Territorial Expansionism or Passion for the Lost? A Reflection on 21st-Century Mission with Reference to the Anglican Church of Nigeria

Introduction

Mission is synonymous with the Church, as rightly captured in Emil Brunner’s statement that the church exists for mission as fire exists by burning. This would suggest that the only way for the church to exist is by engaging in mission. This is the life of the church and the New Testament is clear about it. Mission thus marks the decisive difference between the Old and the New Testaments. ¹ There is a critical question that comes with modern mission, namely, what are the motivating factors for the spread of the church from one place to another? Is the church in anyway interested in territorial expansionism or has it rather been consumed by passion for the lost or the genuine desire to take the light into the darkness of the world? In attempting to answer this, we shall examine Christian mission as being undertaken in the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Mission and the New Testament

The two key strands of New Testament mission are epitomized in Mission to the Gentiles and Mission to the Jews, the foundations of which were laid by Jesus himself. That is, to say that the beginnings of the earliest Christian mission – the real starting point of the primitive Christian mission lies in the conduct of Jesus himself. ² Thus he is the ‘primal missionary,’ as the ultimate basis for earliest Christian mission lies in the messianic sending of Jesus. ³ Subsequently, in the post-resurrection missionary activity of the primitive church, Apostle Paul is widely regarded as apostle to the Gentiles or what Bosch called the ‘catalyst factor’ providing the theological basis for the Torah-free self-definition of Gentile Christianity ⁴ while Peter is often credited with mission to the Jews. This is only the simplest form of categorization, because Peter was in fact the first apostle to reach the Gentiles. Even if this was a reluctant or unintentional outreach, Peter took this first missionary step having been prompted by the Holy Spirit (Acts 10). He subsequently defended this before the apostles in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). Paul’s subsequent efforts raised the profile of the mission to the Gentiles, as is most manifest in his missionary journeys and also evident in the many epistles written to the Gentile churches in the New Testament.

Ironically, the letter to the Hebrews is the only one assigned to Jewish readership although there are suggestions James may have been written with a Jewish audience in mind. From these initial missionary activities the rest of the world had benefitted immensely. Any differences between the two strands are minimized by the fact that they had a shared identity that was both new and normative. This was further strengthened in their shared belief that the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s saving act was integral to both Jews and Hellenists, ⁵ even if the methodology was often not easily agreed.

The mission of the Church has two dimensions, namely, the theological and practical dimensions manifest in the communities they visited. And today, as is broadly viewed by the Anglican Communion, the mission of the church is marked or characterized by five prongs or aspects, namely, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom; to teach, baptize, and nurture new believers; to respond to human need by loving service; to seek to transform unjust structures of society; and to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew life on the earth. ⁶

Admittedly, some of these may be recent and sophisticated categorization of what is formally known or mentioned in the New Testament; yet they are undoubtedly evident in the intention and practice of the early church (Matt. 28:18, Acts 2:24ff). The mission of Jesus Christ is also a prototype of these marks or characterization. His most clear statement is contained in Luke 4:18–19, in which he declares:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This is widely known as the Jesus manifesto, and Christian mission is expected to follow suit.

This is a fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah in Chapter 61:1–2, and it was the word of the Lord for a desperate and troubled generation that was in most urgent need of restoration and hope. Isaiah 61:1–3 had acquired mystical-apocalyptic significance in the period of the Second Temple, becoming a focus for longings for redemption in both Judaism and Christianity. Hence the Second Temple readers of the prophecy rejoiced as they looked forward with hope and great expectation to its full realization. However, in the ministry of Jesus, this found a practical and actual fulfilment, as the gospels record that Jesus brought joy and delight to the world, and common people heard him gladly or with great delight (Mk. 12:37; emphasis mine).

This probably happened because of Jesus’ holistic approach to mission. Through his ministry, ordinary people received liberation, healing and salvation that they rejoiced at seeing his days. Now, this was first because in him dwells the fullness of the deity, as the author of the letter to the Colossians put it (Col. 1:19; 2:9). As Luke declares, Jesus had been anointed and filled with the Spirit of the Lord to proclaim the good news to all, the poor inclusive. After this comes the liberation and restoration of sight etc. It is not a surprise then that Luke’s gospel gives so much time to exhibiting the ministry of Jesus Christ amongst the poor and marginalized, the widows and women, all those who would otherwise not have the attention of the society of their day. Thus Jesus is the epitome of mission and the ‘primal missionary.’ ⁷ Here, transformation is total; it affects not only their understanding but also their personal needs. This also is the calling of the Church in mission. As Paul Avis has defined, ‘Mission is the whole church bringing the whole Christ to the whole world.’ ⁸

The ministry of Jesus therefore provides a paradigm for the evaluation of any Christian mission. The mission of Christ was holistic. It brought together both the theological and pragmatic aspects of mission by addressing the spiritual and physical needs of people. Jesus’ discussion with the Samaritan woman in John 4 is a relevant example. The mission, however, begins with proclamation of the good news of salvation, even if on some other occasions this may have been provoked by something else. Interestingly, the early church’s kerygma was propelled and confirmed by the operations of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Church is empowered by the Holy Spirit for mission.

