Stories From The Mission Field

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Nigeria! There are some parts in this nation where people still walk around naked and have never heard the name of Jesus! Pastor Oscar Amaechina of Christ Reconciliation and Deliverance Ministry (CRDM) was given the mandate by God to reach the unreached and take the Gospel to never before visited places in this country. After you read this story please call Pastor Oscar on  2348036458584. Even if you cannot offer him any support, just make sure you call to appreciate the wonderful work God is doing through him. Its a great privilege to share this story on the blog. Enjoy...

How did you get involved in missionary work?

It was in the year 2003 while I was a deliverance minister with Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries that I had a vision in the night and God spoke to me saying “My son I have commissioned you to preach Christ where no one has ever preached Him”

In 2004 I was transferred from Karu branch to Utako Regional Headquarters and after about 3 weeks I was transferred a second time in one month to Kebbi state. On the 5th of June I arrived at Kebbi state and wanted to leave immediately for Abuja where I came from because the sight of the Kebbi environment was disgusting to me but in the night of that very day I had another vision. In the vision, God spoke to me saying “My son, remain behind and I will make water flow for you in this desert”. It was at this juncture that I realized that this could be a way through which the vision of preaching Christ where no one has preached Him could be fulfilled and I decided to remain behind.

In March 2006, God gave me a marching order to leave Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries to kick start a missionary sensitive ministry where I can fulfil the vision of taking the gospel to the unreached peoples group. On the 7th day of May 2006, Christ Reconciliation and Deliverance Ministry (CRDM) was founded with the vision to preach Christ where no one has preached Him. I immediately constituted the Mission Team with the responsibilities to spiritually map and identify communities and villages where the name of Jesus has not been mentioned taking Kebbi and Niger states as our pilot target areas. These villages are found among Hausa/Fulani, Dukawa, Kambari, Achipawa, Laru, Bisa, Shangawa and Zabramawa ethnic groups.

In 2007 we took a bold step to reach out to these unreached people groups with the word of God in one hand and the act of charity in the other hand. This is how I got involved in missionary work; it was in obedient to heavenly vision.

Pastor Oscar Amaechina and a new convert

How long have you been a missionary?

I have been a missionary and church planter for 8 years.

What are the challenges that you have faced?

The challenges have been enormous but the grace of God has been sufficient. Religious intolerance and persecution has hindered our progress so much, fear of attacks from Islamic extremists has tremendously affected our staff strength. We have been harassed, intimidated and threatened to stop preaching Christ in the villages of Northern Nigeria but the grace to continue has been bestowed on us by the Almighty.

Insufficient finance and materials for distribution to the poor is also a challenge. Missionary work is financially intensive especially when you are reaching the unreached. Our target groups are the poorest of the poor, they are naked, hungry and sick. The children do not go to school because there are no schools; the villagers drink dirty water and are always sick and prone to water borne diseases. We minister to them with Bible in one hand and materials in the other hand and most often we are constrained by lack of finance and materials even when our Bible is readily in our hands. I consider it criminal negligence to preach Christ to them and leave their physical needs unaddressed. We struggle every month to pay salaries to our missionaries, this is a serious challenge.

We do not have 4 wheel drive vehicles to pass through the terrible roads that lead to our target areas. All our target areas are located in the bushes without access roads. We usually hire motorcycles at exorbitant prices and at times we hire wrong people to go to the field since Christian motorcyclists are very few, even when we have materials we find it difficult to convey them to the fields. We have not been able to provide motorcycles to all our missionaries and some of them find it difficult to mobilize to the fields without motorcycle, this is a great challenge.

We have seriously faced the challenge of inadequate hands to execute our action plans. We adopted the missiological strategy to use indigenous missionaries of Northern origin to disciple our converts in the fields and this has been working wonderfully except that at times we find it difficult to access mission minded people  who are willing to be trained. We are currently praying that the Lord of Harvest will give us labourers and give us resources to take care of the labourers.

We have been terribly challenged by spiritual forces and territorial powers ruling the environments of our interventions, our last trip on the 14th of June 2014 attracted severe attacks. A serpent physically came to attack us in our local hotel room where we lodged to continue the journey the next day and God gave us victory when we confronted the serpent and it disappeared.
Even when we came back from the journey, I had a battle with a big serpent spiritually; throughout the night, I could not sleep because the serpent was ready to attack me as soon as I closed my eyes so I resorted to marathon prayers till day break.

