Note 82 - Expansion of Dong Yu Lan's Work in Africa
Dong Yu Lan, Daily Food: The Organic Ministry of John, Week 7, Monday:
...In the year 2000 we had a vision of the fetus and in 2001 we went to the continent, even though we did not know anyone. Thanks to the Lord, in six years of laboring in love we have reached almost half of the countries on the African continent, and at the same time the Lord is preparing us to go into other countries.
Key Facts
Concerning Africa generally:
- In 2004 Helcio Almeida criticized the high peak truths in Nairobi, Kenya, saying that when Witness Lee began to speak the high peak truths, God struck him with cancer as a punishment and Witness Lee died. Helcio compared this to Herod being struck with worms and dying in Acts 12.
- After a visit by Dick Taylor and James Lee, Helcio told the saints in Nairobi that Dick and James came to trouble them and that he was the apostle to Africa.
- In a report dated August 29, 2006, Helcio Almeida spoke about the Brazilian work being carried out in 18 African countries: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
- In a statement dated December 22, 2006, Helcio Almeida claimed that Brazilian workers had established 100 churches in 21 countries with 4,000 saints, including 50 churches in Angola with 1,700 saints.
- In a statement dated November 3, 2008, Helcio Almeida claimed that Brother Dong's work had preached the gospel in 44 African countries and had established churches in 34 of them.
- Helcio Almeida and others have conducted trainings for the propagation of the Brazilian work in Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda. Trainings in some of these countries have been carried out multiple times in multiple locations.
Concerning South Africa:
- Brother Dong's workers came to Johannesburg in approximately 2000 and tried to spread the literature and teachings of Dong Yu Lan.
- Brother Dong's workers drew some saints away from the church in Johannesburg and started a second table meeting in the district of Rosettenville.
- On May 14, 2007, Estêvão Christo, a Brazilian worker, reported the establishment of a table meeting in Roodepoort. There was already a church meeting in that city.
- Brother Dong's workers are active in Soweto, Cape Town, Durban, and Nelspruit.
- A statement dated December 10, 2007, declared that Johannesburg was the center of the Brazilian work for the African continent.
- In April 2008 Helcio Almeida conducted a training in Johannesburg. The Brazilian work has a house in Johannesburg for its CEAPE trainings.
Sample documents:
South Africa:
Letter of warning to all the churches and saints in South Africa, May 10, 2009:
The work of the Lord's recovery began in Johannesburg in late 1996. Dong Yu Lan's workers first came to Johannesburg around the year 2000 and became more active throughout South Africa in 2005, when Helcio Almeida, a close co-worker of Brother Dong, began to work in South Africa. Since then, Helcio and others with him have contacted many saints and have drawn some of the saints out of the church in Johannesburg to build up their separate work...
As their work grew, Brother Dong's workers withdrew from the church in Johannesburg and formed a division. His workers declared Johannesburg to be the centre of Brother Dong's work in Africa.
Click on the icon at right to view the document. 
E-mail, Noticias da Expansao – Africa do Sul: Roodeport, Estêvão Christo [a co-worker of Brother Dong in Africa], May 14, 2007 (also posted on the Internet):
On May 5, the Lord brought us (myself and brother Keketso) to the city of Roodeport, South Africa, to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, find the sons of Peace and to establish the King's table! Thanks to the Lord, we already had 3 elderly sisters, steady in the Lord, that gave us hospitality, and I could see how these strong sisters are pillars in the building of the church. They were one spirit with us in the preaching, and the Lord gave us much fruit during the week. But the labor is not in bearing fruit, for it is something spontaneous from the Life that is in us. The labor is in shepherding, taking care, helping and loving the fruit so that they would remain. The Lord wants the fruit to remain!! Hallelujah because on the 13th we broke the bread with nine 9 local saints and some children, giving testimony that the Lord of Roodeport is the Lord Jesus Christ! The saints are solid in the Lord and full of burden to keep spreading the Kingdom until the Lord comes back.
Kenya:
According to various accounts by Kenyan saints, Helcio Almeida caused confusion and division in the churches in Kenya. Although he initially worked with Dick Taylor and James Lee, Helcio Almeida later declared himself to be the apostle to Africa, avoided coordination with the North American co-workers and criticized them, as well as Brother Lee, to the saints. Helcio said that Brother Lee was stricken by God with cancer for speaking the high peak truths in the same way Herod was stricken for calling himself a god. Helcio appointed elders in Nairobi, in spite of agreeing with Dick Taylor and James Lee that he would not do so. (Sources: Letter from Kenyan saints, November 2, 2007; Interview with Dick Taylor and James Lee, October 5, 2007)
Uganda:
According to their own declaration entitled "Testemunhos da África e Portugal, que maravilha!," dated December 31, 2007, Brother Dong's followers established a table meeting in Kampala. There was an existing church in Kampala dating back to 2003.
Brothers, thank the Lord that today the Lord's table has been established in Kampala, Uganda's capital. Thank the Lord that there is a testimony of the table here and now this city can be blessed. (E-mail from Bruno Frossard disseminated in an e-mail from jovensdasigrejas@yahoo.com.br on December 31, 2007)
