ARTICLES

 

Disciple-Making Movement as an Effective Operational Model - for Christian Missions amid Insecurity

 

 

Benjamin Isola Akano

 

 

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ABSTRACT

While the global community was coming out of the havoc wrecked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerians suddenly woke up to an upsurge in kidnappings, ritual killings, banditry, terrorism, rape, and other forms of criminality. As a result, the practice and proclamation of the Christian faith became difficult. This paper presented the disciple-making movement (DMM) as an effective operational model for Christian missions amid insecurity. The writer posited that, given the increasing rate of insecurity and resultant challenges to conventional religious practices in Nigeria, effective Christian missions would require a paradigm shift from the traditional approach to a creative and flexible but biblical model such as the DMM that takes the church to the people where insecurity has restricted or relocated them. Such a model would help the church remain faithful to its nature and mission despite the challenging context. Though Christians are expected to face suffering, persecution, and martyrdom they encounter as they carry out the mission of the church; insecurity is not limited to persecutions of the Christian faith. Dwelling heavily on literature in the light of participant observations and reports of happenings in Nigeria, the writer identified four challenges: the reduction of the missionary workforce, hindrances to missionary activities, inadequate funding, and communication distortion. He used the elements and principles of DMM to establish that it is a missiological model that focuses on the rapid multiplication of disciples, churches and leaders through the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) or training the trainer (T4T) for obedience and self-replication. He also identified five dynamics for its operation in a situation of insecurity. These are strategic missions, integral missions, grassroots multiplication, comprehensive mission mechanism, and spiritual warfare.

Keywords: Christian Missions; Disciple-Making Movement (DMM); Discovery Bible Study (DBS); Insecurity; Training for Trainers (T4T)

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1. Introduction

There is no arguing that Christianity in Nigeria, as in the rest of the world, is facing fresh challenges. These include Islamic religious terrorism, fundamentalism and militancy, cultism, kidnapping, and an increased crime rate (Ogunewu, 2019:171).

While the global community was trying to come out of the havoc wrecked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria began to experience "a sudden upsurge in cases of kidnappings, ritual killings, banditry, terrorism, rape, and other forms of criminality, cutting through all the nooks and corners of our nation. The recent case of the orchestrated murder of Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, by some thirsty elements under the guise of religion, is one case too many" (Belo, 2022). This situation raises legitimate questions about the authentic manifestation of the identity and mission of the church.

Therefore, this paper presents the disciple-making movement (DMM) as an effective operational model for Christian missions amid insecurity. The operation of the church comprises the expression of its identity and mission. The writer argues that, given the increasing rate of insecurity and resultant challenges to conventional religious practices in Nigeria, effective Christian missions would require a paradigm shift from the traditional approach to a creative and flexible but biblical model such as the DMM that takes the church to the people where challenges of security have enforced them to live. A practical expression of life and purpose of the church will follow a pattern similar to what some churches used to thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic. This model has biblical and historical antecedents and can help the church succeed in insecurity while remaining faithful to its nature and mission despite the challenging context.

To achieve the purpose of this paper, the writer considers four challenges of missions amid insecurity, explicates DMM as a missiological model, and discusses five critical dynamics by which DMM enhances Christian missions amid insecurity. Coming from both theoretical and practical perspectives, he dwells heavily on relevant literature and provides a descriptive analysis of some happenings in Nigeria using participant observations and relevant reports.

 

2. Challenges of Missions amid Insecurity

Insecurity is a direct antonym of security or a security challenge. In the context of this paper, security is freedom from danger, fear or anxiety; freedom from every form of "perceived threat or violence capable of causing harm, death or loss of properties" (Nwokwu & Ogayi, 2021; Merriam-Webster Dictionary, n.d.). In this case, the security challenge affects these parameters of life - emotionally, physically, psychologically, and economically. The assertion that most violent conflicts in Africa, especially the sub-Sahara region, have some religious attachments is a truism in Nigeria. Its insecurity has been largely due to increased religious activities of Islamic fundamentalist groups like Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Basedau, 2017).

