Training in Missions

(Extract - Chapter Two of Journey into the Dark Nations : Autobiography of Andrew Abah)

Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should 

greatly increase. (Job 8:7)

My teaching job at Igwu- Akor village was over at this time. I returned to join my parents in Makurdi, Benue State Capital, Nigeria and my continuous search to be like my elder brother at that time led me to the saving arms of the Saviour. I got filled with the Holy Spirit and shortly after that secured admission to higher institution, the School of Basic Studies, Makurdi. I resumed at the school with the aim of pursuing the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB), an equivalence of advanced level GCE which ordinarily serve as a bridge/gateway to the University. Little did I know that I was enrolling for ministry training. 

As a new Christian just coming into the campus where there were many other young believers with different gifts and grace was a great time of great learning. In the first place, the Campus Fellowship was organised in such a way that great men of God from across the state and sometimes beyond were scheduled  to preach and some to teach on various subjects. Some of the teaching still sticks to my mind till today. Gbile Akanni was a very regular teacher. He was a Physics lecturer at the Katsina Ala College of Education at that time. He had just completed his National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) program. He was  very simple in his outlook and lifestyle and his teaching were very down to earth. He took personal interest in me. He thought on discipleship, year of Jubilee, etc. 

We had others like John Ornguze who had some Western influence and preaches with foreign ascent. He too was a great preacher and led the Intercessors for America. Listening to him was another level of exposure. 

Godwin Ikyernum was the first charismatic evangelist  I was ever exposed to as a young believer. I remember vividly his crusade message titled: The First Question to the First Man on the First Place of the Earth; Where Art Thou? Others were Tor Uja, Moses Msue. Their lives and messages impacted me greatly and I cannot divorce what I became in ministry from the input these great men of God in my life.

The Executive Council of the fellowship were thorough. The president, Isaac Igbe, Vice President, Joshua Manyam, Library secretary, late Julius Achin, Prayer secretary, Bishop Joseph Opaluwa, Blessing Ocholi and few others that I cannot readily remember were thorough ministers of the Gospel at that young age and they helped shaped my life for ministry. Their lives and messages were very impactful and In less than a year of entering the campus, a new election was conducted and I was elected into office as the new Prayer Secretary. It was a huge responsibility. This time, I had to grow beyond just praying for myself to praying for all the members of the fellowship. 

Tor Uja and Gbile Akanni taught on the coming revival and we took time to pray for it. We desperately wanted the revival on our campus. Sewuese Igbadu was a member of the new executive council. She was a very prayerful young lady. She mobilized friends to the long tennis court and spent several hours praying for divine visitation. With my responsibility as the prayer secretary, I organised prayer vigils twice a week and Sometimes we set up prayer chain and drew up time table where brethren prayed for 24 hours.

A Taste of Revival
It was not possible to pray that way without God coming down. One of such occasion was in May 1983 when we organised Jesus 83. I ensured that fervent prayers were made both day and night as we invited Moses Msue from Katsina Ala  and Professor Duro Adegboye from Zaria as the main speakers. Msue spoke on the topic: What Jesus can Do! I cannot remember precisely what Duro spoke on. The power of God came down as never before. We had mighty harvest of souls. One of the results that still abide till today was Rev. Samuel Tukura, he interrupted one of the sessions of the Jesus 83 to surrender his life to Christ. Before his surrender, he was very fetish and well known in the Campus. His conversion led to chains of other conversions and Gbile Akaani, Godwin Ikyernum and Tor Uja were particularly excited at the outbreak of revival. They helped nurse the fruits of the revival and particularly took interest in Samuel Tukura and discipled him.

Jesus 83 came and passed but the revival persisted. I remember vividly the former cult lady, simply called Agatha. She was said to be the queen of Indian Ocean, a high rank she attained in the marine world. She had initiated many of the campus girls into the marine spirit before her conversion. But as God came down mightily,  the spirit of God swept through the Campus and most of the girls Agatha had initiated were brought to the Lord and were ministered to. They were set free. Their male friends were confused. They could not understand why their girl friends have to suddenly break away from their immoral relationships. Some came close to the fellowship hall to peep. They wanted to see the Jesus that snatched their female friends, but the power of the Holy Spirit magnetized them from the fellowship windows from where they were peeping and they surrendered their lives to Christ and entered the church.

