We are to pray for workers to bring to salvation those God is drawing to Christ (Luke 10:2; John 6:44). God uses human means. Please read the article "Time for African American Missionaries," which appeared in the October 2004 edition The Evangelical Missions Quarterly, which has seven strategies to recruit African American missionaries. It is used by permission of EMQ.
Please also see pages 265-281 and pages 303-304 of Jim's dissertation on this subject. The page numbers refer to the orginal pagination of the document, not to the PDF pagination.
If you have anecdotes and/or suggestions for effective recruitment, please contact us.
Dr. Michael Johnson has a powerful PowerPoint presentation on Divine Dissatisfation.
Here is a 2-page overview of the African American missions picture.
Can thankfulness actually keep God at arm's length and take the focus away from missions?
Many impediments to global missions are gone or greatly reduced. Here are 13 reasons to hope for a resurgence of Black global missions.
Can people who have never heard of Christ and have not rejected him be saved? Dr. Tony Evans' has developed the doctrine of "transdispensationalism," which answers in the affirmative. Go here for the background and a reply to Dr. Evans' views on this matter.
African Americans have pioneered in cross cultural missions since the 1700s. For a brief perspective on the history of African American missions, see pp. 33-68 of this document.
The African American Experience in World Mission: A Call Beyond Community, edited by Vaughn Walston and Robert Stevens, is probably the best contemporary reader in this branch of Christian global outreach.
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matt. 6:21 (NIV). In tabular form, giving to overseas missions in some major Black denominations is compared with giving 40 years previous, and with various White denominational foreign missions giving. Go here for this document.
What have been the impediments to global missions outreach and why are there no excuses to pursue global missions? See this chart for an overview.
What mission structures has the Black church used and now uses? See this chart.
Vaughn Walston compiled an excellent print bibliography concerning African American missions.
A bibliography through 1998 for researchers of African American missions is located here.
Scholarly websites for African American and Africana studies abound. Go here for links to some selected sites, which themselves link to hundreds of other locations. Links were good as of 1/2006.
No research documenting African American overseas missionaries has been available for over 20 years, of which we are aware. That research in 1998 was in an unpublished doctoral dissertation, also available on this website. An article summarizing some of that earlier research, primarily to assist mission executives in recruiting African Americans, can be downloaded here (PDF). Prior to 1998, systematic research by Wilbur Harr (1945) and Sylvia Jacobs (1982) focused upon Black missionaries in Africa. We hope this work will inform, assist, and motivate toward realizing the huge potential of the African American church for global Christian mission!
This is the accepted manuscript for the (very slightly updated) article appearing in the April, 2023 edition of Missiology: An International Review. We deeply appreciate the assistance of many in the African American mission mobilization community, as well as significant help from mission executives. While the authors hold the copyright, and while you may freely download the article, Sage Publications controls reproduction beyond personal use—please see the text box on p. 1 for permissions. https://rmni.org/files/afam/HistoryandResearch/African-American-Missionaries-Serving-Overseas.pdf
Note: Some of the following references may be of interest to researchers. Except as noted at the end, these materials were cited in the director's dissertation.
“The mission of COMINAD is to mobilize Christian descendants of Africa to reach the world, especially the unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
For more information, please contact the National Coordinator, Brian Johnson. Donations can also be sent to the address below.
Brian Johnson
608 Warwick Drive
McDonough, GA 30253 (as of March 2011)
African-American global missions is certainly no prairie fire, but there are brush fires all over the country, which, with the wind of the Spirit, will flare and ignite to result in the considerable human and financial resources of the African American church being utilized for global mission. These sites provide resources toward that end.
- Jim Sutherland
Mission Frontiers devoted their April 2000 issue to “The African American & Missions.” The issue is, thankfully, online. It's worth a visit.
SIM has for years had staff specifically designated for African American recruitment.
Urbana has perhaps the most comprehensive page of links relating to African American missions
Wycliffe Bible Translators has the only section of a major missions–sending organization (of which I'm aware) devoted entirely to African Americans. You'll find information on African American missions and some African American missionaries serving with Wycliffe.
Know the Truth International Ministries specializes in short-term missions trips to eastern Africa, and to the Caribbean.
Blackchurchmissions.org has some unique Black history exhibits and missions information, with links. This is the work of Joel Freeman, who wrote Return to Glory.
Ethnic Harvest has an out-of-date page, but still many valuable Gospel Resources for African Americans.
Arnold Polk, an African American, has developed the interlocking block machine, which produces superior building blocks with far less time and money. Blocks can be used in as regular building blocks for clinics, homes, churches and water catchment systems. For more information, visit Polk Building Ministries.
Four articles from Dr. Michael Johnson, an African American missionary surgeon, serving in Kenya with his wife Kay, since 1990.
Dr. Michael Johnson has a powerful powerpoint presentation on Divine Dissatisfation.
Charisma magazine's Andy Butcher surveyed African American missions in February, 2000.
Many impediments to global missions are gone or greatly reduced. Here are 12 reasons to hope for a resurgence of Black global missions.
Can people who have never heard of Christ and have not rejected him be saved? Dr. Tony Evans' has developed the doctrine of "transdispensationalism," which answers in the affirmative. Go here for the background and a reply to Dr. Evans' views on this matter.
Dr. Michael Johnson is an African American missionary surgeon, who served in Kenya with his wife Kay, from about 1990 until 2011. While continuing orphan care in Kenya, they now are located in the Philadelphia area and have begun ministry to ex-offenders, to those with unwanted pregnancies, and to people needing health care. Their website is: https://thosepeculiarjohnsons.org/. Dr. Johnson can write with a scalpel, as well as operate with one, excising and bringing healing.
Dr. Johnson presented a comprehensive view of his ministry and the African American church and missions at the African American Missions Seminar at Columbia International University in January 2008. View (and download) the PowerPoint presentation from that conference, which he kindly shared with us.
The 2008 revised edition of his very insightful and provocative book Making the Blind Lame: What Jesus Wouldn't Do can be purchased at bookstores such as Amazon or by contacting Paula Kushman at World Gospel Mission, POB 948, Marion IN 46952-0948. You may also order by phone by calling 765-671-7206 Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays (or leave a message any day). The cost is $12.00 and shipping is about $3.00.
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Partnering in missions with:
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