The small Seventh-day Adventist community in the western African country of Equatorial Guinea grew by more than 20 percent last month following an evangelistic series lead by volunteers from Montemorelos, Mexico.
A group of 11 students and employees from the Adventist Church’s Montemorelos University, along with volunteers from the United States, worked with local Adventists to conduct evangelistic meetings in the cities of Bata and Malabo. Organizers report that hundreds of people attended the evening meetings, which featured music, children’s stories, and preaching.
Equatorial Guinea, the only Spanish-speaking nation on the African continent, had less than 1000 Adventist believers before the meetings began. As a result of the evangelistic outreach, 220 new Adventist believers have been baptized.
A number of doctors and health care professionals from Montemorelos, specializing in eye care, accompanied the evangelistic team. They saw more than 2,000 patients, and issued and adjusted some 2,000 pairs of eyeglasses.
Pastor Omar Velásquez, senior pastor of the University of Montemorelos church, and his wife Rocio, headed the group of volunteer missionaries. Other speakers traveled from the United States, including Adventist Church vice president Armando Miranda, who preached at different venues around the country and conducted training seminars for church employees and lay people. During his presentations Miranda emphasized the three core values of the Adventist Church: Unity, Growth, and Quality of Life.
The Equatorial Guinea evangelistic event was organized and directed by Pastor Simon Madrigal, from the United States, in cooperation with Pastor Francisco Gavin, president of the Adventist Church in Equatorial Guinea.
Equatorial Guinea is located within the “10/40 Window,” an area of the world where sharing Christianity is difficult. The 10/40 Window stretches through Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa, encompassing 60 percent of the world’s population, but only 1 percent of the world’s Christians.