As a young South African man, just 21 years old, Michael Cassidy had a heart for his people and felt the Lord calling him to city-evangelism in Africa. During the summer of 1961, he set out on an exploratory visit to 31 major cities of Africa, a trip in which God’s vision for Michael became clear. On a long walk on the beach, Michael drew an outline of Africa in the sand and wrote “Claimed for Christ” inside it. His experience is recounted in the book African Harvest: “He wrote in his diary; ‘I asked God for 50 years of ministry in Africa.’”

Graduating from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1963, Michael returned to South Africa with a small team and his work began. The first city-wide mission was held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and from there the work expanded slowly across the continent. A second team was established in Tanzania in 1971 under the leadership of Bishop Festo Kivengere. Today AE has teams in twelve African countries: Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Zambia.