Mission to the UK

Yesterday at a conference to support church planting among British Pakistanis I met a Nigerian missionary from Calvary Ministries. (click on the title for their URL). This was one of the high points of my day.

About 40 years ago I first heard of foreign missions to the UK. I had a vision of Americans with deep redneck accents not finding an easy hearing in Oxford! I am now disabused of my prejudice and have many American friends church planting here among the gospel hardened indigenous population of people groups like Iranians, Arabs and Turks. Now I hear of Africans wanting to come to the UK. IMO we welcome them to evangelise us and unreached groups like Somalis.

I first came across Calvary Ministries, CAPRO, over 30 years ago in Nigeria. Their URL tells us, 'What is today known as Calvary Ministries (CAPRO) came into being in 1975 (precisely April 25th). It started in Zaria, in northern Nigeria after some young Christians burdened to evangelize non-Christians attempted a crusade in that ancient city. They were attacked, but instead of being discouraged, the experience stirred them to prayers and more action.

The vision was thus born to make such cities and tribes, as well as other unreached people groups of Northern Nigeria and West Africa an object of concerted missionary effort. Calvary Productions (CAPRO), as it was first called was thus born. The pioneer leadership team was lead by Bayo Famonure. This team led various youths from all across Nigeria into intensive evangelism of non-Christians both in northern Nigeria and neighboring Niger Republic. By 1979 CAPRO name was changed from Calvary Production to Calvary Ministries (CAPRO) to reflect her diversity of ministry operations and a new emphasis on targeting ethno linguistic clusters of peoples. And by the early 1980s this lead to the recruiting full-time cross-cultural missionaries to live and plant churches among verified unreached peoples.

Some of the first ethnic groups to be entered were the Maguzawa people of Adamawa State and the Gbagyi people of Kaduna State in Nigeria . Soon after this several other unreached peoples were engaged in Nigeria. Also by the early 1980s, foreign fields were also pioneered in Niger Republic , Senegal and Guinea (all in West Africa ) to engage ethnic groups with no known christian. Today, CAPRO now works in 34 countries among over 60 unreached ethnic groups with many churches planted. Starting from northern Nigeria CAPRO now works all over Africa, in Europe and the Middle East. In recent years CAPRO has especially emphasized outreach to North Africa and the Middle East and some underground churches have been planted.'

I looked up my diary for 1981 and found this month, 30 years ago, I spent a week teaching for them at Kauna, Kaduna State. I remember among the students were a Gambian couple wanting to evangelise their Muslims. I was teaching with my MBB Hausa friend Garba Adamu with his great testimony of a pious Muslim converted by Christ.

Now I was talking to an Ibo brother who wants to send missionaries here to reach Muslims. I said we need them to evangelise and also to mobilise the black churches to reach out to Africans here and to us British. We also need them to wean Black churches of the heretical prosperity gospel and onto the truth of adversity gospel. The blessing of the New Covenant is not prosperity but persecution.

Matt 5:^10-11 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.