AD 2013
HOME MISSIONS EMPHASIS
(Week of Prayer)
Theme:
Breaking New Frontiers:
Reaching Families for Christ
Text::
Acts 16:25-34
Suggested Date:
March - May, 2013
Table of Contents
Foreword......
Introduction......
Sunday:Breaking New Frontiers: Reaching Families for Christ.....
Monday: Reaching the Family through Culture on the
Ngara and Guffanti Home Mission Fields………......
Tuesday:Reaching the Family through Culture on the
Okigwe/OrluandDukawa Home Mission Fields………....
Wednesday:Reaching the Family through Culture on the
Ilaje-Apoi Mission Field and Praying to break the
yokes of Cultures on Families......
2013 Mission Goals......
Fields, Missionaries and Phone Numbers......
Appreciation to all Mission Stakeholders......
Commitment to God......
FOREWORD
BREAKING NEW FRONTIERS: REACHING FAMILIES FOR CHRIST
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.” Acts 16:31.
This year’s Home Missions Emphasis (Week of Prayer), in accordance with the Convention theme, centres on reaching the unreached families and the need for Christian families to reach out. It is for this reason that the fields in consideration are portrayed from the cultural angle, with light shed on what the practice is in a typical family life of a particular people. Reached families should reach unreached families thereby reaching unreached peoples all over the nation.
In the year 2013, the following fields are our key emphasis: Ngara, Guffanti, Okigwe/Orlu, Dukawa and Ilaje/Apoi; not neglecting the various other mission fields across the States. Carefully read through the entire booklet, there are discoveries about the five fields including their needs, testimonies, prayer concerns and challenges. As you pray, God will empower and do His work, families will be reached and whole generations will be saved.
We are grateful to the Coordinator, Frontier Missions – Home, Revd. Noah Adedokun, and his team of editors, prayer band, printers and all those who assisted to make this timely production possible. May God continue to use your families for world evangelization.
We encourage you to observe the Home Missions Emphasis (Week of Prayer) between March and May 2013. Please send your offerings and donations to Global Missions Board’s Zenith Account number 6011412743. Notify us as soon as you make your lodgment so we can send your receipt.
Thankfully yours,
S. Ogoh. Enyi
Director,
Global Missions Board,
Nigerian Baptist Convention.
INTRODUCTION
Family is the back-bone of every society. Family is God’s initiative, as it is written, “…that at the beginning God created them male and female and said, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh.” (Matthew 19:4-5). God blessed them and said to them, “be fruitful and increase in number…” (Gen. 1:28). God had wonderful fellowship with the first human family in the cool of each day until sin severed the relationship. Man fell from glory to grass, since then families have been living in great agony, under the wicked, brutal and crafty master called Satan.
The unreached families of the world are those led away by the deceit of Satan, traditions and false religions. The god of this world has enslaved them. They are far away from God Almighty. Some long to fellowship with the true God but do not know how to approach Him. They need someone to guide them to God through the message of the gospel as Apostle Paul did in Philippi (Acts 16:25-34) where he preached to the household of the jailer and they were converted. They must not remain in darkness forever. The unreached families are like a widow broken with grief sitting so lonely in their mourning. Though created in the image and likeness of God, they are now slaves to the enemy of truth and righteousness because they do not know the true God. The unreached families still sob day and night; tears run down their cheeks. They cry aloud for anyone who cares but they do not have a helper. The Church that is purposefully left on earth to love, care, deliver and nurture families unto God is now too busy, too tired and too noisy to hear and respond to the cry of the lost families. Yet, there is no other agency in the world that is charged with the responsibility of going to look for the lost where they are other than the Church; under the headship of Christ.
You might ask; “why me?” “Why must I go now?” “Or why must I respond to the cry of the lost families?” It is not wrong to ask questions of this nature. But you should know that the expectation of unreached families is more on us who are Christians. They are waiting to experience freedom, liberty, salvation and deliverance from the powers of darkness (Satan) through their faith in Christ. The unreached families do not have rest because there is no peace or rest for the wicked (Isa.32:17; 48:22).They are afflicted with hard labour, poor, without food, without good health and are filled with distress. They are great people with great intelligence but do not know the way to the Church in order to worship the great God. They cannot feast on the abundance of God’s riches that is made available for those who believe. They cannot be partakers of God’s nature as they do not know Him nor believe in Him. They cannot become fellow citizens of heaven without someone showing them the way and leading them to light and life in Christ Jesus.
The Christian mission is part of God’s sovereign activity in the realm of redemption. From first to last the Christian mission is God’s mission, not man’s. It is based on the love of God. Its mandate was enunciated by the Son of God. Its rationale is explained in the Word of God. Nowhere is the sovereignty of God more clearly seen than in the Christian mission. The call is to reach families and set them free from the bondage of sin in Christ power. Please, join the team of witnessing families.