The wave of revival was massive. The fellowship was always filled up. All the leaders worked selflessly. Nobody took the glory for what God was doing. It was awesome and It was beyond the work of any man. We prayed effortlessly, we loved one another effortlessly and God produced for Himself lots of men and women from that campus who are serving him in various capacities across the nations today. 

Professor Samuel Odeh was the service secretary. Today he is a Professor of Medicine and also serves as one of the Pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Ameh Amana was the Library Secretary. He is the founder and leader of Gospel Inn today. John Jia was the Bible Study Secretary. Presently, he works with shell at Gabon. Ruth Adejoh(Nee Adejoh) was the General Secretary. She leads the Peace House in Lokoja with her husband. Benjamin Atebije leads the Prayer Ministry and many more whom I had lost touch with. Patience Adjei and Ajuma Agaba labour for the Lord at Oju and Gboko respectively today. The campus ministry was truly a processing plant for many of us and those that took over from us. 

Samuel Tukura, one of the many fruits of Jesus 83 did not only surrender his life to Christ but rose to become the fellowship President that led the Executive Council after our set. He founded the Flame Ministries many years after and had taken the gospel to many nations of the world. 

29years after, we look back and give God the glory for the training as It was a combination of charisma and character. Few years ago, Gbile Akaani and I met in Japan and casted our minds back to those early years of training and I was thankful to him and the few others that helped build in me a solid foundation. As I look across the nations, I cannot but be thankful to God on behalf of all my class mates and friends who have made input in one way or the other.

And Then the Practical Session  
In 1984, the School of Basic Studies program was over and we all dispersed applying for further studies. I applied to the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to pursue a degree in History after which I prayed to really know if it was God's will for me to really go to Zaria or He has other plans for me.  I was expecting that if God will object to my schooling at Zaria, the only alternative was going to be University of Jos. Benue State of Nigeria where I came from was a catchment area for the two universities. It was easy securing admission as long as one's grades were okay.

However, I found myself in a trance, I was preaching in a village. The village was full of darkness and though there were few churches there, the people did not know their right from the left as par the gospel. The Lord explained to me that the village I saw in the trance was my next place of assignment but not the university. That was unbelievable. I took time to argue with God that my going through the School of Basic Studies was to prepare me for the university education and not to go to the village as a preacher. I resisted vehemently. I just could not imagine my mates going to the university and I will be going to the deep rural area to live among them for the purpose of preaching the gospel. That to me was madness.

I traveled to ABU to follow up on my admission in my determination to ignore God's leading. I met Dr. Patrick Wilmot, a Lecturer at the university then. He told me that the admission list was not out yet but that with my score, I would have no problem. When the list came out, it turned out that my name was not among those admitted. I returned to Dr. Wilmot and he too was surprised that my name was not on the list. He verified and discovered that my application form was not forwarded to the University from Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) and as such the university cannot consider me for admission. I wept sorely knowing that it was a  divine interruption like that of Jonah but even then, I was not comfortable with the idea of relocating to the village where God directed me in a trance to go.

The village, Aiona is located in a very remote jungle, 9Kilometers from the nearest tarred road. Vehicle rarely plied the road as at that time. On very rare occasion, we got vehicles which came in on market days. The villagers were used to trekking that distance. After much reluctance and struggle, I heard God clearly speak to me that because I refused to regard His calling, He will sit on His throne and laugh at me on the day of my calamity. His words: 'Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh' (Prov. 1:24-26). 

At this point, it was already clear that admission into the university that session was a foregone conclusion and I had secured a teaching job in a more comfortable place, Edugwu-Iye Community Secondary School, Adumoko, Orokam. The salary was relatively reasonable and there was promise for accommodation for staff. I had to choose between the comfort and the threat of God 'laughing at my calamity'.  I took off to the village for a visit and visited the Government Day Secondary School. I introduced myself to the College Principal and he said he knew me and had planned to invite me to come over and teach in his college.

He told me how much the college will offer me and took time to persuade me. I told him I was already teaching and the salary I was offered was far higher than what his college was ready to offer. The Principal then began to give me information on how unevangelised the community was and that my teaching in the school will be a platform for me to spread the light of the gospel to such gross darkness. This was amazing because the Principal himself was not born again as at the time he was persuading me. I knew again, God was there to double-cross me. If he could speak through the mouth of a donkey, it was not surprising that he could use this God-fearing unbelieving Principal to persuade this young boy to come over and serve as a missionary teacher.

