SA evangelist’s crusade ministry in Ethiopia is ‘marriage’ made in Heaven

When Cape Town evangelist Tamryn Klintworth’s husband André Britz suggested in 2016 that she consider conducting crusades in Ethiopia, the couple had no idea how strategically the Holy Spirit was directing them.

“Up until that stage we were doing the majority of our crusades in South Africa and starting to crusade in neighbouring countries. And my logic was telling me we need to gradually progress north — first work through the southern African nations and then move up,” said Tamryn who has been pursuing a dream of winning souls across Africa ever since 2006 when she got an opportunity to attend a Reinard Bonnke evangelism crusade in Nigeria.

She launched her evangelism ministry, In His Name, in 2008, the year after she completed her LLB degree cum laude, and in 2013 she married André, who was co-managing the Southern African office of Christ For All Nations, the global evangelism ministry founded by Bonnke.

Then in 2016, she said the Lord dropped the idea of Ethiopia into André’s heart and he asked her: “Why don’t you try pushing into Ethiopia?”

He pointed out that Ethiopia was the second most populous country in Africa after Nigeria with 120 million people, it was largely unevangelised with Protestants making up only 20% of the population, and currently it was possible to conduct evangelism crusades there in most parts of the country. In contrast to Southern Africa which was very Christian with many churches, missionaries, evangelists and pastors, Ethiopia had “a lot of ground that still needed to be tilled”, he said.

“So I prayed about it and the Lord gave me confirmation. He said: ‘I will marry you to Ethiopia just like Moses married the Ethiopian woman,'” she said.

Tamryn said they sent their campaign director Sam Murrombe to Ethiopia and he soon made connections and they began outreaches there in 2017 and God has been faithful using them to win many souls to Jesus and to equip pastors and even new converts to reach the lost

She says they are registered as a non profit in Ethiopia, have a bank account and full time employees there — all of which make it easier to move at a good pace.

In recent years they have been conducting about six crusades a year — four in Ethiopia and two in South Africa. But since Covid struck early last year, lockdown regulations have shut down the ministry in SA and they are now doing all their crusades in Ethiopia where there are no lockdowns, and where, surprisingly, Covid is not a big factor despite a social culture in which close physical contact is the norm.

In hindsight, Tamryn, and André, who joined In His Name as their COO in 2018, now see just how strategic God was in directing them to Ethiopia. If they had not heeded the leading of the Holy Spirit to go to there they would have been stuck in SA unable to have crusades for the past year and a half.

In Ethiopia they have remained on the move, reaching communities — even majority-Muslim areas — with the Gospel of Jesus. In July and August they visited six towns and reached hundreds of pastors who they gave copies of an Amharic version of Tamryn’s book Spirit of Fire to help equip them to partner with the power of God is winning souls, healing bodies and setting people free. They also have wall-to-wall crusades scheduled in different parts of the country from the end of September until the December 21.

“I really believe it’s time for Ethiopia,” said Tamryn, noting how God had led them there when they did not even have that nation on their mind. She also marvelled at the freedom they had to conduct crusade after crusade in places where other evangelists who had tried before them had literally been driven out of the city by religious leaders. She was also in awe of the hunger of people for a personal relationship with Jesus, even at the high risk of being cast out by their Orthodox or Muslim families.

She was also encouraged by the testimonies of pastors on there recent book tour, such as there having been great ethnic tension in their area before the crusade and everyone being at peace with each other after the crusade.

She said the logistic challenges of holding crusades were substantial in a poor country where they ministered in places which were mostly without water and electricity and tribal tensions could spark violence at any time, necessitating last-minute venue changes.

“But it is glorious,” she said. “And there really is an urgency in the Spirit that we need to swing this country fully into the arms of Jesus and the churches there are growing at a phenomenal rate — they really are exploding with growth.”

“So we are definitely going to keep on moving from town to town as long as the Lord keeps that door open for us,” she said.

Tamryn also observed that Ethiopia is a very strategic country spiritually, as it is surrounded by Muslim nations.

“If Ethiopia can become truly born again, the impact will be incredible and we could see that Muslim ice cap in the north of Africa start to melt,” she said.

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