About – African Enterprise South Africa

Our Vision

Transformed lives in Christ through an empowered Church.

Our Mission

To evangelise the cities of Africa in word and deed in partnership with the Church.

Our Story South Africa

African Enterprise is a Pan-African evangelistic organization that has been evangelizing the cities of Africa through mission in Word and Deed in partnership with local churches for over 60 years! We’ve only just begun…

Our passion to proclaim the Gospel is carried out primarily through evangelistic outreaches (‘missions’) in the major cities of Africa. We believe that all people – from street children to presidents – need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be transformed by the WORD!

We are equally passionate about reaching out in DEED to those who are in desperate need – the poor and marginalized. In addition to addressing the basic food needs of the starving, we implement community projects to transfer skills that empower them to earn a living and care for themselves and their families.

Throughout its existence African Enterprise has played a pivotal role in Africa: in bringing peace and reconciliation during conflict; bringing hundreds of thousands of people to church; and providing vulnerable people with new life options through apprenticeship programs.

Our Core Values

Authority of Scripture

We hold to Christ’s sacrifice and love for us to bring us to eternal life as outlined in the bible and we subscribe to the Lausanne Covenant.

Commitment

We are committed to honoring God along with our partners, effective evangelism, discipleship, peacebuilding, social action and sustaining our work.

Excellence

We are committed to achieving best outcomes through skill, innovation, authenticity and continuous improvement in all we do.

Integrity

We reflect integrity in our accountability to supporters and beneficiaries, trustworthiness, incorruptibility and honesty.

Unity

We believe in unity witnessing to our faithfulness to God’s command, and which is reflected in good teamwork, synergy, respect, conflict prevention, and partnership with churches and other strategic partners.

Claimed for Christ

1963-1971

Our History

At the youthful age of 21 African Enterprise (AE) Founder Michael Cassidy, received this clarion call from the Lord, “I want you to do evangelism in the cities of Africa.” The call came whilst Michael was attending a Billy Graham Crusade in Madison Square Garden, New York – Michael being inspired by Billy Graham’s preaching as most were!

Michael Cassidy and Billy Graham

Michael went on to study (post-graduation) at Fuller Theological Seminary and during a seminary vacation in 1961 toured some of the major cities in Africa. As part of this tour Michael Cassidy was invited by the local university in Pietermaritzburg (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) to speak on his vision for Africa.

What followed was an invitation from the ministers fraternal in the city to conduct a two-week city-wide mission from 12th – 21st August 1962 in the Pietermaritzburg City Hall; it was set to be the first inter-denominational and inter-racial city-wide evangelistic campaign in the apartheid era. Says Michael Cassidy (reflecting on this momentous occasion), “Never could we have dreamed how successful this mission would be. We found that our calling to the cities of Africa was not just a youthful dream but a deep reality of spiritual substance.”

1962 – AE’s first ever Mission at The City Hall, Pietermaritzburg

Thus was African Enterprise birthed and launched – a product of Pietermaritzburg. AE became a legal corporation in June 1963 and set up its first-ever office in the city of its birth.

Our History

Festo Kivengere and Michael Cassidy

Opportunities for AE missions opened all around South Africa; in cities, towns, universities and schools. After a mission to Nairobi in 1969, an East African team was established in Uganda in 1971 under the leadership of Bishop Festo Kivengere. AE moved from being South African to being Pan-African.

Today AE has twelve teams spread across the continent of Africa – in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Ghana.

AE’s International office is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 1974 AE leadership attended the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelism from which the Lausanne Covenant emanated. AE adopted the Lausanne Covenant and constitutionally enshrined it as its ‘Statement of Faith’.

AE celebrated 60 years of mission in 2022 and on the 12th August 2022, at the Anniversary Gala Dinner in the Pietermaritzburg City Hall, AE Founder, Dr. Michael Cassidy, took to the very stage he stood on 60 years prior, to the day of AE’s very first mission. It was a moment of great nostalgia, singular blessing and overwhelming praise for the faithfulness of God to AE’s ministry.

The journey has just begun…