…stories of Nigerians in mission field
Many Nigerian missionaries have continued from where the Europeans missionaries stopped. In the days of yore, the missionaries were sent from their headquarters in Europe to Africa, to preach the gospel of Christ Jesus to the Africans. In many instances, they encountered a plethora of challenges, to the extent of losing their lives. Though they left many years ago, some Nigerians have taken up the task of getting Christ to the innermost part of the hinterlands. Though mission work has continued, with Nigerian at the saddle, the challenges and frustrations continue. In a rare encounter, three missionaries share their experiences and struggles to continue their spiritual journey in underserved communities with ADEOLA OGUNLADE
‘Many churches are not doing enough for the Mission’
Director of Mission and Development, Osun Baptist Conference, James Olawale Olarinre, becoming a missionary was the last thing he wanted to do because he had his dream profession, “but I actually became interested when I finally accepted the calling of God into it,” he disclosed
Olarinre has spent decades on the mission. His background must have played a major role in his decision to become a missionary.
Born into a religious home, joined the religiosity, and never thought of any necessity for a personal encounter with Jesus. But by the time he gained admission into the Unity School, he knew God intentionally planted in his then Fine Art teacher, Mr John Oladapo(we called him Bro John then, now Bishop John) to aid his Christian journey. “He was the one God used to open the eyes of many of us, led us to Christ, and discipled us. In fact, the revelation of what God intended to do with my life started showing up from there but I was resisting and binding the messages as evil. After some time, I was called to lead the student fellowship, and that I did till I graduated to the glory of God,” Olarinre disclosed about his journey into the mission field.
He said the journey would have been more difficult if not for the help God sent to him through his son, Bro John, “by giving us a strong foundation, discipline when necessary, and encouragement as well. That secondary school experience cannot be forgotten because it played a significant role in my life and ministry.”
Olarinre said that becoming a missionary was the last thing he would ever think of because he had a dream profession, but he became interested in the Christian work when he finally accepted the calling of God into it. ”So the interest came when I discovered there is nothing I could do to escape the call and as long as that is where God says my fulfillment lies; I had no choice but to get interested and the interest keeps growing even now,” he said.
Olarinre explained that challenges facing mission work in the north is the inability of the church to pray and care for Missions, and Missionaries. “It is the duty of the church to send out missionaries looking at the New Testament times, unfortunately a larger percentage of the church seems to be too busy to pray let alone send or even care for those on the field. And by the time there is no expected support for the soldiers on the field, they are exposed and vulnerable to different challenges.
“I hope this will also be another wake-up call for our churches and church leaders to wake up to their God-given responsibilities. The above challenge gave birth to the insecurity challenge. Several missionaries have lost their lives and properties, many kidnapped and ransom paid even as I am talking to you now; some of our fields are being attacked by these kidnappers and the villagers have to abandon the villages for safety at a time when they are supposed to be harvesting what they have labored on. And the last one is the availability of view committed missionaries who are ready to go.”
On the costs of discipleship in the North, especially in Muslim-dominated areas, the clergyman said the cost of making disciples in the North is not child’s play but because it is not its responsibility to convert and raise them up in the way of the Lord, “we are just to obey the command to go and preach. But as challenging as it is, God has been faithful in raising disciples for himself to his glory.”
On whether the church has been supportive of the mission work in Nigeria, Olarinre noted that many churches engage in Missions in their words and not in action. “Some churches don’t even know what Missions are, and that is why they think buying buses or building blocks is Mission. They are parts of the Mission (without “s”) of the church but Missions ( with “S”) occur when sinners outside your culture are confronted with the gospel of Jesus. So answering the question, many churches are not doing well and I don’t think the master will be happy with us. We have neglected evangelism (confronting sinners in our culture with the gospel) and Missions ( outside our culture) and turned both of them into programs. This should be the primary focus of the church.”
He praised those churches who are still keeping the flag flying.
Wanted: More support for missionaries
Pastor Akinola Allen Gbenga is a lecturer/missionary, and has been to many West African countries on a missionary journey.
According to the missionary/ lecturer, his voyage into missionary started in the early 90s when he was part of the team under the Victory Christian Church that visited Cameroon for evangelical outreaches.
Gbenga, who studied at The Time Institute of Journalism established by Daily Times, said that after studying at the Time Institute, he went to work with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria as a broadcast journalist. He had to quit mainstream journalism during the reign of the Former Head of State, General Sani Abacha who was adverse to free press.
