CHURCH PLANTING—A MODEL OF EVANGELISM AT WNCC
Evangelism is at the heart of what we do at West Nigeria Christian College. Since domiciled in a remote area surrounded by villages, WNCC has taken it upon herself to minister to her immediate environment through various channels—door-door evangelism, open-air evangelism, educational evangelism, etc. In light of the prospects and converts made in these areas, we saw the need to assist the brethren domiciled within the villages to get a place of worship rather than have them travel a distance for worship. Over the years, we have been engaged in church planting as a veritable means for growth in evangelism as we seek to have congregations that are “of the community” and not just “in the community,” and most recently we secured a meeting place for the community—Obasa.
Obasa is a community within our immediate Local Government Area with a population of about five thousand people. It is a community of farmers and settlers from the immediate urban area. The area is relatively populated, and it remains a virgin land unexplored for the Master. We have had several evangelistic ministries—open-air, door-to-door, an outgoing children evangelism and a Bible study held every Thursday evening, which have led to creating an awareness of who we are to the community.
The congregation started in the residence of a brother who found it difficult to transport himself and his family weekly to the closest church meeting place—Mile Six. The leadership at Mile Six partnered with the college to ease the financial constraint of the brother and in so doing raised a congregation at his meeting place. The congregation after its inception suffered a major blow when the members of the community were turned off by the personae of the said brother which led them to turn a deaf ear whenever we preached to them within the community. In light of this, the college sought to solve this conundrum by mobilising local resource to purchase a piece of land within the community in the name of the church and erecting a building (still in construction) for the church to meet away from the residence of the brother. So far, we have had a renewed hope for the church since moving the church from the residence of the brother to a different location within the community, and we have a better reception when we go out on evangelism.
The church is made up of about 5 families, students from the College, and an instructor from the College who serves as the minister of the congregation. The congregation meets every Sunday for worship and has made appreciable progress with her neighbors. Every Thursday, the members meet for Bible study, and every Saturday, the children within the community are taught by the students of the College from the Bible as well as assisted on their assignments from school. The congregation is a growing congregation with prospects. We pray for the grace of the Lord on all our efforts for him in the kingdom to prosper and meet the desired ends in Jesus’ name, amen. Welcome to Obasa Church of Christ!
