Nigeria Reflections
The smell of fumes filled the hot, humid air. A busy crowd of people lined the pavement, as cars weaved in and out of lanes, stopping to bundle passengers and luggage in, before setting off again. The chorus of car horns mingled with police sirens, as the authorities tried in vain to bring order to the situation. We had arrived in Lagos.
Home to over 20 million people, Lagos is a lively city, with crowds of people hurrying everywhere you look. After a well-needed rest, we spent the first day of our trip with Every Home for Christ at their headquarters in the city. Local pastors who use Gospel literature printed by Revival Movement were invited to meet with us, and share about the impact of the literature. It was deeply humbling to hear them overflow with gratitude for the work of Revival Movement. In that moment, I wished that all of our workers, volunteers and supporters could have been in the room, knowing that our work is a team effort, carried out by many workers, and supported sacrificially by many, many more.
Over the following two days, we had the privilege of visiting a number of churches in Lagos, and further afield in Oke-Ado, engaging in street evangelism in both. Despite the challenging living conditions these believers faced (a huge understatement), church gatherings were filled with songs of praise to our God, and prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings they had received. Lekki, one of the EHC team, summed it up well when he said, ‘Nigerians are a worshipping people.’ We have a lot to learn.
Another strength of the church in Nigeria is their love for evangelism. From the moment of conversion, believers in Nigeria see themselves as soul-winners. The scripture we heard time and again during our trip were the words of Jesus from Matthew 28 – “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” But to fulfil this great task, they rely on our help.
The last day of our trip was spent meeting with a number of other partners at our depot in Lagos. By this stage, I began to wonder if all of the ministry leaders we met during our time in Nigeria had prepared a script together in anticipation of our visit. Each meeting felt like déjà vu, because everyone was saying the same thing. ‘Thank you, God is at work through the Gospel literature, but we need so much more.’ With a population of more than 200 million people, a lot of work remains to be done in Nigeria. There are many still to be reached with the Gospel, as well as a huge need for the discipleship of new believers. Pray with us and for us, that God would help us to equip the Nigerian church with enough Gospel literature for this great task.
