By Dr. EmmaJoe Nwachukwu (www.emmanwachukwu.org.)
Born in 1571 BC, he lived life as Moshe Rabbenu, a Hebrew name meaning Moses our teacher. Destined to be great in life, he was born into an age of danger and dread, akin to a Covid 19 pandemic era. In fact, he saw worse; because by the law of the King, a death sentence hung over the head of every male child that was born to a Jew. Life could be treacherous sometimes! How could such a great lawgiver, destined to lead God’s people out of slavery and bondage, be destroyed at birth? Just like that? How could such a legendary destiny that would lead God’s people through the wilderness and into the Promised Land, be terminated at birth like a flicker of candlelight in a windy storm?
Then came God to the rescue, and it was the ministry of adoption that He used to save the day. Miss Bithiah Thutmose, the daughter of Pharaoh, adopted Moses, and that was how a great missionary destiny was salvaged.
Enter, Queen Esther! Esther was so beautiful that, preferred ahead of thousands of competing ladies, she replaced the dethroned Queen Vashti, to the pleasure of Ahasuerus, King of Persia. Born in 492 B.C. and called Hadasseh at birth, Esther is best remembered for the great missionary phrase: “If I perish, I perish.” She was the one that God used to save the Jews from the wicked and deadly venom of Hamman who had perfected a plan of genocide against all Jews at Purim.
Esther was a descendant of King Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin. Her mother died at childbirth, while her father, Abihail, died soon after her conception. What future would such an orphan, with a great destiny, have had if God did not intervene? Mordecai, her uncle, thankfully adopted Esther and brought her up as his own daughter. So, by the ministry of adoption, the orphan girl was given opportunity to ascend the throne of the Persian Empire and to fulfil her ministry and mission of saving the people of God from massive and sudden destruction.
Then came Jesus himself. He was born of the Virgin Mary but had no earthly father. He was born into a culture where it was a crime to be a single mother. Therefore irrespective of his great destiny of being the saviour of the whole world, Jesus was technically stranded as a missionary. There was no way he could operate within the vicissitudes of a criminal ancestry inside the circles of traditional Jewry. The divine solution to the preservation of Jesus’ great missionary calling was the instigation of the ministry of adoption. So God had to send an ambassador in the person of Angel Gabriel to visit and encourage Mr Joseph Heli to adopt the young child, Jesus, and bring him up as his own son.
THE WONDERS OF MISSIONARY ADOPTION
2 Kings 4:8:
“Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable
woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he
would turn in there to eat some food.”
The woman in our next story was said to be notable, meaning she was rich and a
social elite. This notable woman persuaded Elisha to always come and eat in her
home as he laboured in his mission field. Apparently the woman had a deep respect
for Elisha and there was a deep reason why she cared so much for him:
2 Kings 4:8
“And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who
passes by us regularly….”
For this Shunamite woman, Elisha was “a holy man of God.” That is why she was so
kind to him. Her respect and care for Elisha was a reflection of her respect and care
for the God of Elisha. However, the woman’s adoption of Elisha was not limited to
the food:
2 Kings 4:9-10
“And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who
passes by us regularly. “Please let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us
put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be
whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”
As expected, the God of Missions had a response to give because every
compassionate adoption of a missionary has a day of reward. This Shunamite
woman had everything she desired in life except her own biological child. To make
matters worse, her husband was now too old and could not function. However this
is where we see the wonders of the ministry of adoption in attracting rare blessings
from God. Elisha said to her: “About this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” As
it was prophesied, so it came to pass – old husband or no! There is no doubt, that the
ministry of adoption of missionaries is one of the smartest routes to receiving
impossibilities from God, the owner of Missions.
Fast forward, the 21st century, an age that looks like the end times prophesied about
by Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3. He says we should mark this: There will be terrible
times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, ungrateful,
without self-control, not lovers of the good, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God.
Leonard Ravenhill (1907 – 1994) who wrote the book Why Revival Tarries said that
Christians spend more money on dog food than they spend on the work of Missions.
Revenhill also said that “The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now
she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising.” It is not surprising therefore that
today’s Church and her members are leisurely neglecting their responsibilities
towards missions and missionaries. What should be a priority has been relegated to
the background and today people do “church” instead of “missions.” However God is
not pleased with these end time realities and the voice in the wilderness is crying
for change!
OUR MISSIONARIES ARE GOOD, SACRIFICIAL & HARDWORKING.
I know the story of a CRM Missionary serving in an African country that was a
flashpoint for the Ebola pandemic a few years ago. Most foreigners had fled for fear
of dying in a foreign country. It was such a crisis situation that the CRM Missions
Director had to call our missionary to ask him to return to Nigeria with his family.