Appreciation
We want to express our profound gratitude and appreciation to all our mission supporters for their contributions towards breaking new frontiers in different places. We also want to thank individuals, Churches, Associations and Conferences that have been supporting the missionaries, pastors, indigenes on the fields and the Global Missions Board at large.
We magnify the Lord Almighty for the Convention President, Revd. Dr Samson O. Ayokunle, for his supports for mission; and the Global Missions Board Director, Rev. Stevens O. Enyi, who not only laboured but also gave technical advice and prayers. Also, I thank Rev. Solomon Olaniran, Pastor Tope Olatidoye & Rev. Toyin Aderinola for their wisdom and commitment in compiling and packaging this report. Special thanks to Sister Toyin Adegbilero who edited the script. We bless God for Mrs. Amadi Caroline, Pastor Mrs. Esther Adedokun and our translators both in Yoruba and Hausa, for the typesetting and arrangement.
May the good Lord who gave us the responsibility of reaching families for Christ, bless and reward our labour of love. Amen
Remain blessed.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Adedokun, Noah Adetayo
07030637949
08027723984
SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP SERVICE
Organ Prelude: “Jesus shall Reign”
God calls us to worship through:
- His word in Matthew 11:28 – 30
We respond to God’s word through:
- Prayer of Thanksgiving
- Praise and Worship
- Intercessory prayer for missions/Missionaries.
- Announcements
- Tithes and Offerings
God speaks to us through:
- The Scriptures – Acts 16:25-34
- The Choir
- His Servant
We Respond to God Through:
-Prayer of commitment
-Hymn of commitment: To the work to the work
-Mission offering
We depart to reach families through:
-Intercessory prayer for the lost families.
-Closing prayer and Benediction
-Hymn of Missions: “Hark the voice of Jesus calling”
Sunday March 10,2013
Topic: Breaking New Frontiers: Reaching Families for Christ
Text: ACTS 16:12-34
Introduction
The frontiers of testifying about the reign of God in Jesus Christ that offers His holistic salvation to individual households (families) are the earliest frontiers where Jesus sent His followers to operate (cf. Luke 8:38-39). The Early Church heeded the injunction and proclaimed the Gospel of the reign of God in Christ that offers the holistic salvation to these frontiers of households (families) as seen in the case of the ministry of Paul in Philippi (cf. Acts 16:12-34). The Church in the course of history forgot about these earliest frontiers of families and focused on individual persons. The shift from biblical and earliest frontiers of focusing the Gospel on families has not helped Christians and churches to expedite the realization of global evangelization. Therefore, all we contemporary Christians and churches should stand as one body to revisit and break the abandoned frontiers of households (families) as our new frontiers. We can follow the model of Paul in Acts 16:12-34 to identify (i) practical love, (ii) deliverance ministry, (iii) joyful worship, and (iv) discipleship as general biblical principles. These are principles we are to employ for reaching families for the reign of God in Christ Jesus that offers the holistic salvation.
I. Practical Love vv. 12-15. Paul and his companions showed practical love to Lydia and other women who were seekers of God by going to the river side to sit down with them in their prayer meeting. The felt-need of these women was spiritual in nature for they were seeking to experience God. The felt-need of the keeper of the prison was the security of the prisoners in his care. Paul and his companions ministered to this effect and rescued him from committing suicide. Here the Christian witnesses identified with their spiritual and emotional needs before they opened up for the Gospel proclamation. Jesus was always showing practical love by having and doing deeds of compassion for all His prospects before ministering the Gospel to them (cf. Matt 9:35-38). We should follow the model as current churches and Christians by showing practical love to our prospects through ministering to their physical, emotional, spiritual, social, financial, educational needs. We are to do all these out of love and compassion for all persons. We should pray to God to use the efforts to open the hearts of our prospects to receive the Gospel of God’s reign in Christ that leads to the holistic salvation.
II. Deliverance Ministry vv. 16-18. Paul discovered that there was a need for deliverance and so administered it. The occasion was when a demon-possessed girl joined in the prayer meeting where Paul and his companion were carrying out the Gospel ministry. She was prophesying under the influence of a demon but on the pretext of prophesying by the Holy Spirit to praise the ministry of Paul and his companions. Paul uttered the authoritative word of God to deliver the girl. Nearly all families in the local churches need to enjoy deliverance from all forms of demon-oppression and obsession. Some members of Christian families who are yet to repent and put obedient-faith in Jesus Christ for God’s reign that offers holistic salvation may even need deliverance from demon-possession. The good news is that all truths concerning Jesus Christ such as His sacrificial death, blood, words, burial, resurrection, appearance, ascension, intercession on the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit and Fire, authority and power of Christ, eternal enthronement and reign of God offer deliverance to the victims. You only need to perceive pictorially the realities of the mentioned concepts and put unwavering obedient-faith in God in Christ to perform the deliverance through your spoken words. It is the duty of every church to teach all her members how to administer self-deliverance on themselves in order to enjoy holistic salvation of God in Christ always.
