Nigeria Helping Without Hurting

By Anthony:

In January 2025, we had an excellent HWHIA training in Jos, Nigeria. There were around 65 participants. The discussions were amazing. What a wonderful group of leaders we had.

Getting there and back was not easy. First, I had a day on the bus from Soroti to Entebbe (this bus trip takes between 7 and 12 hours depending on the traffic). Then the next morning I flew from Entebbe to Lagos, Nigeria. Then I had another flight from Lagos to Jos where we stayed. It was a unique experience in the airport while waiting for my immigration paperwork, that a security guard spent 20 minutes trying to convince me to take a second wife.

Unfortunately the flight from Lagos to Jos left early despite my protests, and Jonny missed this domestic flight. It didn't make any sense! We were very annoyed because it meant Jonny couldn't join us until Tuesday evening, when the next flight was available, so I taught the first two days of the training myself. After the training, our plans were disrupted again. Our flight from Jos back to Lagos was cancelled completely. We had to take a five hour drive from Jos to Abujah, and then get a new flight from Abujah to Lagos, and then we could fly from Nigeria back to East Africa. My journey back to Soroti took 3 days. It was an adventure and very tiring, but worth it! Here is some food I got in the airport, fish and a fried egg thing.

One of the great blessings of this training was the connections I had with different participants. We had people from World Renew Nigeria there, and people from Resonate Global Mission in Nigeria. Here is a photo with some of them at their office.

My friend from the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria, Kefas came. I had met him when taking my first Timothy Leadership Training in the USA. Here is Kefas in the middle with me and Jonny.

I also got to see Warren and Tami Johnson, missionaries from SIM from Sara's home church in Midland. They were living in Jos at that time though they have now moved back to the US. They were incredibly helpful in mobilizing many other people to come to the training, including fellow missionaries with SIM. It was a blessing to see them and learn about Nigerian life from them. They also gave us rides every day to the training site.

One of my first impressions of Nigeria was noticing all the billboards advertising prosperity preachers. Many of the richest pastors in the world live in Nigeria. Unfortunately many of them manipulate the poor to give the little they have to make these pastors rich. Their judgment is coming. 

I'm sure many of the pastors on billboards are not prosperity preachers. But the culture of advertising titles and credentials is over the top. The signs were not shy in hyping up anointed men of God by saying things like "Bishop Dr. Apostle Prophet John Smith." 

Colonialism and its ongoing effects are an important topic of discussion in every training. I was reminded of this when I was leaving the airport and someone wanted to carry my luggage and he called me, "master", and not as a joke. Feelings of inferiority compared to Westerners even among educated Africans is still very real. Of course this doesn't affect every person in the same way. But it's a common issue. And sort forms of neo-colonialism are very real as well.

But it's a complicated issue, just like the issue of race in the United States. In this training, one Nigerian said that it's time for Nigerians, and Africans, to stop complaining about the slave trade and colonialism which were long ago. He said surely those were evil and caused unspeakable harm to the continent lasting up to today, but he argued that it is no longer helpful to keep repeating the same laments about the past. He said the real problem they have today is Nigerian leaders who replaced the colonial masters, but are mistreating their own people. He said so many African countries achieved independence only to mismanage their countries. They have leaders today who are corrupt and stealing from the people. Instead of crying about the past, he wanted people to focus on bringing reforms and better leadership today.

Another Nigerian talked about how Nigerian church planters today make the same mistakes as the colonial masters did in the past. They push new cultures and even clothing on to the people they are evangelizing. Instead of only focusing on the Gospel, they are trying to get people to adopt their cultures as well.

Not directly related but interesting, there was also a comment about how missionary compounds and theological schools started by missionaries look very different today now that they are run by Nigerians. He was an older man who said that those properties used to look so beautiful. The environment was well taken care of with trees, grass, and flowers everywhere. He said going to those places was like going to a paradise for him back then. But now every inch of grass has been planted with yams and maize and other crops. I think he wasn't criticizing Nigerians for this. He was trying to see how our mentalities are different, and that it is good to have a balance of practicality and beauty.

Nigeria has such a different context compared to most of East Africa. There is a lot of tension between Muslims and Christians. And this makes evangelism much more serious. I encourage you to listen to my two from Nigeria if you haven't yet (one and two). This issue came into every discussion we had. Significantly, part of the outreach by Christians to Muslim communities is in the form of word and deed together. There is a lot of focus on community development and caring for the poor as they also share the Gospel and try to plant churches.

When we were talking community development, there was a lot of vented frustration. How do you develop communities, plant trees and develop farms when bandits and gunmen come and routinely steal or ruin everything? Particularly Muslims of the Fulani tribe were mentioned often as those who attack and kill Christians. There are no easy answers about how to develop poor communities in such a violent context. We talked about showing love, not taking revenge, and peace-making. But many of these brothers and sisters live in very tough areas.

One participant shared a story about a pastor in his region. This pastor was tired of his Christians being targeted and their things being stolen. He convinced his church that they needed to defend themselves and not wait for the government to protect them. So the pastor obtained guns for himself and the church, but that made the Fulani target him and he was found killed. Please pray for your brothers and sisters in Nigeria.

Last, I will note that Nigerian food was tasty. They use chili, which I like, in every single dish and even in the snacks that you have at tea-time. I don't think I've ever had so much chili at once in my life.