It is vital, therefore, that Christian mission is evaluated along these lines. That is, the Church must be seen to be doing mission in the steps of Christ. The empowerment that it receives is to be used for the sole reason of proclaiming the good news in all its ramifications.

The CMS and Modern Mission in Nigeria

The eve of the 19th century was an important period for modern Christian mission in Nigeria. The history of Christian missions, and especially of the Anglican mission in Nigeria, cannot be understood in isolation from the monumental missionary work of the Church Missionary Society, now Church Mission Society, which was formed in London in 1799. ⁹ What is significant for our discussion here is the motivation for the formation of the society and, especially, its decision to reach out to the other parts of the world.

At a meeting in March 1799, John Venn raised the specific question of how they themselves should spread the Gospel overseas, and his call for action led to the April meeting at the Castle and Falcon Inn. There, a resolution was passed, ‘It is the duty highly incumbent upon every Christian to endeavour to propagate the knowledge of the Gospel among the Heathen;’ and the Society for Missions to Africa and the East was formed. In 1812, this organization was renamed The Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East. ¹⁰

The duty to propagate the knowledge of the gospel among the Heathen is the vital issue for us here. This was the motivating factor for the CMS in its outreach to Africa, and especially Nigeria, starting with the Niger Expedition of 1841. They later returned to what is now known as Nigeria for missionary work in 1842, in spite of the challenges of the time, not least that their visit resulted in the death of a good number of them. In fact, only one of the European missionaries on the trip reached as far as 350 miles inland as the others were struck by death caused by mosquito bites. ¹¹ This became a frequent occurrence during the early missionary period owing to various health hazards, especially that generated by malaria fever.

The arrival of the Europeans on the West Coast of Africa brought along with it trade and education or what is usually called the 3Cs, namely Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization. With the intention to spread the gospel was the desire to replace slave trade with genuine trading with the locals. Many African nationalists detested the Christian faith because they saw it as an accomplice in the colonization of the African continent. Nonetheless, it is vital to highlight that the passion to save the lost and take the gospel to the Heathen was paramount for the British missionaries who gave their all to the evangelization of the African peoples, especially in Nigeria.

Effectively with the arrival of the Wesleyan Methodists and CMS missionaries in Badagry in December 1842, evangelization of Nigeria had begun in earnest. ¹² The subsequent years witnessed the rapid spread of the gospel by the CMS to Abeokuta, Ibadan, Lagos, and other parts of the country.

The central issue for the missionaries was the propagation of the gospel to the locals. This yielded greatly, as many people submitted for baptism. In the process, they encountered stiff opposition from adherents of the traditional religion. Although many adherents were converted, some of them backslided, perhaps because they could not abandon their traditional religion for what was believed to be a new and foreign form of religion, but also because many of them were disappointed by what they observed to be the insincerity evident in the lives of many who had become leading members of the emerging local Christian community. ¹³ The missionaries preached against this, and on many occasions had to urge their converts to look at the adherents of the local traditional religion as a model of sincerity, honesty and commitment to their faith. ¹⁴ Many people also refused to yield to this new form of religion – Christianity – because of the ungodly behavior of some of its converts.

It seems that the most with which the missionaries were preoccupied was the salvation of the believers which had the direct correlation of impacting the community with the accompanying Western style of education and civilization. Although it could be said to have adversely affected the local way of life, it would seem unavoidable given the lack of adequate understanding of the local culture by the missionaries. Modern mission has acknowledged this by advocating inculturation in mission. That is, to say that ‘The Christian faith must be rethought, reformulated and lived anew in each human culture . . . and this must be done in a vital way, in depth and right to the cultures’ root.’ ¹⁵ Similarly, as Cardinal Poupard puts it,

Faith needs to acknowledge and admit the good that is in every culture, for all good, like truth, has but one Source, God Himself. But faith also needs to accept and appreciate the good that is embedded in culture. In fact, no faith is ever born in a void or vacuum. It is always conceived in the womb of culture; there it is born and there too it is nourished and grows. ¹⁶

Moving from Mission to Church

The natural progression from missions to churches soon manifested itself as growth began to attend the missionary efforts in Nigeria. Three factors necessitated this. First, an increase in the number of converts. Second, an increase in the number of mission branches or preaching stations. Third, there arose the urgent need for leadership and coordination of the mission. This is comparable to the situation in the early church which led to the appointment of the seven deacons. For the CMS, the strategy in London was to develop a church that was self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating. ¹⁷ Although this was intended to enhance and accelerate further development of the mission, this strategy was also to mar the early mission work in Nigeria, especially the Yoruba Mission. Ideological division soon became obvious even among the leaders of the mission.