However, it is worth noting that while religious-based insecurity persists in Nigeria, there are also other non-religious issues. Ogunewu (2019, 171) affirms that insecurity in Nigeria is now hydra-headed. There are herdsmen's attacks, banditry, socio-economic agitations, boundary disputes, cultism, corruption, the proliferation of drug peddling, and other associated crimes. Others include kidnapping for money rituals and ethnopolitical rivalry. These activities are untold threats to all human daily activities, including religious practices, especially with the conventional approach in Christianity. Thus, while this study agrees with Bad Urach Statement for Christians to exercise courage in the face of suffering, persecution, and martyrdom, they encounter in carrying out the mission of the church; its focus is on the practice of missions amid general insecurity (Sauer & Howell, 2010). Insecurity is not limited to what is targeted at the Christian faith; it includes whatever hinders people's daily activities. Thus, while this paper is not about suffering, persecution, and martyrdom, it presupposes the courage raised in Bad Urach Statement, as traced to the early church.

In church history, no sooner the Christian faith differentiated itself from Judaism than it started facing the specific challenge of social insecurity. First, the custodians of Judaism persecuted them in the Book of Acts. Further, before Constantine's declaration after 312 A.D., the church witnessed a challenging situation, being pushed to the periphery of Roman social and political thought (Drake, 2008:18-19, 403). At the periphery, the church faced oppression and persecution. At that time, professing Christianity became a capital crime because it was no longer considered an extension of the Jewish religion (Benz & Lindberg, 2022). Notwithstanding, the contemporary church is a witness that the early church eventually thrived in its existential missions because it engaged the challenges.

To follow the pattern of the early church, the contemporary church must identify the specific challenges of insecurity. This study identifies four challenges that insecurity poses to Christian missions: the challenges to the effective workforce, functional missionary activities, adequate missionary funding, and effective communication. It is noteworthy that, though by frequency, northern Nigeria is more security threatening than the Southern part - the north-central had 40.43%, 34.04% in the north-west, 25.53 in the north-east, and the whole of south-south, south-west, and south-east had less than 5%, the tension is increasing everywhere (Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association, 2021). This section discusses these four challenges with contemporary examples in Nigeria.

2.1 Challenges to the Effective Work Force

The reduction in frontier missionaries may be due to low recruitment, high attrition, or death. According to Nigeria Evangelical Missionary Association's (NEMA) survey between 2019 and 2021, with 11.48%, insecurity ranks fourth as a leading cause for missionary attrition among 52 of the 61 member agencies surveyed. This ranking on insecurity is

after personal reasons, finance, and disobedience to authority. Within that period, 289 missionaries from 27 member agencies were victims of violent attacks. Of these were eight deaths and 84 attritions (Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association, 2021).

On 8 August 2011, Calvary Ministries (CAPRO), a leading indigenous non-denominational Nigeria mission agency, recorded the death of her pioneer missionary among the Kotoko people of north-east Nigeria, Mark Obisike Ojunta. Suspected Boko Haram murdered the 35-year-old Mark (Ndukwe, 2019:357). In 2021, the killing of another missionary at the CAPRO-owned Primary school led to the with-drawal of missionaries from that school. Similarly, on 5 June 2022, this writer received the news of the kidnapping of Nuhu Ibrahim, a mission pastor of the Global Missions Board (GMB) of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, on 4 June. By 7 June, the assailants had murdered and released the corpse of this 34-year-old Hausa minister pastoring Hausa-speaking migrants around Awka in the south-eastern state of Anambra. Both left behind their widows, children and other relations.

While there is a reduction in the number of existing missionaries due to insecurity-induced death, it also leads to an increase in attrition as other missionaries in similar threatening situations flee such locations. For instance, various locations in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, and Niger states used to be peaceful environments for missionaries to work. Today, both missionaries and their hosts have fled some parts while they live in fear in other places. Further, these threats have discouraged the majority of potential youth from setting out to go on missions, either on a short-term or long-term basis. Bandits, herdsmen and Boko Hara had killed some youths preparing for future missionary endeavours.