III. Joyful Worship vv. 19-26. Paul and his companions knew that the lives of Christians should be characterized with unceasing joyful worship to God in Christ in all favorable and unfavorable occasions. They practiced this joyful worship in an unfavorable event when the master of the delivered girl dragged them to the authorities and magistrates in Philippi to torture and imprison them. Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns joyfully when the miracle of earthquake that broke loose their chains and opened the doors of their prison occurred. All Christians and Christian families should know that God commands them to worship Him always with joy, gladness, and cheerful feasting and celebration (cf. Deut 28:47; Zech 8:19). Our churches and homes as Christians are to be characterized all the time with the worship of God full of joy, gladness, and cheerful feasting and celebration of the presence and glory of God. This brings to the true worshippers abundance of all good things and the greatest joy ever.
IV. Discipleship vv. 14-15, 27-34. Paul and his companions endeavored to disciple the whole family of Lydia and the family of the prison keeper. They commenced discipleship with the Gospel proclamation that demands positive response of repentance and obedient-faith in Jesus Christ from the prospects. They proceeded to admit them into the New Community of God called the Church through water immersion (Baptism). They then started with them life-long learning at the feet of Christ which is in line with Christ’s injunction to teach disciples all the words of God (Matt 28:20; 4:4). We, the present churches and Christians, need to start reaching entire prospective families with the stated step by step discipleship for all of them to enjoy the reign of God in Jesus that affords them all the holistic salvation.
Conclusion
We, the current Churches and Christians, should determine to make once-abandoned frontiers of families to be our new focused frontiers until we realize the goal of world evangelization. We should endeavor to follow biblical principles of practical love, deliverance, joyful worship, and discipleship for reaching our prospective families that serve as our new frontiers. Those who are yet to experience the reign of God in Christ can take the first step of discipleship to repent and put obedient-faith in the crucified but risen Jesus Christ who establishes God’s reign that offers holistic salvation. Those who are weak and lack passion for practical love, deliverance, joyful worship, and consistent discipleship can re-dedicate their lives to God in Jesus and His task of global evangelism. Let all of us continue to pray for God’s participation through the anointing of the Holy Spirit as we evangelize families always until we realize the goal of global evangelization.
Monday
REACHING THE FAMILY THROUGH CULTURE ON THE NGARA HOME MISSION FIELD
The Ngara Home Mission Field was established in 2003. The field is located in Yobe state and covers 17(seventeen) Local Government Areas. The catchment ethnic groups in The Ngara Home Mission Field are: Fulani, Kanuri/Manga, Kare-Kare, Bolewa, Ngizum, Bade, Hausa, Ngamo and Shuwa. This mission field was pioneered by Rev. and Mrs. Galadima. Equally, Rev. and Mrs Giwa served there. Rev. and Mrs John Matthew are the present missionaries on The Ngara Home Mission Field.
Culture In The Ngara Home Mission Field
The culture of the ethnic group in The Ngara Home Mission Field is predominantly Kanuri/Manga. This is due to the influence and predominance of Islam following the 11th century Jihad. However, Islam is practised alongside Traditional religious beliefs.
The religion of Islam and family identity based on Islam are held as important social values. The household( or compound family) is the basic and most important social institution and it is the centre of economic and religious life. Authority is vested in the head of the household who takes all major and vital decisions concerning all other family members. This means that gerontocracy(government by the elders) is the style of government or political administration in this culture. Other very important social customs and norms that are observed in this culture include prohibition of public preaching of other religious faith or an open discussion of Islamic faith. Also, it is a taboo for members of the opposite sex to talk or to be found discussing together. Women must be in the company of other women when men are found with them. It is also prohibited to directly discuss matters of religion or faith without having first built a cordial relationship.
Suggested Methods
- Building good relationships in the neighbourhood through hospitality, caring for the sick and the poor as well as being exemplary family models is one of the ways through which people can be reached through the culture.
- Specialized ministry for social needs is also one of the ways through which the family can be reached on The Ngara Home Mission field. This can be done through professional services like medicine, engineering, veterinary and agricultural extension services. Bi-vocational services are generally very useful here.
- Costume Evangelism: dressing plays a very important role in social identity and relations. Clothes that are regarded as Islamic are very welcome. Hence, costume evangelism can be used to reach the families. Some of these clothes can also be donated to those in need in this area.
Needs