We will
begin by looking at the number of persons across the globe who passed unto
eternity due to the activities of the rulers in the darkness of this world as
proof that the gross darkness prophesied by Isaiah is here. We will also look
at the gross darkness from the dimension of the volume and locations of people
who are yet to have access to the light of the gospel. After these critical
highlights of the volume of the staggering darkness and its implication upon
the people, we will look at how the body of Christ should confront this
darkness, which is the ultimate purpose of the Great Commission.
The Siege and the Cruelties of the Dark World
The nations
have been under the grip of the rulers of the darkness of this world. As affirmed
by the Psalmist, the dark places of the earth are the habitation of cruelties (Psalm
74:20b). The past months and years have turned out to be more challenging as the
level of insecurities, one of the indices of darkness, has become unparalleled.
Between June 2023 and January 2024, it has been reported that 2423 persons have
been killed in Nigeria and 1872 persons abducted the same way, it is happening
in Nigeria; it also happening the same way in some other African countries, which
have continued to suffer all manner of attacks.
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| A Victim of the Black Christmas. Rev Gideon is in charge of Christ Apostolic Church . His wife and five daughters were killed. All his farm harvests were set on fire. |
Democratic Republic of Congo is gearing up for war with her neighboring country, Rwanda. More than 12000 persons have been killed in the ongoing Sudan war and 6.6 million people have fled their homes since April 2023. The UN Humanitarian Affairs office said the deaths include "1300 people who were killed between 28 October and 24 November 2023" the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement (Asmar, 2023).
As for Ethiopia and Tigray, as of May 2023, the combined impact of wartime violence, famine, and a lack of medical access had killed an estimated 162,000-378,000 people, with other reported estimates reaching numbers as high as 600,000 killed (Plaut, 2023).
In Burkina Faso, it has been terror attack upon terror attacks. More than 16,000 civilians, troops, and police have died in the same attack, according to an NGO count, more than 5,000 people have died in 2023 and more than 2 million people have also been displaced within their country, making it one of the worst internal displacement crises in Africa. (VOA, 2023).
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| Another victim of the Black Christmas, Mama Lydia was shot, and her husband was killed. They killed her brother-in-law and mother-in-law. She survived the gunshot. |
Nigeria ranked 8th among the top 10 countries with the highest level of terrorism in the world. The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2023 assessed terrorism impact in 163 countries and scored Nigeria 8.065, a “very high” terrorism impact country (Babatunde, 2023). People are killed in their houses, abducted on the road, in the villages, and the cities. The situation in the country is so alarming that it looks like every second should be considered the last in people's lives, as no one knows when and from where either death or abduction could strike.
There is tension everywhere, and Christians are essentially victims. About 195 were killed by armed gunmen on the eve of Christmas in 2023; homes were destroyed indiscriminately (Paveley, 2024). Many were reported to have been burned to death in their homes. According to Paveley (2024), Charity Release International said that, in one village, nine church members, including the pastor, were murdered, and eight Baptist churches were burned down. In footage circulating on social media, a woman carrying a baby was seen also being attacked (Paveley, 2024)
Kingimi(2024) further affirmed that several Christian villages in Plateau State, Nigeria, including a sizeable number of Churches and Christian houses were utterly burnt down, which led to the state government's imposition of a 24-hour curfew on Mangu Local Government Area. Sadly, the gunmen defied the 24-hour curfew and killed an additional 30 persons, destroying several houses in Kwahaslalek and the surrounding communities (Kingimi, 2024).
