, a missionary living in Zimbabwe.

The 18 pastors and church leaders who attended the clinic were enthusiastic. Most of them returned home and established their own clinic bases. Thus Evangelism Explosion spread. Currently some 2,500 churches in Kenya continue to provide Evangelism Explosion (EE) training. Approximately 18,500 people have been trained to date, and they have led an estimated 400,000 men and women to Christ.

Christophe Dembele was first trained in a clinic in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire (formerly known as Ivory Coast), in 1992. He returned to Mali and began training the leaders of his church in Bamako. Since being trained in Evangelism Explosion (EE) and implementing it within his congregation, his church has been instrumental in starting five daughter churches. The first Mali Evangelism Explosion clinic was conducted in June 1994 for 22 pastors and church leaders. Since then, more than 400 more clinics have been held in Mali.

West Africa appointed its first director in 1994. The leadership of Christophe Dembele has been the most significant contribution to Evangelism Explosion’s success and growth. Christophe got off to a rough start. Three different groups of trainees quit on him! But he kept at it, and God honored his perseverance. The first Advisory Council was established in 1999 with four members.

The Clinic Notebook, Training Notebook, and various “Partner” booklets have been translated into Bambara, the mother tongue of most Malians. Leaders and pastors from neighboring nations (Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Niger) have been trained at Mali clinics.

In 1990, Milad Doss, the Egyptian expatriate whom we met in previous chapters, traveled to Egypt to introduce EE to some of his fellow Egyptian pastors. Traveling with him was Gary Letchworth, also introduced in Chapter Seven. Both men had the blessing of Ron Tyler, Continental Vice President for Africa.

In addition to introducing EE, Milad and Gary selected an Egyptian pastor, Karam Azab, to receive EE training at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The next February (1991), Karam, after receiving the EE training, returned to Cairo, where he equipped ten church leaders at his Shobra Evangelical Church. Milad and his wife Margaret taught the first EE clinic in the Shobra Church. The training materials, in Arabic, were photocopied for that first clinic.

That September, 1991, Inverness Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, provided scholarships for two other Egyptian pastors to take the EE training in Baltimore. In 1995, a pastor from Alexandria, Egypt, was trained at Egypt’s second clinic in Cairo. He has since equipped 21 church leaders in his church. In 1996, his church in Alexandria hosted its first clinic. In 1998, a pastor from Sohaj, Upper Egypt, was trained in a Cairo clinic. Gradually, EE was working its way through the admittedly small Christian community in Egypt.