Michael Cassidy and Friends is a resource telling the story of how God has worked through the life of Michael Cassidy and the ministry of African Enterprise. This resource also tells the story of the many different friends and Christian leaders around the world who encouraged and supported Michael and the initial African Enterprise team in the calling to evangelise the cities of Africa.
Over the years God brought together an extraordinary network of friends who journeyed alongside Michael, all of whom were convinced that the Kingdom of God needs to impact every aspect of our lives. This is the story of the faithfulness of God, and how He uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
I’ve learned that prayer involves listening as much as talking, aligning us with what God wants done in the world more than what we want God to do for us. Michael Cassidy’s life models that principle.
– Phillip Yancey, author of What’s so Amazing about Grace?
It all began in 1957 when Michael Cassidy felt God calling him to city evangelism in Africa. These ideas took several years to germinate and in 1961, while still a student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Michael launched the African Enterprise ministry. The following summer a fledgling African Enterprise team, made up of Michael and some of his student friends, conducted their first ever evangelistic endeavour in the city of Pietermaritzburg. The Mission to ‘Maritzburg saw many coming to know Christ as the Lord and Saviour of their lives. This confirmed to Michael that this calling was genuine and he responded by spending the rest of his life living in obedience to this call.
After finishing their studies the small African Enterprise team returned to South Africa to launch the ministry full time. By 1973 the team was fully indigenous and interracial and missions proliferated around South Africa as well as the rest of Africa. The team’s ministry was able to extend into East Africa largely due to the addition, in 1970, of Bishop Festo Kivengere to the team which gave birth to teams in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and then Rwanda. Other teams developed over the years in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia.
Michael Cassidy has lived a life of Christian nobility, and numberless people are in the embrace of Christ’s love because of his faithful efforts…
– Gordon MacDonald, Chancellor, Denver Seminary
It is our hope that through this archive and resource of material drawn from the ministry of Michael Cassidy, African Enterprise, and their many friends and partners, a new generation will be inspired to reach the cities of Africa and the ends of the earth with the Good News about Jesus Christ. Because the story is ongoing… and you have a part to play!
