“WHAT HAS ATHENS TO DO WITH JERUSALEM?”
African theologian Tertullian famously wrote these words in the early third century. His point? Reminding Christians that commitment to the gospel (figuratively Jerusalem) stood diametrically opposed to the world’s idolatrous ideas (figuratively Athens).
He was echoing the words of Scripture: “don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?” (James 4:4) and “what agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:16).
Fast forward 1800 years to today, and the clarion call of Tertullian seems to have been reversed amongst Africans living in Britain who are predominantly of West African background. On a Sunday, you are more likely to hear that “Jesus offers mansions and not one-bedroom flats” (the words of one Nigerian Pastor Enoch Adeboye) than a call to abandon worldliness for Christ-centeredness.
As Nigerian writer Femi Adeleye puts it, what many hear now is “the gospel of champagne” which “has no room for the cross or the real Jesus of the cross”.
Externally among West Africans in London, Christianity is a mile wide, but internally, it is an inch deep.
One only needs to prick the surface to find a culture dominated by many versions of the false prosperity gospel, hereditary nominalism, disillusionment and dwindling church attendance amongst the second generation. It is my belief that a great proportion of West Africans in this city are convinced they are walking the narrow road to eternal life, whilst in fact on the broad road to destruction.
For me, this has become an unpalatable truth, and even more so as I sit in church or at Revive, privileged to hear consistently faithful Bible teaching whilst many West Africans like myself are left to flounder and perish like sheep without a shepherd.
In the book of Esther, Mordecai drops a spiritual bomb on her with these words: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). This also weighs heavily on my conscience. God is sovereign and will save those He has chosen. However, that “who knows…?” has become too significant to be ignored by me – a Nigerian privileged to have received years of sound Bible training.
Through Co-Mission church planting I now have an opportunity to do something to reach many who share my background but not the same gospel privileges.
This September I join Co-Mission’s 2017 Church- Planting Cohort, to begin the work of planting a church that will intentionally seek to bring West Africans in this city under the sound of Christ- centred Bible teaching. I’m looking to plant somewhere in the Lewisham borough, as the borough has communities with some of the highest percentages of West Africans in London.
Please pray for me as I begin this work. Pray for decision making on the final plant location in the coming weeks; as I weigh up various factors such as the opportunity to partner with another evangelical church to plant in Catford. Please also pray for God to grow the launch team both in numbers and commitment; there are only a handful at the moment and I could do with more mission minded people to attend a weekly Bible study from September.
On my own, I am weak and unequal to the task ahead, “but our competence comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5).
“And Who knows…?”, God in His sovereignty may choose to use this endeavor to produce a generation of mature disciples of Christ in London’s West African community, who in turn make disciples of their friends and families. As you pray for me, I’ll also be praying that God may perhaps grant others in Co-Mission churches a specific vision to reach the lost. “Who knows…?”