On the global scene, the spate of unnecessary killings is equally staggering! The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) verified a "total of 9,614 civilian deaths during Russia's invasion of Ukraine as of September 2023. Furthermore, 17,535 people were reported to have been injured". OHCHR, however, noted that the real numbers could be higher and estimated the number of deaths of civilians, or non-armed individuals, in Ukraine at over 9.6 thousand since the start of the war on February 24, 2022. The highest death toll was recorded in March 2022, at around 3.9 thousand. Russia and Ukraine’s governmental authorities reported the figures on soldiers’ death, but they could not be verified at that point and thus need to be taken with caution (Cooper, 2023). While the Russia-Ukraine invasion is still on, precisely on October 7, 2023, no fewer than 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 764 civilians, were killed, and 248 persons were taken hostage in an attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. The result is that as of 30th January 2024, over 28,000 people (26,637 Palestinians and 1,410 Israelis) have been killed in the Israel–Hamas war, including 85 journalists (78 Palestinians, 4 Israelis, and 3 Lebanese) and over 136 UNRWA aid workers.
Another Dimension of Darkness
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It is also called "The Resistant Belt" which the majority of the world includes; Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. The original 10/40 Window includes countries with at least 50% of their land mass within 10 and 40 degrees north latitude. The revised 10/40 Window includes several additional countries close to 10 or 40 degrees north latitude and with high concentrations of unreached people.
Approximately 5.33 billion individuals reside in 8,731 distinct people groups in the revised 10/40 Window. 6,013 (68.9%) of these people groups are considered unreached and have a population of 3.28 billion. This means approximately 62% of the individuals in the 10/40 Window live in an unreached people group. The 10/40 Window is home to some of the largest unreached people groups in the world such as the Shaikh, Yadava, Turks, Moroccan Arabs, Pashtun, Jat, and Burmese.
The 10/40 Window contains four of the world's dominant religious blocs. The majority of the followers of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism as well as the Non-Religious bloc live within the 10/40 Window. On the left side or western part of the 10/40 Window, the Muslim world can be seen most prominently in a broad band across the north of Africa into the Middle East. In the middle of the 10/40 Window, South Asia is the heart of Hinduism with its 33 million gods. Buddhism influences the right side or eastern part of the 10/40 Window and is the primary religion in Southeast Asia although, it is officially an atheistic country since the Marxist revolution of the late 1940s. China is nevertheless deeply influenced by its Buddhist roots.
The 10/40 Window includes numerous spiritual strongholds, and billions of people who live in the 10/40 Window have suffered not only the ravages of poverty and diseases but have also been kept from the transforming power of the Gospel. They are poignant examples of the truth expressed in 2 Corinthians 4:4, which states that "the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
Beyond the 10/40 Window
While it is arguable that the 10/40
Window is the darkest region on earth, mission strategists coined the words
people group to expand the scope of the places needing priority. People group
means "a significantly large grouping of individuals who perceive
themselves to have a common affinity for one another because of their shared
language, religion, ethnicity, residence, occupation, class or caste,
situation, among others, or combinations of these." Current data suggests
about 17,400 distinct
people groups when country boundaries are considered.
An unreached people group is "a people group within which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians able to evangelize this people group." In the mid 1990s, mission strategists sought to quantify this definition. They settled on the criteria for unreached as less than 2% true Christ-followers and less than 5% Professing Christian (this includes all forms of Christianity i.e. anyone that would call themselves a "Christian.") While these percentage figures are somewhat arbitrary, "we should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a whole culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision."
It is no longer a secret that Christianity is on a massive decline in the Western world from where missionaries came to the other continents today. Most of the nations where missionaries came out of the reach of the world are painfully and largely mission fields today. According to the Pew Research Center, Christians in Western Europe today are non-practicing. According to a survey conducted in 15 Western European countries, secularization is widespread; very few out of those who still identify themselves as Christians attend church services. (Saghal, 2018).
Majority in most of the countries surveyed across the region are friendly to Islamic religion/Muslims and welcoming to the adherents in their families and their neighborhoods But Those who are unwilling to accept Islam in their family are also unwilling to accept Jewish people in their family. Most Christians favor legal same-sex marriage and abortion. Similar to religiously unaffiliated adults, the vast majority of non-practicing Christians say gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry legally, and that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
The Nigeria Dimension of Darkness
Nigeria is reported to have a
Christian populace of over 100 million and an evangelical strength of about 55
million persons but still has unreached people groups that have not been
engaged. These groups are referred to as unengaged people groups. This led to
another intensive effort of people group information in 2017 (Olanrewaju,
2021). At the end of the exercise, according to Olanrewaju (2021), seven
unengaged people group were discovered among 73 unreached people, all located
in the north of Nigeria. The seven unengaged people groups then became the
priority focus group of the Nigeria Evangelical Missions Associations (Olanrewaju,
2021).