One night as we were praying for a particular field, we saw short demons called Tikolosho; more than a hundred in number came and encompassed us physically. When we began to fire heavenly ballistic missiles they all ran away and the following day we heard that a short demon slapped a police officer who was on a night duty and he died. On another occasion, I travelled out of town and a short demon entered into my bedroom at about 2 AM and held my wife on the neck physically, she struggled with the demon for some minutes but when she shouted Jesus the demon rushed out damaging the door of the bedroom.

 Missionary work and preaching Christ where no one has ever preached Him especially in Northern Nigeria is all about battles but in all these we are more than conquerors. I want to use this medium to appeal to men of God in the southern part of this country who are always casting out demons to the desert to stop doing so because these demons are seriously troubling those of us who are working here in the desert. I advice them to cast the demons into Atlantic Ocean. This is a serious challenge because we spent so much time and energy fighting demons.

Pastor Oscar and some missionaries

In 2009 I had a serious challenge of assassination threat that nearly made me abandon this mandate; a woman called me on phone and advised me to pick my family out of Kebbi state because there were hired assassins coming from Niger Republic to kill us. It was a difficult decision to make, whether to run and abandon the mandate or to remain and lose our lives. After a sober reflection on this issue we made up our mind to remain behind and let our blood speak for the salvation of the unreached people groups in North West and North Central Regions just like the blood of Jim Eliot spoke for the salvation of the Indians of Ecuador.  I was also encouraged by the story of a missionary named James Calvert who went with his men to Fiji Island to pioneer the work of the gospel and was confronted by some people who advised him to go back because the people of Fiji people were cannibals ready to kill them but James Calvert answered them saying “We died before we came here” .We waited as the days dragged by for the will of God till this day, I believe that I am  still alive today because I still have some unreached villages to reach. 

Success stories

Since 2006 till date CRDM Team has been able to reach 8 unreached villages in North West and North Central Regions of Nigeria with the gospel and love of Christ. Over a thousand converts have come to the knowledge of the saving power of Christ through our effort to take the Gospel to those who have not heard about Christ.

 Muslims and idol worshippers have wonderfully embraced Jesus as their Lord and personal Saviour. Our corporate social responsibility to touch lives has yielded tremendous results as far as material evangelism is concerned. The hungry has been fed and the naked has been clothed, foods and clothes worth millions of naira has been distributed by our team to converts and missionaries in our target areas, We have given out motorcycles, generators, televisions and video machines to missionaries  irrespective of denominational affiliation. Demonic thrones and altars have been pulled down and Jesus has been enthroned to rule over our target areas courtesy of the grace of God upon our lives.

 God gave us wonderful grace and we constructed the most beautiful building for Jesus in Kebbi State. People observed that we have achieved what may be represented as the 5th labour of Hercules. A Muslim confided in the chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria Birnin Kebbi chapter that the Christians have now proved that their God answers prayer by the church they built in Badariya which is more beautiful than the best mosque in the state. 

Christ Reconciliation and Deliverance Ministry (CRDM) Mission Headquarters, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, Nigeria

Another Muslim said that Pastor Oscar has built the beauty of Kebbi state and deserves an award by the state government.  Many Christians are angry and asked why we should put such structure in Northern Nigeria knowing full well that anything can happen and the building will be razed down. I strongly believe that Northern Nigeria is my spiritual constituency and Jesus is not only Lord in South East and South West, He is also Lord in Kebbi state and the entire Northern Nigeria and deserved to be glorified.

CRDM Mission Training Institute has trained and graduated 32 indigenous missionaries who are doing exploits in God’s vineyard today. Our vision has been transmuted into crystallized reality and it is by divine providence that we are able to record all these successes even when Satan has constantly waged war against us. We give God all the glory because without Him no mortal desire is attainable.

Pastor and Pastor Mrs Oscar Amaechina

All these could not have been possible without pains, frustrations and difficulties. My family has suffered lack tremendously; there was a time my children stayed out of school because I used their fees to settle missionaries’ bills.

We have gone without food for some nights and have slept in the bush severally due to vehicular breakdown; I sold my 406 Peugeot car to continue with this mandate, in all these, I count it all joy for it is my singular privilege and honour to preach Christ where no one has ever preached Him.

I would like to share the story of one of my converts whose life has given me reason to continue reaching out to the unreached. Mama Duge is the wife of the chief priest in one of our fields; the inhabitants of this village are predominantly idol worshippers with few Muslims. 