2.2 Challenges to the Functional Activities of Missions

John Stott classifies the main tasks of Christian missions into two inseparable parts: witness (matyria) and service (diakonia) functions. The witness or proclamation function includes evangelism, church planting and other disciple-making efforts that directly focus on the human soul. In contrast, the service or demonstration function includes the co-mission social activities like educational and medical ministries that usually target earthly human needs (Scott, 2006:135-157). The two functions make the church's mission holistic. Observably, churches in Nigeria have always practised holistic missions. Unfortunately, insecurity has hindered these central missionary functions. Apart from situations with direct opposition to Christian religious activities, mission groups and agencies often advise their missionaries to withdraw from the field where their security is not guaranteed. This security threat poses a significant challenge to Christian missions.

In 2010, while serving as a minister of missions and outreach for a church in Lagos, this writer was part of a team that travelled through the land borders of the north-eastern part of Nigeria for medical outreach in Ndjamena, Chad Republic. Similarly, this writer enjoyed visiting medical teams from different churches and parts of the country at varying points of their missionary service. Those activities have created opportunities for disciple-making among the people. Yet, today, those routes are danger zones that churches and individuals would not want to pass even if they desire to reach out with these missionary tasks.

2.3 Challenges to Adequate Missionary Funding

An adequate missionary fund refers to the resources used directly for either of the two tasks of missions - witness and service. There are two ways insecurity affects adequate missionary funding. First, insecurity reduces the incomes of mission financiers. Apart from national economic hardship and downturn, insecurity creates an unfavourable business atmosphere for groups and individuals. Apart from leading to significant losses, it has led to the relocation of some businesses and the complete closure of others in Nigeria (Nwokwu & Ogayi, 2021). Since 9 August 2021, when the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) declared a sit-at-home in Nigeria's south-east every Monday, the business atmosphere has been tense. It has led to different degrees of losses in the area (Onu, 2021). Sometimes, insecurity has led to the destruction of properties. These eventually affect the income of the stakeholders who support the works of missions.

A second way insecurity affects adequate missionary funding is that it forces mission financiers to spend their hard-earned income on issues that are not directly related to the original tasks. Often, they would need to put in place sophisticated security architecture, which may not be necessary for a peaceful situation. This provision of a security system requires additional expenses without a corresponding increase in their sources of income. Apart from this, they use part of their income to pay ransom to the kidnappers to release their victims. The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) reports that Nigeria's ransom between 2011 and 2020 was over $18.34m (Akinwale, 2021). Two recent ransoms directly related to the church in Nigeria include the one paid for by the Bethel Baptist School in Kaduna and the other for the prelate of the Methodist Church, Nigeria, who was with two other persons (Wuyo, 2021; Olafusi, 2022). Such an amount, or at least a percentage, could have achieved a lot if channelled towards some missionary projects. They must also respond to surging humanitarian needs, including providing food and shelter for the displaced and paying hospital bills for the physically and emotionally wounded victims.

2.4 Challenges to Distorted Communication

One of the critical challenges to effective communication is stereotypes. Communication, in this sense, refers to total interaction between two parties. These include verbal and non-verbal behavioural expressions. In stereotypes, people negatively assume a characteristic of a group member for the others in the group without affirming its authenticity (Peterson, 2004:26). In the context of insecurity, there is usually a mutual suspicion among individuals from two groups of conflicting cultural ideologies or people similar to them. Suspicion affects the effectiveness of communication between the gospel ministers and their audience. This idea agrees with Michael Hecht's communication theory of identity that humans are "inherently social beings whose lives revolve around communication, relationships and communities and who operate from multiple and shifting identities" (Hecht, 2009:139). The implication is that people's identity affects their daily interaction and relationships with people from other groups. Their identities are a function of social and personal conceptions, which results from their view of each other in situations of insecurity.