Gbenga said that he ended up working with some Tabloid and Christian magazines. “My original idea of full-time ministry was still strong in my mind. I began to lecture in Bible Colleges in Lagos. 12 years ago, some missionaries came from New Life Temple Bible College to Lagos with the intention of reaching out to souls in West African countries.
“They visited some Bible Schools for support. They usually handpick some of us as escorts but my background as a teacher made me exclusive to them. Most times, when they visited some West African countries, they gathered the converts and handed them over to me as my major job was to teach basic elementary principles of Christianity. I teach them, they are taking for Baptism and I take them in discipleship class and I will move on to another station or come back to Nigeria”.
“I gladly jumped into the offer when the missionaries came and that was how we moved from Benin Republic to Monrovia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia, and spending months doing crusades and disciplining the people”.
He described missionary as a journey, “I am enjoying it extremely. I am having the drive to go and evangelize Jesus to different parts of East Africa,” he said.
On the challenges missionaries face on the field, he said that the challenge of sponsorship.
The lecturer disclosed that most Nigerian churches are not interested in missionaries who are not in their denomination or their church, adding that “Churches should be able to support missionaries irrespective of their denomination. Missionaries do not necessarily have to carry the toga of a church. Most churches want you to carry the toga of their churches and stay in location permanently. Sponsorship and churches prefer to carry the toga of their church which some missionaries don’t like.
The cost of doing missions in unknown territories is huge. “We have been taught to do our background check on the people, their culture, customs, language, likes, and dislikes before going on missions so that the impact will be awesome. Thankfully, some of the communities in West Africa speak Yoruba language and that makes my job easy. When I get to a community where I don’t understand their language, I look for an interpreter.
“I was in a community in Ghana recently but before we went we had studied the psychology of the people, their likes, and how they react to visitors. We most of the time do some training before heading to such territories,” Gbenga said.
He called for more support for missionaries on the field, saying there is little missionaries can do if there is paucity of funds. “It is sad that many churches are not supporting missionaries especially missionaries who are not from their denomination and the work is suffering.”
Missionaries contend with rejection, others
President of Anointed Fire World Outreach, Evangelist Adeniran Anointing said: “In 1986, I followed my sister for a crusade in Ajara Tupa in Badagry. I was a young boy. I was in Primary five. I saw the people walking barefoot. She took me somewhere and said that that was the first-story building in Nigeria. We also visited the museum where we found the various shackles that were used to enslave Africa. We also visited the Point of No Return”
This visit by Evangelist Anointing over three decades ago inspired him.
“All these experiences ignited the passion for evangelism in me as a child. My father who was also a missionary before he became blind taught me how to hear from God”.
“At 15 years old, I was in a church where they had a leadership crisis and some part of the leaders broke away and I joined the splintered group, not too long ago they had a crisis. I then went to the Lord in prayer to ask for directions on what to do next and God told me to go to a mountain in Edo State, on the mountain God told me that I should go to Kogi State.
“My experience in Kogi State, Niger, and another state in the north was a different kettle of fish. In Kogi, I went as the Lord led me and as a civil engineer, I was introduced to work at a construction site. I did not wear the toga of a missionary, but my life showed godly examples that in a few months of my stay, we had established five fellowship centres.
“I always monitor the fellowship centres through the trucks we were using in the sites. As the trucks were moving, I went with the truck, came back with the truck. The contractor who was not from Nigeria spotted me and converted me from a casual worker to a full staff,” he said.
On the challenges on the mission field, he said there had been several attacks on his life, and “I have bent my knees because of the attacks I got. My home in Niger State has been attacked and burgled because I started three schools where we use the medium to teach the children about Christ. I always teach the children to rhyme such as Jesus Love the little children when Jesus is in the boat, I can smile at the storm, among others angered some residents in the communities.
“They came to attack the school on Thursday and kidnapped some of them, I had a premonition by the Holy Spirit that I should leave the community and close the school till further notice, and the attackers came on Friday and found no one. I have four houses in the north where our mission work exists”.
He pointed out several challenges facing the missionaries which include rejection, persecution, and sometimes death, stressing that Paul in the scriptures has said that to live is Christ and to die is vain.
“I cannot die and I have not seen anyone that can kill him until my time is up”, he said.
He advised that while missionaries are expected to be as gentle as a dove, he must also be smart as a serpent. “We most of the time smuggle new converts out of their villages and for some we use different names and move into communities as farmers, traders, and artisans so we can reach the unreached Christ died for”.
While the North needs Jesus, he also posited that the missionaries must go with the Bible in their hands and possible welfare programme , to help the converts. “We must see them as friends and that it is the devil that is behind what they are doing.”