Surprisingly, the missionary said: ‘I cannot leave my people and return to Nigeria.’
The Missions Director was highly impressed by the willingness of the missionary to
risk his life for the flock. He blessed the missionary and prayed for his safety but
commanded him to send his wife and children home to Nigeria. However his wife
opted to remain with her husband even in the face of possible death through the
Ebola virus. At this time over 6000 people had lost their lives to Ebola in that
country but no member of the CRM church was affected. It was a classical case of a
thousand falling by your side and ten thousand by your right and it will not touch
you. Praise the Lord!
Now, this story tells the kind of stuff Christian missionaries are made of, especially
CRM missionaries. These are men and women who have virtually surrendered life
and comfort in order to ensure that our Lord, Jesus Christ, suffers no loss!
I also know the story of another CRM missionary whose mission field is the
epicentre of the Boko Haram warfront in the Northeast. Being an indigene of one of
the southern states of Nigeria, one expected the missionary would have escaped
from his field when nearly all southerners in the Northeast fled in droves. That was
not to be! Our man believes that God, who sent him on this missionary journey,
would also tell him when it is time to go home! So he is still on location, along with
his family, taking care of the flock of God behind enemy lines. Once, Boko Haram
bandits attacked his church while Sunday service was on. They scattered several
magazines of AK47 bullets in the direction of church members. At the end, no one
died. Our missionary tasted ‘death’ for his people as he suffered bullet wounds in
one hand. Treated and discharged from hospital, he quietly went back to work at his
mission field. Recently, his house burnt to the ground but this has not deterred him
from pursuing his assignment in the impossible fields of Northeastern Nigeria. I
thank God for CRM Missionaries! We thank God for CRM Missions too!
THE SUPPORT STRUCTURE IS WEAK
If I were to let you know that many of these die-hard missionaries actually lack support for their families and their work, would you believe it? If I were to tell you that some of their children are not in school because of lack of money for school fees, would you believe it? Many onlookers are perplexed and often ask why the Church is not paying adequate stipends to our missionaries. I want to assure you that the Church is doing what they could but it is far from adequate. I know the story of a CRM state that has about 30 missionaries but the total monthly income of the state is not more than N500,000. You know, even if such a state pays out all their income to their missionaries, it will still be inadequate to sustain them. This is why, in the wisdom of God, missionary administration and sustenance works best when church members take personal responsibilities. This is where the issue of adoption of missionaries comes in.
TYPES OF MISSIONARY ADOPTION.
Adoption of missionaries is open to individuals, families, church branches and corporate establishments, like businesses. There are four ways anyone may get involved in missionary adoption.
1. ADOPT A MISSIONARY.
The first is to adopt one missionary or more. This involves sending an amount of money monthly to the adopted missionary. The amount depends on you, the adopter. However any amount from N5000 to N50,000 monthly will be considered reasonable. The regularity of giving is as important, if not more important, than the amount. Adoption also involves praying for the missionary regularly.
2. ADOPT A MISSION FIELD.
Secondly, one may adopt a mission field. This involves sending an amount of money monthly to the mission field for their projects. Again, the amount depends on you, the adopter. It also involves praying for the mission field regularly.
3. ADOPT A SPECIAL MISSIONS PROJECT.
Thirdly, one may adopt a Special Mission Project. This involves partnering with Missions Aid International to activate any of the following projects with any amount monthly or with a one-time donation:
A. Mephiboshet Project:
This project provides scholarships for the children of dead CRM Missionaries. It is a project at the heart of Jesus Christ who said: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,” (Matthew 18:5.)
B. Widows & Orphans Outreach Project:
This project provides general aid to qualifying widows and orphans as led by the Holy Spirit. Again this goes to the root of God’s heart as He says: “Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphans, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17) and also “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:27.)
4. PRAYER ADOPTION.
The fourth type of adoption is Prayer Adoption. This involves adopting a particular field as your prayer project. Your responsibility is to keep praying for your choice field and also mobilizing intercession and upholding that mission field and their programmes in prayers.
LAS LAS.
We have published the list of CRM missionaries in this magazine. You can also find the list in CRM platforms in Whatsapp and Telegram. We therefore encourage you to prayerfully choose a missionary or two that you, your family, your church centre or your business will adopt. When you do so, send a message to the Director of Missions on 08033314742 or email crmissions@yahoo.com to inform us or to request for further information. God is depending on you…. DOWNLOAD COMPLETE JOURNAL HERE.