For instance, this writer had a series of encounters where people assume that all Fulani are AK-47-carrying herdsmen, not aware of the possibility of Fulani Christians. In April 2014, there was a misunderstanding between two Christians attending a gathering of their denomination, the man from southern Nigeria angrily and negatively referred to his counterpart from the north as Boko Haram. Also, more recently, on 4 June 2022, this writer hosted a group of Chilela Christian singers in a special gathering. The Chilela people are an ethnic group from Kebbi state in Nigeria's north-west. However, they asked how the organiser got Fulani at such a time because they spoke the Hausa language, which some have associated with what they called 'Hausa-Fulani' people.

Notably, these four, and other similar challenges, are interconnected. Notwithstanding, the contemporary church in Nigeria must remain resolute and press onward with the Great Commission mandate, learning from the early church's triumph amidst threatening situations. Thus, a continued missionary advance requires comprehensive approaches. The DMM model is such an approach.

 

3. Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) as a Missiological Model

Engaging the contemporary context of Nigeria with the missions requires a foundational consideration of the purpose of the church, irrespective of its structure and context. The central mandate of the Great Commission is disciple-making (Moreau et al., 2004:44; Garrison, 2012:451-452; Coleman, 2010). Bringing shalom to the world is embedded in this mandate. The key expression from Matthew 28:19 is from the Greek root word μαθητεύω (matheteuo), translated as 'make disciples' by most modern translations (ASV, ESV, NIV, NLT), which presents an expression of a movement resulting from a multiplication effect of disciple-making. However, unlike a typical rabbi, the disciples are not to be made after themselves but after Christ (Bromiley, 1985:562).

Thus, when the first set of disciples made disciples, these new disciples had the same commission and authority to repeat the process. This replicative understanding is evident in Paul's strategy of church planting in Ephesus and his instruction in 2 Timothy 2:2 (Ott et al., 2010:28). He expected the disciples to, in turn, make disciples who would keep the cycle of disciple-making unbroken. Therefore, to be a disciple is to both live life and bear the testimony of the kingdom. Hence, there are no second-generation disciples in the technical sense of his intention. This self-replication patterned after Christ is the core principle of the DMM.

The 'movement' nature was the dynamic of early Christianity. It reflected the missionary character of the early church and gave it an unparalleled quick spread (Bird, 2002:227-229). This dynamic operated effectively within the existing family structure of their time, giving rise to house church networks. Through these networks, consisting of immediate family members, freedmen clients, hired labourers, tenants, domestic and business servants, friends and business associates, they taught the nations the norms and values of God's kingdom. This 'kingdomisation' was to bring the shalom of a holistic transformation to the different parts of society. They were to best achieve this goal through the network of the society's smallest institution - the house or family system (Lim, 2017:25-28). The African house system in Nigeria is similar to those of the early church - complex and comprising more than a nuclear idea.

From the above, the concern of DMM is the growth in the personal life of the disciple according to the measure of Christ and intentional self-replication by making others follow Christ. This pattern is the biblical model for church planting as a strategy for fulfilling the Great Commission - inner growth and healthy reproducibility. It aided the health and rapid growth of the early church (Garrison, 2004:206-207). Assuredly, the early Christians multiplied local churches to make new disciples who would follow Christ as they spread the faith (Comiskey, 2011). Thus, each group of disciples' gathering as a local church replicated and gave birth to another, which also repeated the process leading to a movement of disciple-making. This movement is DMM.

A social movement is "a loosely organized but sustained campaign in support of a social goal, typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society's structure or values" (Turner, et al., 2023). Turnal et al., assert that though they differ in size, movements are all essentially collective, resulting from more or less spontaneous actions resulting from a common outlook on society. Thus, they are often connected to social change. In agreement, Snow et al., (2004:11) emphasise collectivities, organised action towards a purpose, and challenging or defending an existing cause. To this end, DMM is a collection of disciples whose social goal is the kingdomisation of society in the light of the Great Commission mandate. It advocates a radical change in disciple-making against the status quo in traditional institutional church structures.