Charms recovered from the converts

Burning the charms

When we discovered this field in 2013 no single person had heard about Jesus in this village, we tried to introduce Christ to them but they resisted us strongly. The husband of Mama Duge chased us with a long stick accusing us of bringing into the village a strange god. We later on resorted to one on one evangelism with an interpreter attached to each preacher and I happened to be the one that witnessed to Mama Duge, she gave me a tough time and later told me that even if they accepted this Jesus, where will He live if He comes to the village and which food will He eat because their food is not good enough and their water is dirty. I took my time to explain to her that Jesus does not live in houses or eat food or drink water but lives in our heart if we accept Him as our Lord and personal saviour. She later gave her life to Christ.

Chief Priest of Duge Shrine who gave his life to Jesus

When we embarked on our 3rd missionary journey on the 9th of March 2014 to this village to know how the converts were doing, we were surprised at the spiritual growth of the people. Mama Duge has become a great Evangelist and many have come to the knowledge of Christ through her witnessing, the husband who was also the chief priest was persuaded by Mama Duge to give his life to Christ.

Mama Duge

Mama Duge’s Testimony

I thank God for bringing you people to us, you crossed forest and bushes to give us gifts and preach Jesus to u.

You gave me rice, wrapper, Maggi, Indomie, cream and soap, the whole villagers are grateful for all the gifts we have received especially the gift of Jesus Christ. Since I gave my life to Jesus last year, my life has changed, I now pray whenever I want to eat or sleep. Before now I used to experience constant headache but since I gave my life to Christ whenever the headache comes I always pray and it disappears. My prayer is that God should take away bad mind from me and give me good mind so that I can serve Him better. I am enjoying Jesus.

Share some outstanding missionary stories with us

These stories I am about to share with you are very outstanding because it really shaped my work plan and orchestrated the missiological strategies which I have adopted in my missionary work. The first time I got into the unreached area to preach the gospel to the inhabitants, on our way to the field in Yauri Emirate Council of Kebbi state, the missionary whom I assigned to spiritually map this area led me through thick forests and at a particular time I could not hide my fears, I then enquired to know where he was taking me to and he said to me “Are you not the one that said that you want to preach Christ where no one has ever preached Him, why not keep quiet until you reach your target area”. I summoned courage and continued until we got to the village completely worn out after about 3 hours in a car and 2 hours on a bike.

What I saw in that village threw me off balance, the people were naked with patches of clothes covering their pubic regions and children were malnourished and sick. When they saw us approach the village, some of them ran away but one woman approached us with a bowl of dirty water, the water was terribly dirty but I knew that as a missionary trying to reach out to the people I must not reject the water. I collected the water from her and took a sip and handed it over to her.

We visited the Hakimi (Village Head) who is a Muslim and I introduced myself as a missionary sent by God to come and give them the good news about Jesus, he said that this was the first time a stranger had come to the village to talk to the people and since I was the first person to come to them that I should go ahead.  My missionary helped me to mobilize the villagers and when I opened my Bible to preach to them, my tongue cleaved to the roof of my mouth, I did not know where to start. I was weakened and devastated by the looks in their eyes, they were famished, sick, naked, frustrated and I saw pains and sufferings written all over them. I closed my Bible and opened my mouth to speak but I did not know when I began to promise them that I was coming back to give them food, clothes and drugs. I left the village without telling them about Jesus and was frustrated and tired but one thing that remained indelible in my mind was the hunting hopeless vacant looks on the faces of the villagers.

On my way back, I made up mind to source for finance and materials to minister to the needs of these people and this experience was what informed our strategy of Bible in one hand and materials in the other hand. Since that day forward I have not gone to preach anywhere without materials to minister to the people since my target groups are the poorest of the poor.

When I got back to Birnin Kebbi, the capital of Kebbi state where I live, I became very sick and was rushed to hospital; the dirty water that I sipped in the village was highly contaminated. I nearly lost my life but to the glory of God I was back on my feet after 2 weeks. After my recovery, I embarked on another journey to this village with bags of food items, clothes, drugs, soaps and detergents and to my greatest surprise when the villagers gathered, they saw the materials that I came with and the looks of frustration disappeared and I saw joy and hope on their faces. I introduced Christ to them and they all embraced Him with joy, I shared the materials to them and there was splendid celebration in the village.