We are not confident about the
authenticity of these statistics today because several unreached groups where
great efforts were being made are likely to have slide back to the category of
unengaged people groups because of the intense level of terrorism that has led
to the withdrawal of missionary efforts.
At least in the micro-community research being carried out by the Igala Believers, it was discovered that several unreached communities suffered such a fate. Villages where there were churches before, no longer have any church because of violence. Missionaries migrated, as in the case of the impact of Boko Haram challenges in the North East. Several Pastors and missionaries were also killed. NEMA embarked on mobilization for member agencies to re-engage the North East.
How to Confront the
Darkness Upon the People
Old Traditional
Method
The old traditional
method is still unbeatable in many circumstances. Jesus left Nazareth and went
to dwell in Capernaum. While seated at Capernaum, the Bible testifies
that:
“…the people living
in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow
of death light has dawned” (Matthew 4:13). This is the age long tradition the church has
adopted. We go praying/recruiting missionaries from their comfort zones (Nazareth)
train and deploy them to the dark places of the earth. Over the years, this
traditional approach has been very practical in many dark nations.
Every-Believer-A-Missionary
Paradigm
With a shift from the
known mission fields via migration of unreached people to the urban areas, hence
the need for a paradigm shift becomes inevitable. Every believer is to be
mobilized to take responsibility for engaging the unreached people in their
backyards. We truly live in a global marketplace. Paying close attention to the
diversity within the businesses and shops if you move around in urban places,
with very few exceptions, you will find people of other cultures working in
your city. Some have relocated permanently to foreign cities. Others regularly
travel to participate in the marketplace (McCrary, 2016). Sometimes, the
unreached people are either classmates, colleagues in the offices, or employees
like security men. If this paradigm of every-believer-a-missionary works,
converts will be the one who will in turn take the gospel to the dark
communities where they come from.
The challenge with this
paradigm is that the church today is more interested in what they will get than
what they will give in terms of commitment to the service of God, unlike
Priscilla and Aquila in the book of Acts who are example of marketplace workers.
They were tentmakers engaged in business (Acts 18:3).
Not only were they tentmakers, but they were evidently very mobile. In the
Scriptures, we read about them working in four different cities: Pontus, Rome,
Corinth, and Ephesus. Their apparent skills and business acumen allowed them to
move from place to place as the Spirit led their mission strategy (McCrary,
2016).
Diaspora
Missions
In diaspora missions, we are urged to consider that, along with sending missionaries and going to the ends of the earth, we make a habit of welcoming and sharing the love of Christ with many foreigners and diaspora peoples coming to our country. These "strangers" have families back home, and the gospel could spread among their people via technology or when they return to their countries.
In the first century
church, the gospel spread quickly from Jerusalem to many Gentile nations
because Jerusalem was a multicultural city where diaspora peoples from
"every nation under heaven" lived (Acts 2:5). Today, many cities have become "melting pots," and
have a lot in common with Jerusalem as cultural, economic, and religious
crossroads. The first weeks and months in a new culture shape people's view of
the country. Just as people you meet at the start of a new season of life often
become lasting friends, this can happen with internationals arriving in our
country. Followers of Jesus can
be the first to greet them at the airport, help them adjust to their new life,
invite them for a meal, help them learn English, teach them about our culture,
and ultimately show them God's love. This leaves an
indelible impression on families at a time when they feel most vulnerable.
Extending helping hands to the nations scattered throughout the earth is a strategic way to fulfill Christ's final
commandment.