A DMM is a rapid and exponential increase in disciples making disciples. These features of rapidity and exponentiation, which often occur in small groups, make disciple-making a movement. It is noteworthy that only God can make such a phenomenon possible. Howbeit, He does so in relationship with human vessels - his disciples. Hence, some elements and principles are common with DMM anywhere. The six principles that align with the elements are prayer, scripture, obedience, indigenous churches, holistic churches, and churches that multiply. The six elements are the following (Zume Vision, 2022):

Awareness: DMM builds on the awareness that only God can fulfil the rapid multiplication of obedient disciples. However, people must position themselves as vessels He uses to achieve His purpose. This element aligns with the DMM's principle of prayer. Through prayers, the gospel minister, a disciple, depends on God to bring about a rapid and exponential increase. Christian missions are both a part and an offshoot of missio Dei (Ott et al., 2010:62).

Focus: The focus of DMM is to make every follower of Christ a reproducing disciple, as discussed in the biblical understanding of 'make disciples' in Matthew 28:19. This agrees with the DMM's principle of the scripture, making every disciple of Christ committed to the Word of God.

Patterns: The pattern in DMM is to create accountability for personal and corporate obedience to the Word of God and share the same truth to reproduce the kingdom's values and virtues in order. The small group structure enhances accountability. DMM patterns emerge from the principle of obedience, individually and corporately.

Equipment: This element of DMM relates to the principle of indigenous churches. The gospel minister serves as a catalyst and equips each disciple in commitment to (a) inductive interpretation and application of God's Word, (b) good prayer life, (c) functioning as part of a larger body, (d) responding appropriately in persecution and suffering, (e) ministering in their community and world context, and (f) not merely serving as converts or consumers of kingdom goodness but active agents for kingdom advancement. The out-group gospel minister builds the church through the local or in-group people. Agreeably, the nature of the church, as reflected in Ephesians 4:12, is for the leader to equip saints to do ministry, namely, making disciples (Akano, 2021:88).

Vision: The vision of DMM is to give each disciple a vision for reaching their network of relationships. The gospel bearer also ensures they embrace a vision of taking the gospel to the end of the earth and prioritising the world's darkest places. This element goes with the principle of holistic churches. Further, the equipped saints do ministry through their everyday networks of relationships (Akano, 2021:88).

Multiplication: DMM ensures disciples or gospel ministers plant churches that reproduce. This element focuses on the endless multiplication of disciples, churches and leaders. It agrees with the principles of churches that multiply. They form new house churches to gather emerging disciples for nurture and ministry. However, again, only God can make it possible, howbeit in partnership with people, the disciples.

These six elements and the associated principles are core to DMM operations. There are two basic operational methods in DMM: the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) and Training for Trainers (T4T) (Smith & Parks, 2015:36). DBS is a tool developed by David L. Watson as "a simple method to see for oneself what the Bible says about life's big questions" (Watson & Watson, n.d.). It is an inductive process of participatory group bible study focusing on discovering biblical truth, obedience, accountability and sharing the same truth within one's circle of relationship (Smith & Parks, 2015:36-38; Watson, 2008). Applying the biblical response to life's big questions forms the basis for holistic transformation. Ying Kai, a missionary in south-eastern China, coined the T4T methods for DMM. His idea was to train those who come to faith to immediately share their faith in their relationship cycle to hasten the gospel's spread in a large population like China. Like the DBS, it does not have a specific curriculum but focuses on the inductive interpretation of the Bible (Pinckney, 2016). DBS and T4T manifest the principles and elements of DMM.

Further, while DBS and T4T may not serve as a replacement for the conventional large church gathering, both often emphasise small groups for the study of God's Word, interaction, accountability, and profound fellowship that engender personal and corporate transformation of the disciples and their environments. The advantage of the house-structure small group is three-fold. First, a church of around 10 to 20 people can gather without attracting attention while exhibiting proper church operations in a challenging situation of insecurity. The gathering is within the everyday network of relationships. Second, the small group makes it easy for the leader to monitor the holistic health of members within the context of a knitted fellowship (Wood, 2020:4). Though this pastoral function of walking by the sides of those facing security threats is critical, it may be more challenging where the population is large.

