Countrywide

Coordinator: Jeremias Paiva Gaiala Teca

Jeremias was born on 16 March 1972 in Sanza Pombo, Uige Province, in northern Angola. He married his wife, Aida, in December 2005. They live in Kuito-Bié, a city in central Angola that suffered tremendous damage during the civil war that lasted 30 years. Today, the country is free.

Due to Angola's civil war, Jeremias fled to South Africa as a refugee, and lived there for several years. In 2001, he joined the Into Africa Project of OMS Africa. After receiving training in theology and church planting, Jeremias and an associate named Lourenço returned to Angola as a team to start a VCP program in the country under the supervision of Ray Airosa.

In May 2004, they started the first VCP training center with one trainer and 15 pastor trainees. Two months later, the VCP program grew to three training centers with 45 trainees. Jeremias recounts, "It was hard for us because this was the first time we had put this new strategy of church planting into practice. In the beginning, people could not understand how we could start church planting in many different areas at once. It was like madness, and even we were not sure what we were doing."

By the end of 2004, almost 50 new churches had been planted, and more than 2,500 people had given their lives to Jesus. Jeremias states, "This was a miracle to us, and we could not believe it! It was amazing to us, since our Angolan partner denomination with a 100-year history of missionary work had never planted more than one church in a single year."

In January 2005, the VCP team started three more training centers with 40 pastor trainees, bringing the total to six training centers and 84 trainees. At the end of 2005, 75 new churches had been established and more than 4,000 people had given their lives to Jesus during the course of the year.

As of the end of 2007, God had blessed the Into Africa Project in Angola with six trainers in six centers (see photos at left), and 290 pastor trainees.

Angola VCP Leadership Team

The year 2008 saw approximately 240 new churches planted and 11,300 people giving their lives to Jesus, or which 7,000 were baptized. One of the challenges with this growth is a lack of Bibles. They are very expensive, and ministry never has enough.

Phase 2 of VCP Program

At the end of 2008, the VCP program in Angola finished its first phase. Phase 2 started at the beginning of 2009. The strategy administrator, Hermenegildo Pinto, is charged with providing guidance for rapid multiplication of second, third, fourth and fifth generation churches through village church planting.

In January 2009, the VCP program started ten new training centers and the enrolled 200 new trainees for village church planting. The goal for 2009 is to plant 500 new churches and reach 20,000 people for Jesus. Jeremias writes, "This is difficult but not impossible, because with God all is possible."