Chairman's Statement
The Global Missions Board of the Nigerian Baptist Convention. The Board was established in the year 2000, to take over the functions of the erstwhile Home and Foreign Missions Board of the Convention.
Since its establishment, the Lord has used the Board to advance the mission work of the Convention not only in Nigeria but also in the African Region. As at the end of 2007, the Board has Missionaries in 20 Home Mission Fields and 8 International Mission Fields.
During the period to December 2007, the Lord has led the Board to enter into alliance with other missions organisations to deepen the mission work in the various mission fields – such organisations as the Great Commission Movement of Nigeria, the Bible Society of Nigeria and Lutheran Evangelical Missions Agency sponsored by Norway, Denmark and Finland in respect of missionary work among the Fulanis in Mali and the West African Region.
As we review the great successes the Convention has recorded in her missionary endeavour especially since the establishment of the Global Missions Board, we give glory to God and look forward with confidence to face the challenges that lie ahead.
Our focus in 2008 and beyond is to continue to draw the attention of the Churches and members of the Convention family to the phenomenal growth of the early Church during the first 300 years of her existence as a result of lay evangelism; arising from the scattering of believers from Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 8: 1-4 when those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. We are thereby challenging every believer to be active participant in mission and evangelism, supporting Missionaries and their ministers in the mission fields.
There is no participation in Christ without participation in His mission to the world. We are reminded of the statement of C. H. Spurgeon that “every Christian is either a Missionary or an impostor” and also that of Daniel Niles that “to be a Christian is to be a member of the missionary community and to become a participant in the activity of a missionary God.”
As we continue with our missionary effort, “there are many things we do not and cannot know; we do not know when the Lord will return, we do not know when time will come to an end, we do not know all the ways in which men and women will be brought to faith. But this we know, that as long as time and our world endure, the Lord’s command to His people remains; as we go, wherever we go, we are to be, and make disciples under His authority which transcends all others, in the constant company of Holy Spirit.”
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