THE NECESSITY OF HOME MISSIONS
Evangelism is the heartbeat of God. A living church prioritizes
missions and evangelism. One of the functions of a church is evangelism. A
church that is not reaching out to the unsaved will reduce to a social
gathering. The key to the peace of the world has been given to church. That key
is evangelism, a church that uses it well will enjoy unspeakable joy, peace and
blessings. It is alarming that evangelism in churches has been reduce to
programs, charities and social function. Evangelism that is not done in God’s
own way will produce human results which is cancerous to the church growth.
Jesus told
his disciples that:
Act 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Evangelism is
a ministry of power. You are in direct combat with rulers of darkness that have
sealed the hearts of men from hearing the truth that can save them. Without the
power of the Holy Spirit, souls cannot be saved. How can they be saved? If they
were not preached too? Only men can preach to men. This mission has been given
to men and not angels. All believers are to take it upon themselves and tell
others about Christ. Gospel is like a burning fire, you cannot have it and will
not be burdened to tell others about Christ.
Evangelism is broad and complex term but it simply means to
announce or declare the word of God to others with the purpose of saving their
soul from destruction. There are different roles you can play under evangelism.
Missions is under evangelism. The word mission is a task or assignment. An
evangelist reach out to all, he is not bound or restricted to a particular
location. A missionary is assigned to a particular place, region, or area. He
do the work of an evangelist, he do the work of a pastor and ensures that the
souls are not just saved but they are fed adequately with the word of God. An
evangelist task is to save souls from one particular area to another. He is not
restricted to a particular place. Philip was a notable evangelist in the
scripture, he was at Samaria, preaching the gospel, souls were saved, but at a
time he had to invite peter and John to come over and Baptized them. Missionaries are modern day Apostles, they are
evangelists with a pastoral heart who are not just only interested in souls
being save but passionate about
nurturing and feeding the souls with the word of God so that they can be
matured in faith and Christ like.
Jesus
emphasized that witnessing should start from where you are. Gospel is peace. If
your constituency is in peace, you will have peace of mind and rest of mind to
go about your daily business, your church will grow and other neighboring
states and countries will benefit from your prosperity. Three and half years of Jesus’s ministry was focused
on the Jews. Even though he recorded a little success among his people but the
church was built on the few that accepted him. These disciples were also
instructed to start their mission from Jerusalem.
It saddens the heart that most churches in Nigeria has
abandoned home mission fields. There are still some areas in the southern
Nigeria that are hidden to the gospel. The problem of Nigeria is the North and
it is because the church is not doing much in reaching out to the lost over
there. The few churches that were in the North are built by foreign missions. It
also pain the heart when you visit some churches in Kano, Kaduna, and you discovered
that about 90 percent of the church members are southern Yorubas or Igbos who are
residing there as a result of their businesses or jobs. No doubt there are
persecution over there but believers should be able to risk their lives in
telling people about Christ. Yours is to speak and Holy Spirit will do the
saving. The bandits and Boko Haram threatening the existence of Nigeria could
have been nipped in the bud if Christians play their part in reaching out to
these people. There are missionaries from the south serving in dangerous
territories in the north. There are also native missionaries right in the
battle front witnessing the gospel but the support from the Southern Nigerian
christians are not enough. The southern church prefer investing in foreign
missions than investing in home missions in North. The missionaries in the
north are abandoned and forgotten. During the Jos crises in 2002, a missionary
serving in the north from the south came home empty handed. He lost everything. He was in
pains, embittered, he discussed the challenges and how the southern church is
doing little or nothing to assist. He warned “ if you abandon this people, they
will become a national threat and the peace you think you are enjoying in the
south will become a problem” . The brother went back to Jos after the crises
even when his brethren did all their best to stop him because of the risk
involved. The man is still there doing great exploits for the Lord.
Cowards die many times before their death. The
scripture affirm in Revelation that cowards will not enter the kingdom of God. The highest paid servant of God should be a
missionary serving in hinterland but a good number of them live on stipends. If
you make a missionary and his family comfortable, he will not run away from his
post. The church should declare
emergency on home mission fields. The stability and peace of Nigeria can only
be achieved if we reach out to the unreached and people we tagged as difficult.
Prayer is not enough, we need to take gospel to the North, if you cannot go , make people over there comfortable so they
can do the work well. Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt are areas that were
occupied by first century christians but the lands were lost as a result of
complacency of christians in that region. Church fathers like Tertullian spoke
about it, he warned of heresies, complacencies but it all fell to deafening
ears. Let us take the challenge by
taking local missions serious. We are doing our best but our best is not
enough. We can still do more. Each church should have a plan on how to take the
unreached part of Nigeria for Christ. Churches can come together and foster
resources to build up mission in the unreached areas . The interior northern
part of Nigeria is still part of the unreachable areas for the gospel in the
world. Charity should start from home,
you can’t be taking missions to foreign countries when some local government in
your countries are inaccessible to the gospel. Foreign missions is good but the crux of the
matter is that your home mission should not suffer. Let home mission be in your
plans and see it as a necessity.
Abolanle Oladipupo
©️ 14th September 2019
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