The “Jakpa”
Syndrome and the Nations
“Jakpa” is a Nigerian
word used for migrants. With the worsening of Nigeria and several African
countries’ economies, youths are migrating to the Western world in their
thousands. Many of those involved in this mass exodus include some passionate
believers in Christ Jesus. They should ordinarily be carriers of the gospel
where they found themselves. Even though they are mainly professionals seeking
greener pastures as well as students pursuing additional knowledge, God is
counting on them for meaningful contributions to restore the light of the
gospel to the Western world already enveloped in gross darkness.
Marketplace
missions
This takes us to the
place of marketplace missionaries in dispelling darkness. For example, if 70 to
80% of Americans don’t attend church services anymore, professionals can take
the gospel to them in their place of work. Traditional missionaries and
congregational pastors should not be left alone with the burden. If the
marketplace missionaries actively engage the people with the gospel, the cry of
inadequate missionaries would drastically reduce.
It is important to
stress at this point that it is not only migrants that should serve as
marketplace missionaries. McCrary (2016) asserted that a limitless number of
missionaries can only be sent to the mission fields only if marketplace
missions are taken seriously. He stresses that churches will have to rethink
processes, redesign development and training, and create new sending mechanisms
that have not been employed before (Mcgray, 2016). He added that the traditional
field missionaries must consider healthy partnerships with the marketplace
missionaries (McCrary, 2016).
The body of Christ
should prepare their members for this role. All it takes is adaptability. Paul
observed in Corinth that reaching people for Christ requires adaptability — and
a Kingdom perspective:
To the Jews, I
became like a Jew to win the Jews. To those under the law, I became like one
under the law (though I am not under the law) to win those under the law. To
those not having the law, I became like one not having the law (though I am not
free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) to win those not having the law.
To the weak, I became vulnerable to win the weak. I have become all things to
all people so that by all possible means I might save some (1 Corinthians 9:20–22).
As mentioned earlier,
Aquila and Priscilla were clear examples of marketplace missionaries who
contributed immensely to dispelling darkness in their time. McCrary (2016)
highlighted how they worked and traveled and were very intentional in their
missionary efforts, adding that no matter where they lived, they were engaged
in the work:
- Co-working with Paul
in Christ Jesus (Romans 16:3)
- Risking their lives
for Paul (Romans 16:4)
- Assisting Paul in
Ephesus (Acts 18:18–28)
- Hosting a church in
their own home (1 Corinthians
16:19, Romans 16:3–5)
- Instructing Apollos
privately to help him to learn more about Jesus (Acts 18:26)
Another benefit of
Marketplace missions is that it is cost-effective. Cross-Cultural missions are
generally capital-intensive. Luke also described Paul as a tentmaker in the
Book of Acts. He had a marketable trade and could create enough income to
sustain his work in mission. At times, Paul mentioned that he worked to not
create a burden for the church (1 Corinthians
4:12, 2 Thessalonians 3:8). Again, there is an apparent basis for
workers to be funded by churches. Still, there’s also biblical support for
funding missions in this way.
Credibility and Access
Besides being cost-effective,
marketplace missionaries command high credibility and access to the people. One
of my favorite stories in the book of Acts is when Paul was waiting in Athens
for his coworkers (Acts 17:16–21).
He mingled among the vendors in the marketplace, reasoning with them about the
gospel, a practice he probably perfected because he was a tentmaker. He could
speak to the merchants as an insider—as one of them—because he, too, was part
of the business community.
I have seen examples in the world where market place workers gained instant credibility and receptivity in a new country simply because they were there with a purpose: to do business. Conversely, as a traditional missionary, the opposite is the case in the field (McCrary, 2016). The classic missionary is categorized as an outsider, lacking credibility, especially with professionals. Employing marketplace skills and presence would open doors to quicker and deeper conversations about the gospel (McCrary, 2016). Shearer (Nd.) warned that if God has called one into business, such a person should not wish they were called somewhere else. He summed up the benefits in seven ways:
Reason #1: Almost all non-Christians are in the marketplace.