I still had my struggles and the voice persisted: 'Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh' (Prov. 1:24-26). This time, in tears, I surrendered to his will. I then left for the College where I served, tendered my resignation and relocated to the Aiona Mission field.


God Provided a Mentor
Not long before I completed my program in Makurdi, I had crossed path with another young Evangelist at Ugbokolo, Benue State, Nigeria. I had gone to Benue Polytechnic situated at Ugbokolo to visit my elder brother, Abraham and was told he went to the Primary School to pray along with his prayer partner. I traced him to the school and waited for him by the door post. The prayer which I thought will last for an hour or two lasted for several hours. They prayed and prayed and prayed again! When they came out of the classroom, their countenances were radiant. You know these were supernatural beings. It was then I discovered the definition of effectual fervent prayer.   “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit”. (James 5:16-18).  I meet my brother's prayer partner, Evangelist Sunday Oguche for the first time. I saw in him great grace I could tap from. He preached with signs and wonders following. Inside of me, I felt this was a man I could learn from. I wanted to be such a passionate powerful Evangelist.

Ministry at Aiona
The phase of my ministry at Aiona which I often refer to as the core of my practical session after my first two years of ministry training in Makurdi will remain indelible. It was not long after I arrived the village that I understood what the College Principal meant by gross darkness covering the land. Wickedness abounds everywhere. The level of witchcraft, drunkenness and idolatry was unparalleled. Stories of killing through poisoning and charms of even close relatives were no longer news because they were rampant. Most homes were littered with shrines. 

After sometimes of prayer, I began witnessing to my students at the college. Not long after that the converts from the college joined me in house to house evangelism. Results began to trickle in as many lives, young and old, male and females began to turn to Jesus. The discipleship process necessitated meeting with all the converts under the tree in my compound because my tiny single room could no longer accommodate us. We later moved to the primary school at the centre of the village as the Head Master was generous enough to allow us the use of one of the classrooms for our fellowship.
Before long, the fellowship began to grow in number and persecution broke out. The contradiction was that church leaders championed the persecution. It was not surprising because they were not born again themselves. Some of them were drunkards and never knew their right from their left. Others were idolaters and notorious for the use of dangerous charm. They called us all sort of names. In some of the churches, they announced that we are cult that specialized in sucking blood and warned that the members of the church should not allow their relatives to come close to us or the fellowships that had just begun.

The announcements only helped publicize our work. Those that were adventurous came closer to us to investigate the allegation and the Holy Spirit pulled them to Himself. Two things that our critics could not deny were the Christ-like character of our converts and members of the fellowship and the miracles that were always not in short supply. One night, I heard someone bang on my door like a thief. I asked who the person was and the person introduced himself as the pastor of one of the biggest churches in the village. That was very strange. What will a Pastor who hated me so much be looking for at such odd hour of the night? Could he have come with a gang of hired killers? These were the thought that ran through my heart.

I prayed and politely opened the door. He came in with three of his children. It was another story of Nicodemus. His mission was to be prayed for. His children were all epileptic. One of them came under severe attack that night which prompted them to run to me for prayers. They were really helpless. I introduced Jesus, the helper of the helpless to them and spent time to pray for them. God ended their misery of epilepsy that night.

The news of what God was doing began to spread to the cities. While some were thankful to God, others fought us. At a time, the Police headquarters directed the Okpoga Divisional Police to investigate my activities. They had received allegation that I had turned the village upside down and that had been a heavy 'negative' influence on their youth in particular, teaching them to be rude. The Police came in and carried out their investigation. They were amazed at the information they gathered. What the people called rudeness was the fact that their born again family members had resolved no longer to sell alcohol or cigarette any more. The young ladies were also no longer ready to be married to non-Christians. Crime rate had dropped sharply because perpetrators were born again and their lives  changed.

They reported back to the headquarters but one of the influential men from the village, a Medical Consultants in Makurdi (who became born again himself many years after) continued to mount pressure on the Police headquarters prompting them to arrest some members of my leadership team while I was away. The young converts were also tortured by their parents and stopped from coming to fellowship and associating with me.

Counteracting the Oppositions
One way we could help the new believers who were literally under fire then was to keep teaching them the cost of discipleship which included partaking in the fellowship of his suffering as taught by Apostle Paul: “But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. 15If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. 16However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name”. (1 Peter 4:13-17)

Jesus teaching on bearing the cross was also very resourceful: 
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. 27”And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple”. (Luke 14:26-27) 
While some of my team mates were in Police detention, I travelled to see a member of the Benue State Executive Council and Commissioner for Information of that time, Rev. Tor Uja who was also one of those God used to nurture me spiritually before God deployed me to the village.  I wanted him to use his influence to stop the Police from further harassing us. I told him, I was the target of the Police and that I had been declared wanted. He told me to return to my mission station and that if I was arrested and detained, I could send to him.