Henry Venn, Secretary of the CMS in London, was a foremost protagonist of this strategy in 1846. His insistence on the development of local and indigenous leadership to lead the nascent church saw the emergence of Samuel A. Crowther as the first black bishop in 1864, in the face of stiff opposition and attack from those who not only believed it was premature, but also that leadership was a right divinely bestowed not on black Africans but only on white Europeans. ¹⁸

This phase of mission shows a particular strategy in which proclamation of the gospel was the primary task of the church even though church administration became an inevitable consequence of it. Yet this had the associating corollary of impacting the lives of believers while education had become a necessary ally, so that by 1857, CMS Grammar School, the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, had been established. Leadership became a natural necessity and function of growth. It was a natural progression that could not be denied. The church was to be led by CMS-trained pastors and teachers several decades on.

Mission and the Birth of an Autonomous Church of Nigeria

Recognizing the growth attending the work of the Church in Nigeria, and the need for it to administer itself and appropriately responding to local, national, and political issues of international significance, the Church of West Africa gave approval for the creation of an autonomous Church of the Province of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), hereafter called Church of Nigeria, duly inaugurated on February 24, 1979 with only 16 dioceses. ¹⁹ The Church of Nigeria soon gained its voice in maintaining an Anglican position in responding to issues in Nigeria whilst being proactive in many ways. This brought the church nearer the people and enabled further growth of the missionary work of the church in Nigeria. Subsequently, owing to further physical growth and the need to sustain them, more dioceses were created out of existing ones after due applications had been considered and due process followed accordingly. Gradually, the new dioceses added more churches to the number of churches in Nigeria. Potential areas of growth and expansion were identified and the strategy for further evangelization and mission work was clearly outlined. This way, the church was growing. How the church would sustain this was always an issue for students of missiology.

Mission and the Decade of Evangelism

The 1980s witnessed a paradigm change in mission on the international scene. A broader missiology was being canvassed. Practically, social and practical changes meant that it could not continue the same way. The Church of Nigeria entered another phase in its mission in 1990, especially with the advent of the Decade of Evangelism as designated by the 1988 Lambeth Conference. This was characterized by two major strides.

First, there was the undoing of what had been done nearly 100 years earlier, when the colonial masters, in order to protect their political interest agreed with the Muslim leaders of Northern Protectorate of modern Nigeria to close the North to any missionary activities. With such a gesture, the church hardly had any significant presence in the far North until very late. It is remarkable that the current threats to the growth and stability of the church in the North of Nigeria cannot be entirely divorced from this. Christianity remains foreign to the minds of many average Northerners, and worst still, it is growing faster than they could ever imagine. Hence they find it to be a growing intruder in their space; they feel threatened by the unprecedented growth and would cease every opportunity they have to blame all kinds of evils on the presence of the church amidst them. Even the appearance of the eclipse of the moon has been an opportunity to attack churches, as it was perceived to be an evil brought about by the presence of the churches.

Thus, on January 1, 1990, the then Archbishop of Nigeria, Joseph Adetiloye, at a service to mark the beginning of the Decade of Evangelism, performed a special ceremony of opening the North to missionary activities in Lokoja, the confluence and gateway city, leading to the North of Nigeria. ²⁰ Although the church had been engaged in missionary activities before then, it could be said to have been at a fairly low key. The Archbishop’s action was very symbolic as it opened the door to a flurry of missionary activities in the north, especially for the Anglican Church.

The second important landmark followed very closely – the appointment and consecration of nine missionary bishops for nine missionary dioceses in the northern part of Nigeria. This is what Omoyajowo describes as the ‘Diocesanization of the Church of Nigeria.’ This was unprecedented in the history of missionary work in Nigeria. A church that once suffered from lack of indigenous leadership was here fulfilling one of the three key mission strategies that Henry Venn had canvassed in the early stages of Christian mission work in Nigeria in 1846, namely, a self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating church. For instance, following the death of Bishop Samuel Crowther, it took nearly half a century, that is, until 1955, before any indigenous bishop was allowed to become a diocesan bishop in Nigeria. On this occasion, in his bid to grow in self-propagating the mission of the church, it also exercised its right in the act of self-governance as it consecrated the missionary bishops, at Kaduna, to lead and govern the mission of the church in the new dioceses. This is an evidence of a growing church.

