MINISTRY IN NIGERIA, 2019
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Giving to God
1. A third grade S.S. class teacher asked her seven 8 year-olds if they would give a $1,000,000 to the missionaries if they had it. “Yes!” they all screamed!
2. “If you had $1000 would you give it to the Lord?” Again, they shouted “YES!” How about if you had $100?” “Oh, yes we would!” they all agreed!
3. “Would you give a dollar to the Lord if you had it?” she asked. The boys exclaimed, “Yes!” just as before, except for Johnny.
4. “Johnny,” why didn’t you say ‘yes’ this time?” “Well,” the boy stammered, “I have a dollar!” There’s honesty!
B. THESIS
1. I want to touch on what God is doing around the world in Christianity. Today is like a Missions service. That’s why we’re wearing these unusual clothes – of Nigerian make.
2. But what I’m talking to you about is bigger than a trip to Africa.
I. REVITALIZATION OF U.S. CHRISTIANITY
A. THE IMMIGRANT FACTOR
1. Everywhere in the press the last few years we’ve been hearing how Christianity in America is following the same trends as Europe – it’s dying and atheism is growing fast. But a new Harvard study found that Christianity is not only NOT DYING in America, but it’s THRIVING! [“Myth of the Dying Church,” June 18, 2019].
2. The key factor in the turn-around of U.S. Christianity is the influx of immigrants from countries we sent our missionaries to! Our obedience to sow the seed in other nations has resulted in our reaping that harvest in THIS country! Can you say “Praise the Lord?”
3. An article entitled “Where is Christianity headed? The view from 2019” (1/10/2019; Religious News Service), revealed that denominations that were open to multi-racial/ multi-ethnic members joining them, were the only ones actually growing in the United States. The Catholic Church and the Assemblies of God were singled out as two examples. The A/G white membership has declined slightly, but nonwhite membership has increased 43% in 10 years!
B. THE IMPORTANCE OF AFRICA
1. Crucial in the Christian immigrant picture are people from Africa. Immigration of Africans has increased from 35,000/year in 1960 to 1.5 million/year in 2010 (“Think Christianity is Dying?” Wash. Post, 5/20/15).
2. And the powerful form of Christianity in Africa which won 50 million to Christ last year alone -- bringing the total to 631 million (RNS art.) – also made Africa the most Christian continent in the world. And immigrants from Africa are bringing their powerful Christianity with them when they come here.
3. If Christianity were a disease, the most contagious & powerful form of it is that possessed by the Sub-Saharan Africans! They have spread the Gospel faster, against more violent and deadly opposition, than any other place in the world.
4. And Nigeria is by far the most populated African nation with 182 million, half of them being Muslims. By 2050 Nigeria will be the third largest country in the world, just after India and China, and Lagos will be the fourth largest city. That’s why it’s interesting that God directed our steps to that particular country.
II. OUR TRIP TO BENIN CITY, NIGERIA
A. HOW THIS MISSION ORIGINATED
1. God opened the door for Angela and I to go to Benin City, Nigeria from June 24-July 2, 2019, through our wonderful Evangelism Pastor, Stephen Akin-Olatunde.
2. Pastor Stephen kept telling me it was God’s will for me to minister in Nigeria and eventually God spoke to me to go. Stephen put us into contact with Pastor Isaac Itobiye, a district official with the Christian Pentecostal Mission Church and he invited us to come in 2018 and again this year.
3. I want to express my thanks to Pastor Itobiye for his wonderful diligence to safeguard us and to care for our every need. He, his wife, and a large entourage met us at the airport with flowers, church leaders, and photographers.
B. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NIGERIA
1. On arriving, one of the first things you notice is the large number of people who are trying to survive by hawking goods on the street. There aren’t very many jobs, so people try to make it any way they can. They are a very industrious people.
2. Most of the streets are mud streets; only the main arteries are paved and there are few stop lights (we only saw 4 or 5 in a city of 1.4 million).
3. Driving is a nail-biting experience, because there are little or no rules enforced on the roads. Everyone muscles their way through, blowing their horns and trying to bluff the other drivers into stopping. Our driver was Juliet, a most intimidating driver. She usually out-bluffed everyone else. We did a lot of praying in the cars!
C. OUR VISIT TO TWO SCHOOLS
1. ANGELA speaks of the Salvation International Private School with 400 plus students.
2. Next we went to the CPM private school with 300 students. The classrooms were bereft of all but wooden benches and old, flaking blackboards. The large number of children were crammed into the tiny rooms – really just one big room divided with 6-foot partitions. It must be difficult to concentrate because the students can hear the teachers talking on all sides of them over the partitions. But the teachers were all well educated and good teachers, despite the handicaps of poor facilities and few resources. Amazingly some of the students the school produced were the most successful when attending universities and colleges.
