JOS, Nigeria — Kneeling in a dark, damp, one-roomed school, three men prayed, asking God to send someone to start a church in their town.

The task seemed impossible. They lived in a remote part of Nigeria where there were no roads, just footpaths. There weren’t even bridges built over the river. The three were also the only born-again Christians in a heavy Muslim area.

They prayed for years … then, one day, a man wandered into the village asking where the Christians met. He told the trio that he came to start a church.

“Words cannot describe the amount of rejoicing that went on that day,” International Mission Board missionary Clint Bowman said.

 

Training Nigerians

Bowman and his wife, Harriet, members of Central Baptist Church in Waycross, prayed over a makeshift map enveloping this heavy Muslim area. The couple found a local Nigerian pastoral student who wanted to learn how to plant and develop churches. They trained him and sent him to scout out the area. When he found the small group of believers, the missionaries rejoiced as well as the threesome.

The Georgia couple works with more than 100 unreached people groups in Nigeria. Their “official” job title lists them as church planting trainers. Harriet Bowman is quick to point out that the only way to reach these tribes with the Gospel is through developing partnerships and training Nigerians to do it themselves.

 

Teaching through example

“The plan is to train Nigerians in church planting and send them to do it. The plan is working!” Clint Bowman said, noting that three new churches have started in the area close to the three original believers. “We want to get local churches to adopt these people groups. Then, we train them in evangelism and work side-by-side with them. The best way to teach something is through example.”

The couple said opportunities for sharing Christ are wide open. “There are areas where the people tell us they want a church, but we don’t have anyone to send,” Harriet said. “Muslim missionaries are in the same areas and sending people there to evangelize, too. We need to get people there to tell the Word of God.”

Some Nigerian Christians are responding to the call. One local church adopted a people group in a remote area of Nigeria. They began praying for the people. Soon, the church felt led to pay transport for a pastor to go to the area and tell people about Christ. As the church continued praying and raising money, members fell in love with this tribe and wanted to go investigate the area themselves. This local church is in the process of sending volunteers to this mainly Muslim area.

“We are not always going to be in Nigeria, our job is to make sure Nigerians know how to plant churches,” Clint said. “Besides, the Nigerians can do it better. They speak the language and, when it comes to Muslim evangelization – well, let’s face it – we stick out like a sore thumb. We draw attention while a Nigerian Christian can get an audience with almost anyone.”

Clint and Harriet want to team up churches from the States with churches in Nigeria in order to reach people.

Both churches will adopt a group and join each other in prayer for the salvation of these people. Harriet said prayer is one of the most important steps in laying the foundation in working with Muslims.

“We’ll never get to all of the people if we don’t have Nigerians helping or volunteers from the States,” Clint said. “We need those who are willing to commit to praying.”

 

Prayer requests from the Bowmans . . .

Pray that…

• the door remains open to plant churches among the j-people.

• missionaries and Nigerian Christians do not give in to the spirit of fear as they live in the midst of Christian-Muslim tensions and riots.

• the Bowmans and other missionaries “do not mess up God’s work.” There are so many open doors that the Bowmans feel it could be easy to get the wrong attitude and step in God’s way.

 

For more information on adopting a people group in Nigeria, contact the Bowmans at chbowman@hisen.org. Editor’s note: The Bowman’s have three children: James, age 11, who lives in Nigeria with them; Jessica, who’s in college in the States; and Jeremy, who’s in the Air Force and lives in Germany.