Lausanne World Pulse – Nigerian Church Takes the Gospel Back to Jerusalem with Vision 50:15

June 2006

By Timothy Olonade

Church leaders in Africa gather to discuss how to share the gospel with those around them.

The Nigerian Church is arguably the largest and most vibrant Church in Africa and one of the most dynamic in the world. Nigeria is home to the largest fifty thousand-seat single service auditorium. It also hosted one of the largest events in human history where over 2.5 million believers gathered for a Christmas celebration in one location. Despite the constant struggle with Islamic forces, Nigeria has a strong fervor and zeal for Christ. Recently the Nigerian evangelical mission movement announced its plan to mobilize fifty thousand Nigerians over the next fifteen years for its Operation Samaria, which seeks to take the gospel through the North African Islamic nations back to Jerusalem.

Aptly tagged Vision 50:15, the project seeks to include the entire North African, Arabian Peninsula until the gospel gets back to where it came from—Jerusalem. More than one hundred top missions leaders (representing eighty agencies, churches and organizations) who are actively involved in recruiting, training and sending missionaries from Nigeria affirmed this vision during the 3 November 2005 Nigeria Missions Executive Congress. Also at the congress were: Greg Parsons, general director of the US Center for World Missions; Gary Hipp of Mission Moving Mountains, and a member of Interdenominational Foreign Missions Association (IFMA) board; Dan Rabe, executive vice chair of New Tribe Missions; Bill Sunderland of visionSynergy International; and representatives from seven foreign missions serving in Nigeria.

Vision 50:15 is indeed a bold step for the Nigerian Church, which is currently dealing with its own Islamic, anti-Christian northern territory. However, there is unanimity in the Church that the time has come to re-launch the gospel in this fashion. No other African country carries the level of zeal, passion and aggression for evangelism as demonstrated by the Nigerian Church. No other country in Africa has survived the degree of religious upheavals that the Nigerian Church has undergone. There is a palpable feeling that the Nigerian Church is uniquely suited to fulfill this gigantic vision.

Vision 50:15 Outlined

This project has been initiated by the Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association (NEMA), which presently has some ninety-five member bodies with nearly 5,200 missionaries in fifty-six countries. The association has commissioned various committees, task forces, forums and networks to help mobilize the Church, augment missionary training, locate the fields and put in place a strong missions base for the anticipated missionary breakthrough this vision anticipates. A study group has proposed there be at least sixteen tracks used across the nation to lead various aspects of this ambitious vision to mobilize, train and release fifty thousand Nigerians in the next fifteen years into fairly long-term cross-cultural ministries.

Timothy Olonade is executive secretary for the Nigerian Evangelical Missions Association (NEMA). He can be reached at [email protected]. He is also a missions mobilizer and publisher. Olonade has authored and co-authored over a dozen books on discipleship, missions, evangelism, human resources and missions strategy.