The third advantage of the small group structure emphasised in DMM methods is that it makes disciple-making a natural daily life event that it ought to be. This pattern reflects the Old Testament Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. The simple and natural environment of the household is effective for learning and practising religious truth. The Jews continued this tradition through the period of captivity when they received prophetic instruction to practise their unique faith (Jer. 29:7-11). Ultimately, destroying the church during the great persecution became impossible because it was rooted in the houses, spreading from one household to another (Lim, 2017:25-28, 30).

 

4. Operational Dynamics for Effective Christian Missions through DMM

From the foregoing, DMM uses its elements and principles to engage any context, including a situation of insecurity, in missions. This section presents five specific dynamics of its operation in a situation of insecurity: strategic missions, grassroots multiplication, integral missions, a comprehensive mission mechanism, and spiritual warfare. They make DMM a creative and flexible approach for continuing missions where conventional approaches seem impossible.

4.1 Strategic Missional Dynamics

Historically, church planting has been a viable strategy for carrying out the Great Commission mandate. Unfortunately, church planting has been associated more with organisational and architectural structures than scriptural identity, connection with Christ, and the purpose of disciple-making. Many church structures have been destroyed by terrorists and religious fundamentalists, grounding their missional operations. An insecurity situation, like Nigeria's experience, requires non-conventional mission approaches. Thus, the contemporary church in Nigeria must redefine its concept of church planting in missions. This redefinition begins with a proper understanding of the 'church' concept.

A good starting point is Paul's concept in Ephesians epistle. The 'church-ness' of a Christian assembly relates primarily to a direct link with Christ through apostolic teachings by which it derives vitality, not by being part of some universal entity or size (Dunn, 1998:540-541). Such churches can emerge in every location where believers can use the DMM methods and mentality to do strategic missions in their relationships and various public spaces, including business and family networks, recreation and learning centres, and political and government arenas, whether physical or virtual. This strategic plan agrees with the equipment and principle of indigenous churches. The disciple-maker is an in-group member of their relationship networks where they are trying to make disciples.

To make strategic missions possible, churches must deliberately equip their members to be ministers this way before security threats arrive (Akano, 2021:88). Such emerging small 'churches' can continue to fulfil their missionary purpose without attracting major security threats.

4.2 Integral Missional Dynamics

Integral missional dynamics are a direct sequel to strategic missional dynamics and its direct imperative. It is an offshoot of two elements of DMM, pattern and vision, following the principles of obedience and holistic ministry. In Lausanne Movement's description, the integral mission is "'the task of bringing the whole of life under the lordship of Jesus Christ' and includes the affirmation that there is no biblical dichotomy between evangelistic and social responsibility in bringing Christ's peace to the poor and oppressed" (Lausanne Movement, 2021). In addition to the holistic nature of missions for which evangelism and social involvement go together, it emphasises the mutual imperative nature of the witness and social functions. This idea implies that Christian missions must cater to every aspect of human endeavour in a relevant manner.

As a dynamic and multifaceted approach, the integral mission engages people as total beings - individuals, communities, nations, and the globe - having holistic needs with the whole and transformative gospel. Thus, "social action and evangelism go hand in hand and translates into talking with the people, walking with the people, eating with them and living with them, aimed at meeting spiritual, political, economic and psycho-social needs of the person" (Waweru, 2015:13-18). It brings the intention of the Great Commission into reality: believers impart kingdom virtues, values and peace into every aspect of human endeavour. Again, this requires the intentionality often found in the accountability sense of the action-focused methods used in DMM.