Paradigm Shift in Mission

Now this was a significant paradigm shift in mission in the church. It is significant because by this act, the bishop is placed firmly at the head of local mission; a bishop becomes the chief missionary and evangelist of the diocese, having been duly commissioned by the authority of the church for that purpose. Rather than being an unreachable or arm-chair bishop preoccupied with administration, he is involved in the practical evangelization of the people with all its attending benefits to the local community, such as education and health services at the local and village levels. In one sense, the Bishop is engaged in mission in pretty much similar ways to the early European missionaries. For instance, many communities reached through the missionary diocese of Sokoto in its early days had no previous access to health facilities, education or government presence, which the church provided for the benefits of such communities. Thus the church became the mediating agency between government and the people. This is highly significant for mission because in it previously unreached areas were being reached not only with the gospel but also with other essentials of life. This could be seen to be giving life ‘in its fullness;’ it is an important mark of mission, which the Anglican Communion worldwide has identified.

Similarly, this gave fresh opportunities and hopes for creative ministry for young clergy who were appointed to the episcopate, whose major consideration for appointment into the episcopate was passion for the salvation of the lost or unreached. In the same way, the church identified wealthy individuals and parishes and encouraged them to invest their money in providing for the new missionary dioceses for the initial five years of their existence.

Here, the word ‘missionary’ takes on new meanings. Until this phase of ministry, missionaries had only been expatriates from Britain or European countries to Nigeria. However with missionary bishops indigenous people were being deliberately identified and sent out to be missionaries in their own country of birth. Here is a replica of the mission by Jews to the Jews. This would also suggest an unconscious rediscovery of the Nigerian church’s evangelical heritage given that Ajayi Crowther, a former slave of Yoruba descent, was among the original team of missionaries sent to Nigeria, a strategy that saw him emerge later as the first black bishop.

Earlier on, the global stage had been experiencing a paradigm shift with missionaries no longer being sent from the West to the developing world or from North to South; rather, people who felt called were also moving from the Southern hemisphere to the North or from developing countries to the West to proclaim the gospel. The Church of Nigeria was also involved in this, as a number of its clergy were moving to work in the United Kingdom. A particular example of this was the partnership between the CMS and the Church of Nigeria in establishing the Nigerian Chaplaincy in London, where a Nigerian-born Anglican clergy was appointed to head a mission in London for the benefits of Nigerian students, and to serve as an interface between the host and the immigrant communities. This paradigm shift necessitated what has since been adopted as Partnership-in-Mission, a phrase extended also to link dioceses such as Liverpool–Akure diocese link. The word ‘missionary’ also fell into disuse because of the pejorative connotation that came to be associated with it in some quarters. The adoption of Mission Partners is in recognition of the co-operation that exists between both the sending and receiving communities. Thus, mission is better done in partnership.

It is striking that while evangelical consideration was the motivation behind the creation of the dioceses at this stage, it would seem that ecclesiastical consideration was also included. This was evident when Archbishop Adetiloye explained that the choice of missionary dioceses in the North was informed by the need to have Anglican presence at the seat of governments in those areas of the north where they had not been. ²¹ This would seem to be the main drive in the second phase of the creation of dioceses that took place later after the primacy of Adetiloye, under his successor.

A Different Approach and Challenge

With the primacy of Archbishop Akinola, the church entered another phase of mission when the creation of dioceses nearly went out of control with the church now increasing to having more than 165 dioceses during his primacy. More missionary and full-fledged dioceses were created between AD 2000 and 2010 than at any other period in the history of the mission of the church in Nigeria. Quite often, the argument was an evangelical one; the need to reach out and to evangelize. But whether this is sound is a matter of debate, as in many instances, it felt as though some dioceses were created to secure political autonomy or independence from the existing dioceses. In some cases, there was no clear strategy for evangelism unlike before while in many places there was no room for expansion because of the nature of the area so carved out. At other times, no sooner had the new diocese been created than they began to suffer for lack of funds. In some cases, the chief missioner became the fundraiser, having very little or no time to stay in the diocese he had been consecrated to evangelize. The burdens of office soon set in; the pressure to meet up with the challenges of the day and to live with the kind of facilities bishops of older dioceses had access to. This has called to question the practice of what had initially seemed like a novel or inspired idea.

