The Christian Mission, V61.< 12, No.

4, April 1968
Page 7
WEST AFRICA CHRISTIAN MISSION - NIGERIA
The West Africa Christian Mission was
incorporated in 1955 and now includes the
Donald Baughmans, the Walter Smithis in
Nigeria; the Edgar Nichols and Kent Taylors
in Ghana. Four phases of our wor^c include
the Search The Scriptures radio broadcast,
begun by the Gospel Broadcasting Mission in
1961; the training of najtional nvarigelists; the
establishment of local congr^gatipns; a medi
cal program. . ^ / . ;
We endeavor to hdp anyone who comes
to us in ill health and often take them to a
nearby European doctor who diagnoses and
treats the patient.
NEEDS
We are in urgent need of a doctor or nurse
to carry on the medical work; one who could
visit local villages as the people have no funds
for travel even if they could find transporta
tion.
We need a motor bike for Francis Olorun-
femi, our traveling evangelist. The one he
was using (which we had purchased second
hand) recently gave up the ghost.
We lease our 9.9 acres of land from the
Olotta of Otta and $450 is needed for the en
suing five years of the lease.
We always can use Bible school papers,
especially children's picture papers, and
complete flannelgraph stories.
It is not easy to assess the value of a
himdred years of Christian effort. It is true
that there are nearly as many churches as
there are schools, and on Simdays the bush
paths around the villages are lively with people
making their way to church. Each section also
has it's own native ministers. In some soci
eties the pastoral work has been almost en
tirely handed over to the African clergy and
lay workers. To judge from appearances,
Christianity is firmly established.
However, how deep the faith has sunk
into the minds and hearts of the people, how
strict are its sanctions in their lives, it is
hard to tell. It is quite certain that many of
the old fetishes and beliefs still have power
to draw the people back, in desire, imagina-
^0^ tion and in fear, to the ju-ju houses and the
fetish groves. The symbols of their old gods,
Shango, Elegbara, Obatala are linked in the
minds of many with the cross and the cruci
fix.
The impact of the West has already meant
the inevitable destruction-of the tribal system,
a system at once social and religious. When
that had been dqstroyei, a vacupm was left
which had to fee filled. As the African by na
ture is an es^entiaUy religious person, one
to whom the supernatural is as real as the
natural, that yacuum could npt be adequately
filled by an abstractjphilosbphy. ' Somewhere
in all that welter qf crp^s purposes and con
flicting currents in which he is nowtossedi
there must stand a god or gods. Islam could
be the answer; and in m^y parts of Southern
Nigeria, as in the north, that.faith does seem
to satisfy the Africanlis needs. But, for some
reason or other, I^lam cannot conquer the
people of the Niger River'.
"Hope; as an anchor" is the only firni
stand that a Nigerian Christian today can lean
upon. The coimti^; is at war." The Ibo leaders
of the Eastern region of Nigeria have seceded
from the republic and call themselves "Biafra."
The federal army,a in hopes of keeping Nigeria
one, are battling to bring the rebel forces into
subjection.
Much of the fighting is going on in the
rivers area among people who want no part of
the secession and certainly do not want to
fight their brothers. Persecution is the lot
of this group of people; for if they aid the fed
eral troops, the Ibos will put them to death,
if they aid the Ibos, they will die by the hand
of the federals. The hope of eternal life is
their only salvation.
In the rivers area we had four churches
before the war. One letter from an evange
list who managed to send his message across
into Calabar to be mailed, begs for "more
prayers that we will trust in God. " He urges
us to pray for his people that they place more
confidence in Christ and His message and
not waver; he closes asking for "more con
secrated hearts." He does not ask for money
or food. He asks only for more consecrated
hearts. He is endeavoring to feed the people
the Bread of Life. Pray for the Christians
in this area, especially Bro. Lawrence, and
for all Christians all over Nigeria.
The heartache of watching brother hate
brother, of seeing desperate needs that can
not be filled, of knowing of the emptiness in
the lives of so many people should encourage
(continued on next page)
Page 8 The Christian Mission, Vol. 12, No. 4, April 1968
West Africa - Nigeria
(continued from previous page)
us to "watch and pray" constantly "lest we be
tempted," and spur each of us on to seek con
stantly for those who know not the Christ and
tell them of the glorious hope that lies only
with Him.
Over the whole of Nigeria as the 20th
century goes forward, the writing is clear;
the need is for a God. If Christianity fails
to satisfy that need, then the Moloch of Com
munism may rise up for the people's adoration
and destruction. Or perhaps we may see the
return of the Long JiiJu, Ibonokpabi, coming
from her hiding place in the guise of a national
goddess with a political axe in her hand, and
speaking with the brazen tongue of demagogy.
By the response of the common people to such
an apparition, will be measured the success
or failure of the Christian mission!
Don and Marianne Baughman
Box 46
Otta, Nigeria, Africa
Forwarding Agent:
Mrs. Carol Scarbrough
243 Mizell
Duncanville, Texas 75116
Walter and Edna Anne Smith, Keith and
Jerianne; with Evangelist Francis Olorunfemi
at the Egun Tedo church.
The idol house at Onikpetes,