Separating The Message from The Messenger:
From Self-Serving To a Christ-Centered Ministry.
Church, Mission, and Ministry are different facets of Christian strategy for reaching the world with the gospel. They are expressions of the Great Commission of Jesus — commanding his followers to make disciples of all nations. Obeying the Lord’s command takes different directions across the nations. In Nigeria, for instance, the practice of the Christian faith partly mirrors Christianity in Europe and America. By the same token, European and American institutions have impacted the social, political, and economic systems in the country.
Needless to say, the Nigerian presidential system is patterned after the United States model. America over the years, has become the model for the good life and social well-being of a section of the Nigerian Christian community. Nigerian youths have developed an obsession with “the American way” such that they are seemingly incapable of sifting the wheat from the tares. This is no less true of the ways modern independent church founders take their cues from the health and wealth gospel preachers in the United States.
Regardless of differences in the Nigerian and American socio-economic landscapes, emerging Nigerian preachers have swallowed, hook, line, and sinker, the prosperity messages/motivational speaking of the American tele-evangelists and celebrity preachers. Remarkably, however, several churches and ministries in the United States have come to terms with preaching the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection — committing to disciple-making — impacting and changing sinners to born-again believers in Christ.
The living standards of the Nigerian people in recent times have plummeted so badly that able-bodied young men and women are fleeing the country in droves — in search of a better life in Europe and other parts of the globe.
Granted, the Government and the Nigerian political elite are blamed for general insecurity, and the grinding poverty of the people — in a country blessed with abundant natural resources; Even so, the church, and church leadership in such a time like this, are called to play more proactive roles as the salt and light — to stem the downward spiral of morality and spiritual discipline in the public space. Instead, their approach in the heat of the campaign for the president during the last elections was rather partisan on the side of one of the candidates. Church pulpits were turned into political platforms in support of their favored candidate.
What has become commonplace in all our churches, is the hyping of prophecies and prophetic declarations to raise false hopes to the suffering masses with little or nothing done to help the poor.
Mission Statement:
Jesus, at the onset of his earthly ministry, stated in unmistakable terms the focus of his mission fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah.
The book of Luke 4:16–21 records,
“He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the LORD is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Isaiah 58:6; 61: 1–3).
He summed it up by saying “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It was a statement of what his death and resurrection mean to all believers and the blueprint for the ministry of the apostles he would later send out to the world.
The apostle Paul says this about himself:
“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Spirit regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power…” “Through him, we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake” (Romans 1: 1–5).
Others, like Paul, who have “received grace and apostleship” to call sinners to faith and obedience, have identified with the Lord’s ministry to the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed of society.
The Visionary Church:
Traditionally, Christian Ministry and Church founders, step into the field by declaring in clear terms the vision and mission of their ministry. Mission statements serve as guiding principles and reference points that shape and inform their activities.
In the U.S., multiple ministries have emerged to address the different aspects of the Lord’s mission — passed on to the church. They include at the local level, INFAITH Ministries led by committed individuals with a passion to impact their communities.
Bobby Jo Valencia, one of the leaders has a passion for discipling Young Adults and sharing the gospel with children in Camps specifically organized for them. There’s the Prison Visitation Ministry by Jeff & Cindy Eidsen; Tom Hiscox has the ministry to encourage, equip, advise, and assist leaders of 20+ small churches and missions.
Other Ministries with global reach include The Navigators and The Gideons. The Navigators with a staff of about 5,000 lead people to Christ, helping them to apply the Bible to their daily lives. Founded in 1933, the Navigators produce literature — teaching topics such as prayer, grace, holiness, and humility. They have helped people in over 100 countries bringing hope and purpose to others through their Life-to-Life discipleship program.
Gideons International is an Association of Christian business and professional men and their wives dedicated to telling people about Jesus. They give out Bibles to lodgers in hotels, and the sick in hospitals around the world.
More of The Heart, Less of the Mind:
Individuals and groups driving these ministries are people imbued with the Christian core values of love, compassion, empathy, and worship — of the heart, as opposed to reason, sentiment, and self-interest — of the mind. The five senses of sight, taste, smell, touch, and hearing are the gateways to human emotions and sensibilities.
Sadly many Christians base their faith and actions on the five senses. Satan deceived Eve with what appeared to her to be “good for food, and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom.” (Genesis 3:6). It became easy to motivate and sway humans with rhetoric and sweet talks that feed on emotions and ego. People like to be told what they want to hear — untruths and half-truths — rather than the whole truth.
