Anglican Frontier Missions has enjoyed a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the Anglican Church in Nigeria. This will continue next month. Chris and I will be in Nigeria from November 21st to December 8th, taking part in a training seminar for Anglican leaders there. The theme will be training Nigerians for church planting among the least evangelized tribal groups in Nigeria.

The Anglican Church in Nigeria has set a high standard in evangelism and church planting among Muslims. The former Archbishop of Nigeria, the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, gave the inspired vision for the Anglican Church there to double in size in the last five years of his leadership. I’m not sure how close they came to this, since tracking Anglicans is a difficult task. But the effort was seriously pursued.

At the same time the church had a strategy for establishing congregations in the Muslim north. That strategy was simple. They referred to is as sending missionaries who wear purple. The men in purple, understand, are bishops. So what the church did was select keen evangelists, appoint them as bishops, and send them into states in the north of the country that had barely any Christian presence, and have them plant churches. And that dual emphasis succeeded and continues to characterize the Anglican Church in Nigeria.

When Chris and I are there, most of the participants will seek further experience in this work among the least evangelized. We will concentrate on the basic approaches that have been in place there and encourage these leaders to turn greater attention to the Islamic north.

At the same time, we will give a lot of effort to listening and trying to pick up some of the sources of inspiration that sustain this vision. What we learn from the Nigerians, with appropriate translation, can and should inspire churches here to commit to both these efforts. Please pray for our time in Nigeria, for physical and spiritual protection, for eyes of faith to see what God wants us to see and do, and for God to strengthen the AFM/Church of Nigeria partnership.

Thank you!
Tad de Bordenave