A Pastor from Nigeria

Last night I had the opportunity and privilege of speaking with a pastor from Nigeria. He is well known by a close friend and brother of mine, and has been studying at a local seminary for the past four years. His focus is Old Testament, which is vital for his work in evangelism of Muslims. He is from the northeastern part of Nigeria, a Muslim majority area, which in recent times has been beset by violence and persecution against Christians. People that he knows personally have been martyred for their faith. One story that he told was of his father in law, an ailing, retired military man. When radical Muslims wanted to force him to convert to Islam, he refused. He told them that if they killed him that he would go to be with Jesus and his earthly suffering would be over. They "decided" not to waste a bullet on him, and let him live. As this pastor has fellow shipped in American churches here, I asked him if he had any observations about the church in America. He is a meek man but had no hesitation in saying that he believed the biggest lack was in personal discipleship. When someone converts to follow Christ in Nigeria, they are immediately discipled by the person whom God used to lead him to Himself. He then used the phrase "culture of discipleship," that readers with good memories may recall me using in prior posts. This culture of discipleship, which is built on an expectation rather than an option, is the same thing that I have observed many times in the Brazilian context. I also asked if he thought that his seminary education had been beneficial. He responded in the affirmative but expressed his belief that every seminary should require a course in evangelism to Muslims for graduation. One tip that he gave had to do with the Muslim belief that prophets ( such as Mohammed) cannot lie. Since Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, this provides a door to introduce the teaching of Jesus because, as a prophet, He cannot lie. The pastor emphasized understanding Islamic culture and belief in order to minister effectively, and this from a man who plants churches in Muslim areas. He also emphasized the necessity of living out an exemplary Christian life, which he has known to result in Muslims trusting and respecting Christians over other Muslims. Finally I asked him what had impressed him most on his arrival to the US. He immediately answered "snow." He comes from a land where there is no snow. Upon his arrival in January he found the whole area covered. In a fascinating aside, he mentioned that this experience helped him to grasp the story of God's provision of manna for the people of Israel in the desert during the time of Moses.