For two days members of the Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association (NEMA) will gather in Abuja, the federal capital city of Nigeria to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the body.
The celebration comes up Wednesday, 20th and Thursday 21st July, 2022, at All Christians Fellowship Missions, No. 2 Logone Close, Off Nile Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria with the theme Progressive Synergy for Accelerated Harvest.
According to Andrew Gwaivangmin, the Executive Secretary in a statement to drum up awareness for the celebration, the theme for the anniversary was chosen because of the need to foster unity and partnership among the mission movements in the Nigeria.
“All through February, during the NEMA’s Month of Mission, we spent the whole month with devotions focusing on this theme. We hope this will bring agencies and church denominations to work together. The mission agencies accepted that we have a problem within us that needs to be honestly addressed. NEMA believes this is the way forward, and we stand in a position to bring true reconciliation.”
The Executive Secretary who was convinced that NEMA had done well at 40 also expressed the hope that there was room for improvement and explained further that the celebration would “come with a heart of gratitude, as the various reports and testimonies have proven.”
Also speaking about the activities line up for the celebration, the NEMA scribe said, “As part of our many activities during the anniversary, we will be relaunching our Vision 5015. This will be tagged Vision 5015 Plus. This will be an opportunity to recommit ourselves to the vision of reaching the unreached within the 10/40 window. The Vision 5015 Plus is all about reaching unreached communities; the unreached people in the Northern Nigeria, Sahel, Middle East and the Jerusalem neighbourhood, with the message of Jesus Christ.
“Our 40th Anniversary is a time of celebration. It is a time NEMA is celebrating God’s faithfulness over the years. Today we stand tall as the foremost Mission Movement in Africa. NEMA has catalysed the formation of Missions Movements in other African countries like Ghana, Malawi, etc. Nigeria chairs the Africa Missions Association (AfMA), with Mr. Gabriel Barau as Founding Chairman.
“During the anniversary, we will also be honouring our founding fathers and leaders in recognition of their years of service unto the Lord through the ministry of NEMA.
Going down the memory lane, he added, “We recall that our journey as an organisation, started far back in 1981, and after official inauguration in 1982, our main goal has been to galvanize the Nigeria missions’ movement, and also to mobilize the church to engage the vast harvest fields. This was why the first major missions’ mobilization conference in 1983 was tagged Missions Awareness Conference (MAC ’83).
“In our early years, one of our major objectives was to reverse the number of foreign missionaries which numbered over 10,000 in Nigeria, compared to about 600 indigenous missionaries. This, we reversed within few years. Today there are over 15,000 Nigerian missionaries serving in several countries of the world.
“It’ll be noted that at present, NEMA has over 130 registered member Churches, and Agencies. In the last decade, several national consultations were held with respect to unreached peoples groups. That contributed to the reduction of the number of unreached people’s group from over 70 in 2017 to about 43 by December, 2021, including unevangelized people’s groups. This is not a small achievement considering the challenges of missions today,” he emphasised.
On Bible translation needs, he noted that “currently, Nigeria sits on the third position of the list of countries with Bible Translation needs.
“As part of NEMA’s mobilisation strategy, we’re promoting the translation of the Bible in the mother tongue of the unreached people group. Bible translation is today, without doubt, agreed as the best way of reaching the unreached as it affords them the singular opportunity to understand the Bible better than all the teaching, discipleship and preaching we will ever do.
Gwaivangmin called on Churches and Agencies to get involved in Bible Translation in order to address th crucial need of Bible translation.
“We’re promoting the translation of the Bible in the mother tongue of the unreached people group. It’s our passion to reach every nation on earth with the Good News of the Gospel in their heart language. If we must complete the Great Commission, we must work towards counting to zero in Bible Translation efforts. Bible translation is today without doubt, agreed as the best way of reaching the unreached as they will understand the bible better than all the teaching, discipleship and preaching we will do.”
The NEMA Secretary did not fail to report all they have been doing in the area of supports for missionaries.
He said, “We have equally been up and doing in terms of support to missionaries. During the Covid-19 Pandemic and the ongoing insurgency in the country which is coming in different shapes and forms, NEMA has been able to provide support to the families of missionaries and communities that were worse affected. We stand tall today as the foremost Mission Movement in Africa.
“The issue of resource mobilisation is another major challenge we are facing in NEMA. Vision 5015 was meant to catalyse the Nigerian church to engage in missions to the Core North – North-Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Middle East and the Jerusalem Neighbourhood. Sadly, many Nigerian Churches have not taken the issue of missions to the unreached as a priority. Many financially endowed Nigerian churches have the large evangelical population and have resources that can be deployed for field missions, but unfortunately, that is not their priority. They don’t quite see it as an urgent issue.
“There is also the problem of member care. It has become a critical need in missions. This is an area that many agencies have ignored, and yet, it is important in building confidence and support for missionaries and retaining them in the field. There has been a high attrition of missionaries in the field in more recent years due to poor member care. Missionaries sent to the fields are not well catered for by their sending bodies or mother churches. This results in many of them leaving the mission field due to hunger and lack of care. The more recent NEMA Research, HarvestScope indicated a high percentage of missionaries leaving the field due to personal reasons that may not be unrelated to member care.
NEMA has been able to reduce the number of unreached and least evangelised people’s group from over 70 in 2017 to about 43 by December, 2021. This is no small achievement considering the challenges of missions today.
NEMA is a membership Organisation, with over 130 registered member Churches and Agencies, and membership is opened to Mission Agencies, Para-Church Groups and Denominations that are engaged in ministry to unreached peoples groups or mission related programs or projects, and are registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
NEMA depends solely on the Lord via the sacrificial support of individuals, member agencies, churches and organisations, to fund its operations and maintain its staff.
The occasion of the 40th anniversary was taken to invite individuals, Church or organisations to partner with NEMA through the gift of resources, and be “shareholders in the reward that God would give His faithful stewards on the day of accountability.”
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