III. THE CHURCH IN BENIN CITY
A. DESCRIPTION OF WHAT CHURCH IS LIKE
1. They don’t even have A/C at Church – but they can do SO much with so little! They have an awesome choir, and strong discipleship ministries. After church last Sunday morning, they had a graduation program which honored 76 men and women who had completed ministerial training at several different levels.
2. They have a great Children’s Church that ANGELA spoke at. Angela, why don’t you tell us about your being with the children?
B. MINISTRY
1. I preached in 5 services, including a youth service and a service dedicated to area ministers.
2. The services were better this year, bigger attendance, and more people responded in the altar services. I feel like I came away more blessed than the people I ministered to.
C. THE CHURCH HAS MANY CONVERTED MUSLIMS
1. ELDER OLEGHE. One of the Elders is a converted Muslim. A number of members I talked to had come from Muslim-dominated families that found that Jesus Christ brings joy and peace.
2. OUR DRIVER, JULIET. One night we had four people in our room whom we asked to share their testimonies of how they came to Christ. Our driver, Juliet, shared hers.
a. She was raised in a Muslim home. When she was a young teenager, she had to pass a Catholic Church as she came home from school each day. She was strongly drawn by God’s Spirit to go in and pray at the altar.
b. Her father had many friends and heard that she entered the church. So when she got home he drug her to a back room and beat her severely.
c. The next day, she stopped again to pray & was terribly beaten again. But she couldn’t stop going; she felt like her life depended on it. The beatings continued.
d. At last her father told her he was going to marry her to a Muslim man. She steadfastly refused to do so. The beatings increased.
e. One day, her father looked at her beaten form, and questioned why he was doing this to his daughter. That day he stopped caring what she did.
f. She started going to church regularly. She met a Christian man who took her to CPM where she was saved. Later her parents became Christians and other siblings did too.
3. The people of Nigeria are in the thick of the spiritual battle for souls and face some of the greatest opposition to Christianity on the planet.
IV. MINISTRY TO THE POOR
A. THE NEED
1. Every where you look in Nigeria, you see the poor. The homeless are everywhere. They accumulate at central locations in large numbers, but you see the helpless on every side.
2. Most Nigerians have no access to doctors and hospitals. You have to pay in advance to be seen in a hospital. Doctors are few and only seen by the wealthy.
3. Many times we saw men with both legs missing, rolling around begging on 4-wheeled boards. Cripples are frequent. Small malnourished children standing in the gutter is a common sight.
B. PETE & SARAH’S BBQ SANDWICHES
1. In response to this great need Pete and Sarah Smith put on a fundraiser a few months ago and raised over $8,000 to be distributed to the needy by the Nigerian Church.
2. I want to thank all the volunteers who worked along side them to make this a reality!
3. At the conclusion of this service we’re going to receive one final offering before we forward the funds to the needy of Nigeria. I hope God will move your heart to give generously!
C. ANGELA SPEAK; “For Such a Time As This.”
1. We don’t know how long our connection to and burden for Nigeria will last, but right now, we know that God is calling us to partner with Him in meeting the tremendous needs of this church and its people in Nigeria.
2. “DO HARD THINGS…”
God has ordained this. Ask for your continued enthusiasm and support; maybe GoFundMe?
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: I Won’t Pray Til You Give
1. How often do we ask God for things that we really have no right to? Tony Campolo was once a guest speaker at a mission rally. After he spoke, he was asked to lead in prayer for a missionary doctor the group supported.
2. The goal of the prayer? That God might provide the $5000 urgently needed for the medical center the doctor ran. Tony refused.
3. He knew his audience was made up of people who were materially prosperous. So he declared he would pray only after everyone in the room gave to the project the money they had on them that day.
4. The audience were stunned, but when Tony started emptying his pockets they knew he was serious. After some hesitation everyone started following suit.
5. The prayer of request soon became a prayer of thanksgiving, for by the end of the giving they had collected $8000, much more than was needed in the first place!
[Source: Reported in Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You A Story]
B. THE CALL
I challenge you today to do the same thing. I will begin by giving everything in my wallet, of which I still have a good amount left over from our trip. Will you join me as we finish our prayer? Let’s pray!
C. SACRIFICIAL OFFERING
1. The Lord Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Lk. 6:38.
2. “It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35.