Today, less than
20% of Americans attend church regularly. In many European countries, the
percentages are much lower. At the current rate, regular church attendance is
projected to drop to 11.7% by 2050. The good news is that these people who
aren’t attending church will still wake up to work in the marketplace alongside
their Christian co-workers each morning.
Reason #2: Almost
all Christians are in the marketplace.
At least 85% of the
Christian workforce spends 60-70% of their waking hours in the marketplace. In
addition to serving our families and local churches, the marketplace is the
primary context in which our spiritual gifts should be used. The ministry potential
for Christians using their spiritual gifts collaboratively in the marketplace
is astounding!
Reason #3:
Discipleship actually can happen in the marketplace.
Church leaders are
often criticized for their congregations' lack of discipleship and spiritual
growth. Let’s give our pastors a break. How much discipleship actually can
happen during a two-hour church service on Sunday?
Discipleship—becoming
more like Jesus—happens in everyday life. Yes, discipleship can happen
anywhere, even during a two-hour lecture-style event on Sunday. However, the
potential for discipleship and ministry investment in a weekly service is a
fraction of what is possible during an entire workweek with our co-workers,
clients, etc.
Reason #4: The
marketplace is a more authentic showroom of Christianity.
If you were
shopping for a car, you’d probably go to a showroom. Before you buy anything,
you’d probably want to see if the vehicle functions appropriately on the road.
You might even ask the dealer to allow you to take the car home for a day or
two to test it out.
The local church is
like the showroom for Christianity. The marketplace is the test drive. The
marketplace is where our unbelieving co-workers see if they want what we have.
Daily, they see how we react under pressure. They see how we treat people. They
see how much God truly matters to us in our daily lives.
As mentioned in
“Reason #1,” most people aren’t even coming to the “showroom” anymore, so
marketplace Christians now serve as both the showroom and the test drive of
Christianity.
Reason #5: The
marketplace forces the Church to use all of its capabilities.
Personality-driven
and super-pastor Christianity doesn’t work in the marketplace. Having a bunch
of Christians sitting on the sidelines of ministry may not prevent a local
church from increasing numerically. Still, it won’t transform the marketplace
for the glory of God.
Reason #6:
Denominational divisions are less destructive in the marketplace.
We can choose
whether to attend a Baptist Church, Pentecostal-Charismatic Church,
Presbyterian Church, or even a Non-Denominational Church. Still, most of us
don’t have the luxury of co-working only with Christians with whom we agree
theologically. The marketplace has a way of diluting some of these differences.
This opens the door to collaborative ministry beyond the walls of our local
churches and traditions.
Reason #7:
Everything gets funded from the marketplace.
All money comes
from the value created in the marketplace, and business professionals
ultimately decide what gets funded. These business professionals need to know
God and His plan for their lives to make righteous decisions concerning money.
Although business
is often thought of only as the economic engine of the Church, I hope that we
will begin to see and realize its full potential for transforming society for
the glory of God.
How do we Confront Darkness in Literally Dangerous
Places?
To
conclude this presentation, the question of the peril of working in the dark
regions we discussed earlier stares at us. Many missionaries had paid heavy
prices with their lives already. Besides the power encounter through the use of
sinister means like witchcraft, which territorial spirits use to resist even
the bravest missionary, the reality of physical assault, kidnapping, and all
manner of violence is sufficient to stop every ‘sensible’ missionary from
daring these regions.
In
the face of these perils, we still have missionaries who continue to endanger
their lives. Some missionaries have withdrawn, while others are still
withdrawing. They attribute their withdrawal to wisdom and explain that when
Herod planned to kill Jesus before his death was due, he withdrew to
Egypt.
On
the other hand, those that persist on the perilous fields even in the face of
death argue that until they receive specific instruction to withdraw from the
field like Joseph was instructed to flee to Egypt, it will be tantamount to
looking back like Lot’s wife in the Bible. For such persons, the song of Frank
C. Huston: “It pays to serve Jesus,” is like an anthem. In one of the stanzas,
the singer vowed to die at his duty post.