But the voice of God speaking to His chosen people comes as a still, small voice — connecting to inner consciousness — the inner man of the heart — outside of the five senses: extrasensory perception.
The heart is the abode of God the Holy Spirit. It is where faith and conversion happen. Jesus says, “I stand at the door (of the heart) and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door (of the heart), I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20).
Scripture also says if you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” ”For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10: 9–10).
Conviction and Salvation are of the heart. It is the realm of God’s direct communication with believers after Pentecost. It is where God’s calling upon the life of a man or woman takes root. This inner conviction is the push — driving committed men and women of God to be totally sold out to mission and ministry.
Moving forward, we need a transformational mindset and approach — for us to produce not only the mind but also the heart of Christ. God clothed Aron and his sons with the garments of “dignity and honor” as priests serving God and leading the people in worship (Exodus 28:40). As new covenant believers in Jesus, we — together — are a priesthood of believers, serving God and leading one another in worship (1 Peter 2:4–5,9). Jesus is our high priest (Hebrews 4:14). Though we need not wear any particular clothing to be identified as priests, with His help, we “cloth (ourselves) with compassion, kindness, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3: 12).
Borrowing the template and examples of Ministries and Gospel churches in the United States, we want to suggest that churches and ministries in Nigeria can do better than “prophesying” on who becomes the next president, and a barrage of prophetic declarations that are yielding no palpable results to the people. It is time to step back and take another look at what it means to do church and ministry in our country.
We really need to sift the wheat from the tares — separate our personal ambitions for world acclaim from the substance of the gospel message of salvation — winning souls to God’s kingdom.
There are always two sides to a good coin — while the government takes care of the general administration of the country — ensuring security, and the economic well-being of the citizenry, the church is well equipped to minister to the soul of the nation, providing spiritual assistance and where necessary partnering with the government in the provision of material support to the poor.
The Case of Onecho Bible Church:
The lesson of history not only points to where we are coming from, but it also teaches us to avoid pitfalls and errors of the past as well as build on the experiences of other people groups. The world is a global village. People of the world are closer to one another now than ever before and easily influence our perspectives in life and ministry.
Gerhard Dyck, one of the founding elders at Onecho Bible Church of Eastern Washington State was totally sold out to the gospel. Gerhard gave and supported missionary work all his life. He was active in fundraising for the church’s mission work beginning in the 1960s. Before passing on at age 65, he bequeathed 180 acres of personal property to the church as a legacy. He asked Onecho Bible Church to use the land to continue the work of spreading the gospel.
Onecho Bible Church has a background of farming to raise funds for the mission given the antecedents of Mennonite and Methodist farmers in the area. So the Church decided it wouldn’t sell the land but would farm it with volunteers. The proceeds from the harvest would fund various missions. The first year, the harvest yielded $5,500. Though there are fluctuations in revenue, and the success of the harvest, the farm earned $39,000 in 2021, and $178,000 in 2022. “We just put the seed in the ground… “It’s all up to the weather and what God’s going to do to produce money,” said Brian Largent, the volunteer farm manager.
Apart from direct giving by the congregants, mission project-oriented American Churches, like Onecho Bible church receive generous donations toward specific mission work. A unique feature of ministry and mission is the free contributions of volunteers to the church — thus saving money for outreach programs. Church members give their time and energy to rendering selfless services without expecting immediate returns in kind. The church becomes a critical arm of the community and an inspiration for change and social cohesion.
The lesson for mission and ministry for Nigerian churches is the need to move away from focusing on building grandiose worship centers to community-oriented ventures to directly impact the neighborhoods and lift people out of poverty. Think about it — Nigeria is blessed with vast fertile lands for farming — in step with the Onecho Bible Church.
Moving forward means renewing our minds and changing the narrative.
A couple of Mission fields can be explored: 1) An emphasis on gospel Messaging — as opposed to prosperity preaching, 2) Change from building structures to human development. 3) Invest in health promotions 4) Large-scale farming; 5) Rehab centers for drug addicts, 6) Food baskets for the poor and marginalized, etc. We also have the examples of Doctors Without Borders and Christian health providers in medical missions, not to mention Christian Lawyers given to defend victims of injustice and impunity in our society.
This is the way to go to bring the lost to Christ.