Evaluation

It appears therefore that rather than enhance it, the creation of dioceses had become a hindrance for the proclamation of the gospel in many dioceses although news filter of places where the gospel is being vigorously preached. Nonetheless, it would appear that majority of the new generation dioceses have continued to suffer from lack of funds to prosecute mission which has by and large crippled the proclamation they were designed to do. The challenge here is that mission is beginning to suffer. The strategy would appear confused and uncoordinated while the project no longer enjoys the overwhelming support of the people. Many areas deserve genuine missionary attention but not creation of diocesan structures.

The key concern at this stage is a missiological one. Where does mission begin? What is the intention behind the multiplicity or proliferation of unsolicited dioceses? Why create new dioceses when existing ones are not self-supporting or able to stand on their own? The strategy employed here would seem to contradict the early church’s mission strategy in which proclamation rather than ecclesiastical consideration was the basis for the spread of the gospel.

The marks of Christian mission highlighted above are the focus of a missionary church that looks not only to its inner needs but primarily towards sharing Christ with the whole world starting with the local community. This was the primary missiological strategy of the primitive church in which the practical life of the believer played a key part. As Michael Green rightly notes, what convinced the Greco-Roman world of ‘the truth of Christianity’ was the character Christians exhibited in life and in death. ²² That is, the quality of life exhibited by the early Christians righty informed by their faith was of vital importance rather than any structural mode. There is no doubt that the dioceses are keen on doing mission, but they are overwhelmed by the demands of avoidable ecclesiastical structures, such as the building of modern cathedrals, bishops’ courts and bishops’ offices, accompanied by huge maintenance costs and unbearable overheads.

The current strategy risks looking inwards and sourcing for funds to satisfy the needs of the church. This could possibly lead the church to self-serving and to focusing on building structures and maintenance of church buildings at the expense of genuine outreach that could impact the community. That way every attempt to spread might fail to do real mission but only succeed in territorial expansionism and egoism.

That said, it is not in all cases that the situation is at variance with the NT. There is news of many communities being reached in remote villages that would otherwise have no access to the Christian gospel, such as what is now known as Ajayi Crowther diocese. ²³ As good as this may sound, I believe that this strategy calls to question the church’s theology of mission – the question whether the church needs a bishop before the gospel can be proclaimed is a profound theological question. This could also amount to putting the horse before the cat. Does the church need a bishop to proclaim the gospel? It would seem that while bishops in the missionary dioceses are at best motivators or enablers of mission the office is not indispensable for the promotion and growth of missionary work or the church itself.

A particular example was the 1980s when the whole of what is now Abuja and surrounding dioceses were simply part of Kaduna diocese. The strategy employed then was to appoint a missioner of the rank of Canon to lead the mission of the area. It was not until 1989 that the missioner, Canon Peter J. Akinola, was elected and consecrated bishop of the diocese of Abuja when the area had witnessed enough growth to deserve further coordination and episcopal oversight, necessitated by the status of Abuja as the Federal capital city. It is ironic that the bishop later became an Archbishop and under his primacy the church witnessed an excessive and indiscriminate diocesanization in which many bishops were made, and who instead of doing mission have now simply become fund raisers. The challenges are enormous, and I suggest that this is a consequence of a reversal of mission strategy that has ended up looking more like territorial expansionism rather than being motivated by passion for the lost.

The intervention of the Church of Nigeria in America following the consecration of the openly gay priest (V. Gene Robinson) as bishop of New Hampshire in the United States in 2003 raises another question. But it would seem, as has been explained that the interest of the church in this case is not in territorial expansionism but in securing or protecting the flock. The Nigerian church has seen this as overseas mission outpost until the crisis is resolved. One may have no reason to doubt this, but it is vital that the church critically examines its mission strategy to be truly scriptural lest the marks of true mission are confused in the modern day.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this reflection has shown the passion with which the church has pursued its mission in the 21st century. It recognizes that it has responded to modern challenges by doing mission in creative ways. In each case, given the aims of those who introduced mission to the Anglican Church of Nigeria, this reflection highlights the importance of going back to its original missionary strategy rather than suggest in any way that it might simply be interested in territorial expansionism or structural mission that could undermine genuine mission with passion for the lost.

However, the recent declaration by its new archbishop Nicholas Okoh that creation of new dioceses is not a priority and thereby placing a five-year embargo on the creation of any new diocese would appear to be a good step towards the recovery of NT missionary spirit. This has the potential to give the church a space for theological reflection, which is urgently needed.