Dying To Live
Yet,
for others, it is expected that all believers should be dead to themselves to
be qualified to be true disciples. No dead man is afraid to die the second time
they argue. This is why Paul could say, “I have been crucified with Christ,
and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,”
(Galatians 2:20).
The
reading of Galatians 2:20 above is found in less literal translations, like
the English Standard and New International Version. They aren’t wrong, but they
sometimes miss essential shades of meaning from the original language. Look how
it reads in a more literal translation, like the King James Version:
“I
am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Did
you catch the difference? It is so subtle that if we read on autopilot, we
might miss it. In case you missed it, check out the Berean Literal
Bible:
“I
have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
And that I now live in the flesh, I live through faith from the Son of God, the
One having loved me and given up Himself for me.”
So,
whose faith is it? Yours or Christ’s? Reread it, Slowly. The very faith you
need to live this Christian life is not even yours! It comes from Christ. You
live not by your faith but by Christ’s— “by the faith of the Son of God.” The
more literal translations try to bring this out.
As
missionaries, we were swallowed up in Christ. A divine exchange took place
where He lives as you and you were immersed (baptized) into Him so that our
lives are now hidden with Christ in the heavenly realm: “For you died,
and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
John
12:24-26 stresses further, “…except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth much fruit. He that loveth
his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it
unto life eternal”.
To
continue with mission work at these difficult times, one must die. That is the
only way we can be courageous enough to dare the power of darkness, whose
primary job description is to kill, steal, and destroy. A missionary once said
that not everyone on the street has been killed or kidnapped. As long as people
are looking for money, it is not too much to go about looking for souls. May we
all rise and contribute our quota to dispel darkness and enthrone the Lordship
of Jesus!
References
Asmar, Ahmed
(2023). More than 12,000 killed in Sudanese conflict: UN. Retrieved from
hhttps://rb.gy/rpzlx6.
Arise News
(2024). Tinubu Should Step Aside, Says Atiku + Peter Obi Decries Spate Of
Insecurity| W/OjyOkpe. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKlmFpHC6Nw),
Babatunde, Funmilayo (2023). Why Nigeria is listed
among 10 Countries mostly Impacted by Terrorism. Retrieved from https://rb.gy/7khjya
Cooper, Helene (2023).Troop Deaths and
Injuries in Ukraine War Near 500,000. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/politics/ukraine-russia-war-casualties.html
Kingimi, Ahmed(2024). Attacks in Nigeria's
Plateau state leave at least 30 dead. Reuters. Retrieved from
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/attacks-nigerias-plateau-state-leave-least-30-dead-2024-01-25/
Olanrewaju,
Adeoluwa (2021). People Groups and the Nigeria Evangelical Missions
Association. Retrieved from https://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/people-groups-and-the-nigeria-evangelical-missions-association.
Paveley, Rebecca (2024). Nigerian gunmen
leave scores of Christians dead. Church Times. Retrieved from https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/5-january/news/world/nigerian-gunmen-leave-scores-of-christians-dead
Plaut,
Martin(2023). Updated assessment of civilian starvation deaths during the
Tigray war. Retrieved from https://martinplaut.com/2023/05/24/updated-assessment-of-civilian-starvation-deaths-during-the-tigray-war/
Saghal, Neha (2018). 10 key
findings about religion in Western Europe. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/05/29/10-key-findings-about-religion-in-western-europe/
Shearer, Darren (Nd.). 7 Reasons Why the
Marketplace Is a Great Place for Christians. Retrieved from https://www.theologyofbusiness.com/reasons-why-the-marketplace-is-a-great-place-for-christians/
Joshua Project (Nd). What is the
10/40 Window? Retrieved from https://joshuaproject.net/resources/articles/10_40_window
VOA(2023).
Around 20 Killed in Burkina Faso Suspected Terror Attack. Retrieved from
https://www.voanews.com/a/around-20-killed-in-burkina-faso-suspected-terror-attack/7215219.html
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