In 2009 we discovered a field which was located inside a remote bush in Ngaski Local Government of Kebbi state. When we got to this village, it was the same scenario of nakedness, poverty and hunger. We paid a advocacy visit to the village head who surprised me by his utterances, when I introduced myself as a missionary who has come to preach Jesus to the community, he said to me “You are welcome, you are the first person who has the courage to come to tell us about the God of the Christians, we just came from a meeting with the Emir and we were instructed not to allow churches to exist in our villages, he doesn’t want us to see the light” I was shocked by these words from a Muslim who had not heard about Jesus, I enquired to know whether any one had told him that Jesus is Light and he said “No one has told me about Jesus but I know that Jesus brings light where ever there are churches and this light brings development, we live in the dark , our children do not go to school, we drink dirty water and we are sick. I will allow you to bring church to this village so that development can come to us” He gave us his family of 4 wives and 14 children as our first converts in this village and offered accommodation to our missionaries.

 We laboured in this village for 3 years and the population of our converts grew to about 120, one fateful day in 2012 our thatched house of worship was pulled down and our missionaries were chased out of the village with an instruction not to be seen anywhere close, our converts were ordered not to hold fellowship. All our efforts to launch back to the village proved abortive but the hearts of our converts itch for the sweet loving fellowship with Christ. We visit our converts and at times we hold nocturnal fellowship amidst fears and panic. We are trusting God for buses to convey our brothers and sisters to other locations where churches are allowed to exist while praying that one day we will be able get back to this village to continue with our wonderful fellowship.

We discovered a village in Niger state this year and on the 7th of June 2014 we went to spiritually map the field. We crossed forests and rivers to get to this village, when we got there, we discovered that there was no single Muslim in this village, everybody in this village were idol worshippers and none of them had heard about Jesus. We also found out that there was a very strong shrine (Maigiro) which the people were worshipping and demonically bonded to.  The village is ravaged by poverty and disease, young girls have no clothes to cover their breasts and children are completely naked or dressed in rags, no school, no portable drinking water, the outstanding thing about this people is that every one of the villagers has a charm tied to his/her body.

When we came back from this mapping, we fasted and prayed for the salvation of the people for one week and on the 14th of June 2014 we entered into this village with Bible in one hand and materials in the other hand. We preached Christ to them and they all bowed to the saving power of Christ. I instructed the Dukawa missionary who led us to the field to tell them to surrender their charms but he objected saying that they will rebel against us if we demand for their charms. I told him that they were now born again and have no business with charms, He stated that he knew his people very well and the best bet was to gradually retrieve these charms from them but I insisted that I must not allow them go back home with these charms since they have repented. After a heated argument between the two of us, I cowed him to interpret to the people that I said that everybody should drop their charms since Jesus has taken over their lives. To my greatest surprise without hesitation, they all surrendered their necks, waist and limbs and I cut off all their charms and set them ablaze. This is the Finger of God.

The female members of our team took their time to bath dirty naked children and dressed them up in brand new clothes. We distributed food stuff, clothes, shoes, slippers, soaps and detergents in large quantity to all the villagers and there was wild celebration and dancing with shouts of Alleluia resonating throughout the whole village. The converts confessed that they had not seen such a thing in their life time and solemnly vowed to follow Jesus all the days of their lives; they embraced Pastor Abisi (a Dukawa missionary) whom we have employed to disciple them.

My outstanding missionary stories will be incomplete if I fail to mention these few pathetic encounters that I had while doing the work. I went to visit a missionary working in a field in Kamba Local Government Area of Kebbi state, as the man saw me approaching his house, he bust into tears and when I enquired to know what was happening to him. He told me that he sold his trousers for 100 Naira an hour ago to buy garri for the children to drink and that if he had known that I was visiting him, he wouldn’t have sold his trousers. 

We visited another field in Yauri Emirate Council, no woman was in attendance in our meeting and when I enquired to know what happened to our sisters, the men told me that the women had left the village two days ago in search of drinking water and they were not yet back. In another field a man brought two of her daughters aged 8 and 10 and told us to take them free of charge and that he would never ask of them again but we must make sure that we send them to school and give them food to eat. We did not collect these girls because over a hundred children are in this same condition as the two girls, addressing the need of two out of a hundred does not make a good intervention.

How do you get your funds?

We get our funds through (1) support from friends and family members (2) offering of the Mission Headquarters (3) we are at present sourcing for 1000 partners that will support us with any amount not less than 2000 Naira or 20 Dollars monthly.

CRDM missionaries rejoice over a new convert

Villagers give their lives to Jesus