African Youth Leaders Convene in Ethiopia to Launch Continent-Wide Mission Sending Model

The Association of Evangelicals in Africa in partnership with the Global Strategy Forum convened a landmark continental consultation in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, bringing together 26 youth leaders from across the continent to chart the future of African-led mission. The two-day gathering held on 16th and 17th, marked the most significant step yet toward launching the Antioch Youth Mission Sending Model on African soil.

Delegates arrived from Kenya, Botswana, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, representing a breadth of cultural, linguistic, and ecclesial contexts rarely assembled in a single room.

The consultation featured presentations from Dr. William Wagner, Dr. Mark Wagner, Dr. Eli Mercer, Dr. Melinda and Dr. Master Matlhaope, each addressing the critical and often under-recognized role of the African Church in global missions. Speakers pointed to the continent’s demographic trajectory and the window it opens for a new generation of missionaries as a central theme of the gathering.

The Antioch model

At the heart of the consultation was the Antioch framework itself: a structured, biblically grounded approach that sends young missionaries out in pairs, following the “two-by-two” model drawn from the New Testament, under the direct supervision of local churches and National Evangelical Alliances operating under AEA’s continental umbrella.

Sessions were highly interactive. Youth leaders pushed back, asked hard questions, and shaped the model’s implementation plan to reflect realities on the ground, from funding constraints and cross-border logistics to cultural sensitivity and the varying capacity of national alliance structures.

What happens next

Leaving Bishoftu, each of the 26 delegates carries a clear mandate: return home, engage their National Evangelical Alliance leadership, and build the case for national adoption of the Antioch model. The outcome of these country-level conversations will determine which nations move first into a pilot phase.

AEA leadership described the consultative approach as deliberate ownership at the national level, which they stressed, is not optional. It is the foundation on which lasting mission movements are built.

The organization expressed confidence that what began in Bishoftu will grow into a vibrant, self-sustaining movement of young African missionaries serving across the continent and into the world beyond.