4.3 Grassroots Multiplication Dynamics

Statistically, situations of insecurity require the church in Nigeria to reach more people quickly lest the casualties of insecurity end up in Christ-less eternity. In 2021 alone, Nigeria recorded over 10,000 deaths from insecurity (Bailey, 2022; Adebayo, 2022). Therefore, the rapid spread of the gospel message is imperative before the nights of insecurity make it impossible to do so (John 9:4). The nature and key element of DMM is multiplication, built upon the principle of churches that multiply churches. It also implies disciples that multiply disciples and leaders that multiply leaders. This element also depends on the other five elements and their associated principles.

The whole essence of movement in DMM is its reproducibility - of disciples, churches, and leaders. The DBS and T4T methods have specific tools for carrying out this element. The core aim of T4T is to aid believers in sharing their faith immediately after they come to faith. The DBS process includes the participants sharing the truth they learn from every session. Consequently, they build potential communicators of the kingdom's values, virtues and messages, reproducing their kinds in disciples, churches and leaders carrying out the Great Commission mandate in their various relationship networks and public spaces.

4.4 Dynamics of Comprehensive Mission Mechanisms

The structure of DMM allows a combination of the two mechanisms without overburdening financial implications. Most mission strategies fall into either the centripetal or centrifugal mechanisms. In centripetal, or attractive, mechanism, the church caters to the missional needs of the unreached people who draw to the church voluntarily or otherwise. In contrast, in centrifugal, or expansive, mechanisms, the church takes the gospel to the unreached peoples in their existential locations (Akano, 2021b).

The primary nature of the Great Commission mandate is in going, and churches have taken missions to places over the centuries. However, it is now a known reality in the Christian missions circle that, with various changes in world demography, missions are no longer from the west to the rest of the world, but from everywhere, where the church is, to everywhere, where the unreached people are (Tennent, 2010:18, 31, 33). Security has compounded Nigeria's missional demographic; insecurity has forced many unreached people out of their ancestral homes in northern Nigeria to the southern part. Due to their scattering over the region - rural and urban locations - with diverse languages and cultures, gathering them as a single church may be challenging. Therefore, the contemporary church in Nigeria must not consider missions only from a centrifugal approach that looks for the unreached in their various ancestral homes, such as in northern Nigeria. They need to combine both mechanisms such that while planning to go to their ancestral locations, they are also ready to reach those already forced out of their environment. Through DMM, these migrants and diaspora people may be well churched in small groups with limited resources.

4.5 Spiritual Warfare Dynamics

Missions are a spiritual assignment because it is the church's attempt at partnering with God to reclaim the enemy-occupied territory of His kingdom, namely, the world (Winter, 2007:147). Thus, insecurity is a manifestation of the works of the Evil One under which the world lies. The spiritual dynamics of insecurity are a reality in Nigeria. Observably, assailants of security threats employ different diabolical means to achieve their devilish goals (Ayo-Aderele, 2017; TVC News Nigeria, 2021; DW News, 2014). Such a spiritual atmosphere creates panic in the hearts of potential witnesses. This scenario requires spiritual dynamics on the part of the church. The elements of awareness, focus, and patterns, with their associated principles of prayer, biblical Christianity and obedience in DMM, are foundational to effective spiritual warfare. DBS and T4T offer good platforms of a close-knitted house church environment for intense prayers and spiritual dynamics to confront these spiritual forces of darkness.

 

5. Conclusion

The paper argued that an effective Christian mission requires a paradigm change in strategy because of the growing insecurity situation in Nigeria. It has led to a paucity of men and material resources. It has also led to minimal opportunities for expressing the little resources. The writer presented the DMM as an effective operational model for the church to express its nature and missions at this critical period. Its basic elements and principles cumulate at possible multiplication amidst insecurity challenges. Using either the DBS or T4T method, the Nigerian missional stakeholders may embrace a shift from mega-church planting to house church networks, emphasise integra missions, promote grassroots multiplication of disciples, and small churches and leaders, focus on both centripetal and centrifugal mechanisms of missions with the dynamics of spiritual warfare.

 

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1 Benjamin Isola Akano is a Faculty member at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso. He can be contacted at benakano@gmail.com or akben.dmm@gmail.com.