Church of the Nazarene – Africa
Fields & Countries
Discover our fields and countries, with details and publications by each of them.
Discover More
- Africa Central Field
- Africa East Field
- Africa Lusophone Field
- Africa South Field
- Africa Southeast Field
- Africa West Anglophone Field
- Africa West Francophone Field
Number of Countries: 8
Number of Districts: 9
Membership: 27 165
The Africa Central Field is comprised of francophone, lusophone, and hispanophone countries, where the people are surrounded by great difficulties – including war, poverty, and political unrest – but are filled with hope and great potential. Compared to other fields in Africa, it is fairly young and characterized by first-generation leadership. Most Nazarene churches have only been led by one pastor since establishment.
The field is working toward enabling upward mobility through applying the Gospel to the full scope of people’s lives. The Central Field uses evangelism, compassionate ministries, and education as a way to raise up the next generation of leaders. Our goal is to have a thriving church with the means to support its ministries and continue to bring the gospel to unreached areas across the entire field.
The field has a vision for the local people to take on the initiative to fulfil the calls that God has given each of them to serve, and we believe that this will involve churches planting new churches and leaders training new leaders. The Church in the Central Field has seen rapid growth through the use of the Jesus Film for evangelism. The field facilitates the following: leadership development; integrated theological education; mobilization of young adults; children’s ministries; urban outreach; and community engagement through compassionate ministries.
The Central Field is working toward establishing a unified vision for reaching collective goals. Working in unison for the good of the Kingdom, we are focusing on creating an atmosphere of training and education within each local church, allowing leaders to continue to reach new believers for Christ and train future leaders within the Church of the Nazarene.
The Central Field is committed to contributing to the creation and development of a new generation of African leaders from each country within the field.
Field Strategy Coordinator: Rev. Mario Martinez
Number of Countries: 7
Number of Districts: 35
Membership: 152 147
Africa East Field encompasses countries with a long history of civil wars, unrest, post-election violence, political uprisings, unresolved conflict, genocide, and violence. Alongside these crises, are drought, famine, and tribal disturbances.
Our vision is to reach our generation with the message of holiness, today. The distinctive message of holiness reaches through the disturbances and offers life-changing hope and faith that transcends the social issues. Our message of love and compassion are fleshed out through various sustainable relief projects that offer dignity and comfort.
Our mission is to make Christlike disciples and to plant reproducing holiness churches throughout all of East Africa. Making Christlike disciples involves training and educating clergy and laity in various levels of education – equipping those who are called into ministry with the education they need to function their very best in service of the Lord.
Urban ministries projects drive church planting and outreach in the cities, extending work in every major city in East Africa.
Field Strategy Coordinator: Rev. Stanley
Lusophone Field
Number of Countries: 3
Number of Districts: 44
Membership: 248 428
The Church of the Nazarene in the Lusophone Field has roots dating as far back as the arrival of João Dias in 1901. Yet, the Field has grown far beyond the islands and the rapid expansion at times means that we need to continue to deepen our roots. The Field continues to see the ripening fruit of new ideas and new growth areas for which all praise belongs to God.
The most prominent aspect of the Lusophone Field’s identity is the fact that all but one of the countries falling under its jurisdiction are Portuguese-speaking.
This means that contextual understanding has been and continues to be imperative to the growth of the Church in countries falling within this area.
The Church in the Lusophone Field does well with urban ministry in countries with big cities such as Angola and Mozambique, while it is more prominent in the rural areas of small countries such as Cabo Verde.
Field Strategy Coordinator: Rev. Adérito Ferriera
Number of Countries: 6
Number of Districts: 25
Membership: 100 129
The Africa South Field endeavours to provide an environment of grace where people can have an encounter with God through faith in Jesus Christ. We also seek to disciple Christians into a holy lifestyle of being God’s agents of change in their communities. While focusing our work on the 6 nations, we work in response to the Great Commission of Christ and in keeping with the mission of the Church of the Nazarene – “Making Christlike disciples in the nations.” The field facilitates transformation through a number of activities and initiatives.
The field contributes to the collective goals of the Africa region by mobilising the church across the field to respond to a call to ‘unity’ in diversity. As the world moves towards the urban, we prioritize urban ministry by taking the church to the cities, encouraging young clergy who have a vision for urban dwellers, and sensitize district leaders on the need to sponsor new churches in urban space.
Field Strategy Coordinator: Rev. Curtis Solomon Ndlovu
Number of Countries: 3
Number of Districts: 12
Membership: 112 363
Our vision is to preach and teach the message of holiness (biblical holiness) in all the towns and villages on our field (Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe). Our desire is to see lives being renewed and transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. We endeavor to walk in the footsteps of John Wesley by offering holistic ministry to our constituency.
Our mission is to make Christ-like disciples on Africa South East Field and beyond. We have fully embraced the missional approach of taking the Church of the Nazarene where it is not yet. This has resulted in many people joining the Church of the Nazarene in the last five years. The message of holiness has now reached areas like the Northern and Muchinga Provinces of Zambia which were predominantly Roman Catholic domains and there are several Nazarene Churches that are growing steadily.
Number of Countries: 5
Number of Districts: 10
Membership: 34 529
The West Anglophone Field is comprised of 5 countries and is one of the two youngest fields on the Region. All the member countries are coastal nations whose shores are on the Atlantic Ocean. While each of these countries has English as their national or official language, they are surrounded by Francophone countries therefore most people are bilingual.
All the coastal territories are dominantly urban thus providing urban ministry opportunities which we are confident shall help to inspire some of the highest growth statistics across Africa. Ever growing populations in urban areas provide fresh church planting opportunities for the many young people responding to God’s pastoral calling. However, we also want to inspire them to develop vocational skills to help curb youth unemployment. With more than 60% of the population across West Africa being young people, the church is a major catalyst to provide solutions to the challenges confronting youth.
Field Strategy Coordinator: Rev. Vidal Cole
Number of Countries: 9
Number of Districts: 9
Membership: 115 780
With 9 countries under its jurisdiction, the West Africa Francophone Field occupies a significant territorial space in Africa. It is also the youngest Field, where the youth population is less than 30 years old. The West Africa Francophone Field is located in a part of the continent where 60% to 70% of the population subscribes to non-Christian religious practices. West African Francophone countries have in common French, the most widely spoken language in 8 countries.
The 3 major objectives of the West Africa Francophone Field:
- To make Christ-like disciples in every community (whether ethnic, professional or social) to impact and transform lives through the 7 doors of the nations (health, education, culture, media, politics, religion and economy).
- The intentional and effective mobilization of the laity through the development of their potential, the commitment of women and youth for the visibility and presence of the Church of the Nazarene in the cities. The construction of 32 new temples in the major cities over the past two years has been an important part of this mobilization.
- Fellowship that puts the compassion of Jesus Christ as an effective and dynamic means to reach the lost and to bring together men and women from all tribes for a new Africa that triumphs over tribalism, plagues, and racial discrimination.
Field Strategy Coordinator: Rev. Moïse Toumoudagou