That did not make much sense to me especially as there were no telephone facilities then as it is now. Instead of returning to my missions' station, I left for Ugbokolo to notify Evangelist Sunday Oguche of my ordeal. He was still a student at the Benue Polytechnic then so it was not possible to follow me immediately. He asked me to go ahead of him. I passed through Owukpa and picked up one of the village Evangelist, John Inamu to accompany me to the Police station where my team mates were detained. He was to take the information to Sunday Oguche and Tor Uja if the Police detained me. The good news was that they called me to the DPO's office and confided in me the source of the pressure on them from the Police headquarters and that they had investigated my activites but had found no reason to harass me. They however advised that I cancelled a meeting I had planned to avoid embarrassment from the police headquarters as they had threaten that if they at the Division cannot tame me, they were willing to send Police directly from Makurdi. They discharged me and the others. It was a miraculous escape!

That seemed to be the beginning of the persecution. Some of the converts suddenly saw the need for restitution. One in particular was no longer comfortable with being a second wife. She felt she must leave and straighten her relationship with her maker. Hearing that a woman had to leave her matrimonial home in the name of restitution caused an uproar in the society. 


Agent of Darkness at Work
Since the fire of persecution could not make us to soft-pedal, the devil devised other means to halt what God was doing. A young lady simply known as Juliana joined the fellowship. She claimed she was born again and began to partake in all our activities ranging from discipleship class to outreaches. She helped in carrying the megaphone we used for public address system. Little did I know she was an agent of darkness. 

In one of our meetings, the power of God came down heavily and she began to confess how she was delegated to initiate me but every effort to get hold of me proved abortive as according to her, I was surrounded by fire. She had attained a very high rank in the marine world. She also had spirit husband and kids. In view of that she was no longer interested in getting married in the material world any more. She turned down all the men who approached her for marriage and her parent were already getting worried.

As usual, our God sets captives free. That is one reason why Jesus came to die for us: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."( Luke 4:18-19)

She was prayed for and set free. There were many of such agents of darkness that came with the intention of ruining the work but God took over the battle and gave us victory.

Another Transition
After months of doing ministry at Aiona, God did not only give us more and more converts but some believers from the city came in. One of such is Freedman Akoh. Not long after he arrived, God spoke to me that my time there was almost over. I was specifically directed to prepare him to take over the leadership of the work in that village. He was a fine gentle man but not baptized in the Holy Spirit. It was not possible to survive there without the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I introduced him to it and prayed for him. He was baptized. He turned out to be an excellent Pastor. Together we worked until I handed over to him in obedience to divine directive.

At every point, persecution did not only persist but intensified. As I relocated from the village for a fresh assignment, the enemies of the gospel ganged up together day and night and strategised on how to put a complete halt to the advancement of the gospel. The heat became so intense that the brethren began to think of institutionalizing the ministry to position them well to face the enemies. All the while, we had not adopted any formal name nor were we reporting to any structure anywhere. For the purpose of nomenclature, we refer to ourselves as Fellowship and our meeting place as Christian Fellowship Centre.

Beside Pastor Freedman, another fine Christian, Michael Agada had completed his National Youth Service Corps and joined the team. Her mother was already a frontline member of the fellowship. Michael secured a teaching job and was posted to the boarder village of Benue and Enugu State. He started branches of the Christian Fellowship Centres in some of the villages. Though largely autonomous and initially none of us earned salary at the onset as we all collected salaries as teachers, I however provided initial leadership for the work.

As constant police harassment resumed, we all agreed that the centre at Aiona be handed over to a formal denomination that is incorporated with the Federal Government of Nigeria. Michael suggested Christian Life Evangelical Ministry and we all unanimously agreed to that as the way forward. Being the pioneer of the centres at the Benue/Enugu boarder, Michael naturally took over the leadership of the work directly under his care. We remained grateful to Janet Julius who pioneered the Aiede work, Magreth Daniel, Pius Eje and Gabriel Itodo for their pioneering role in the Owukpa District. We are still stakeholders in these work and we take out time to visit the fellowship as God provides the opportunity.