The National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) is the mandatory one year programme designed to involve all Nigerian graduates in the development of the country. One of the expectations of the program is that “corps” members should be posted to cities and states far from home and states of origin. They are expected to mix with people of other tribes, social and family backgrounds, and to learn the culture of the indigenes in the place they are posted to. It is a scheme to engender unity in Nigeria.
This scheme was enacted under the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon in 1973. Just as the federal government had a plan, so God also apparently had his own plan and interest in the scheme. God spoke to Pastor G. Elton (a British missionary who lived in Nigeria for 50 years) that “a time will come when the Nigerian government will pay Nigerian youths to preach the gospel in the nooks and crannies of the country”. No doubt the prophecy referred to the NYSC programme and the mobilisation of Christian Youths to remote rural communities all over the nation.
An open door to priority peoples
About a third of Nigeria’s population remains unreached by the gospel, locked away from reach by barriers of language, remoteness and religious intolerance. Some of the most unreached regions in the country especially in the predominantly Islamic north have no contact at all with Christianity except when they meet with corpers who are usually school teachers or health workers. NYSC continues to post corpers, indiscriminate of their religion, to places where there are no known Christians or churches, only Islam, idolatry and abject poverty. We have to face it, the NYSC scheme is an open door to this priority peoples.
Undeniable fruits of corpers’ fellowships
The Nigeria Christian Corpers’ fellowship(NCCF) officially inaugurated in 1983, keyed into the prophecy of Sir Elton and adopted Rural Rugged Evangelism as the core of their vision. Every year the fellowship visits over 500 towns and villages, hardly touched by any form of development, bearing social relief and welfare materials, including volunteer medical personnel and free drugs, touching over 100,000 lives. Other corper fellowships like RCCF (Redeemed Christian Corpers’ Fellowship) also carry out similar outreaches in some states, including prison outreaches amongst other ministries.
Apart from outreaches to unreached priority groups, Corpers’ Fellowship both during the three weeks orientation camp and after, continue to help many Nigerian youths to meet with Jesus. Suffice it to say that since the inception of NYSC, tens of thousands of graduate Nigerian youths, covering a vast range of different backgrounds have believed on the gospel about Jesus Christ through one corper fellowship or the other under the umbrella of NYSC. I think that is absolutely marvellous.
Missionaries of tomorrow
Serving corpers have helped plant hundreds of churches in difficult terrain around the country. Just like short term missionary programmes in Europe and the Americas is helping many to commit themselves to full term mission work in foreign lands, the NYSC scheme has helped many of today’s full time missionaries, village evangelist and pastors answer the call to ministry and to permanently settle to serve God in the place where they concluded their youth service programme.
NYSC is un-arguably a missionary force in our land that shouldn’t be ignored, but what about Jesus Corpers as agents of development and transformation? At every point in time each year there are over 100,000 serving corpers from different disciplines and vocations all over the country. In some local government areas in the country, the only fully qualified doctors available are serving corpers. In some parts of Northern Nigeria like Sokoto where I served, well over 70% of the strength of Academic staff especially primary and secondary school teachers are corpers. I think this is the more reason why we have to take talk about proper orientation of serving Christian corpers seriously.
Little wonder, that the devil has tried to quell the continuity of NYSC severally. the scheme has major difficulties definitely, but Christians must remember that God has an interest in the programme, He has used it greatly and can continue to use it. Let’s cease praying for NYSC to be scrapped, but rather let’s be part of the solution to the problems faced by our graduate youths and NYSC. NYSC is the gospel’s open door to the unreached of our Nation.
]]>“As [Jesus] sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. And she broke the flask and poured it on his head. But there were some who were indignant… and said ‘why was this fragrant oil wasted?’…and they criticized her sharply.” (Mark 14:3-5)
The world has not changed. Every time you pour something costly and precious on Jesus, the immediate reaction is, “To what purpose is this waste?” What the master gladly accepts as a sacrifice, the world calls a waste. As far as the people were concerned, the costly oil was misused. If she wanted to give it all away, why didn’t she use the proceeds from its sale to bless some poor people? In other words, there could have been a better use of the precious oil than “wasting” it on Jesus. There is always an alternative use for whatever you want to pour on Jesus. If somebody with a degree in electrical engineering resigned a lucrative job and packed up to go and settle among the Wolof people of Senegal, the world would ask, “Can you imagine such a brilliant fellow with prospects, wasting his life and calling himself a missionary? What kind of waste is this?” If, however, he becomes an Information Technology guru, walking the financial capitals of the world and flying from New York to Singapore, from Tokyo to Brisbane, it would not be considered a waste. Many Christians are afraid to pursue God’s high purpose for their lives because of the comments and expectations of others whose opinions belong in the trash can and who have no idea what the Lord has ordained for such a life. The truth is, everybody will be wasted somewhere. It is your choice to determine where and on what. But as for whether or not you will be wasted, it is an inescapable reality. Every life is being spent on something. Some people are wasted on the pursuit of power, popularity and pleasure. Others are wasted on the mad-rush for money and other mundane matters of life. If your life is not wasted on Jesus, it certainly will be wasted on something less. You can only be emptied on something less than the master because there is nothing greater than him. Some people are waiting until they have been wasted by the system. At that time they will limp to the altar at age 70 singing “I surrender all.” When the best of your youthful resources have been spent pursuing your own personal agenda, what else is remaining to surrender? The father of a Palestinian suicide bomber was recently interviewed. He said he felt extremely proud of his son for volunteering for such a mission. He was sure his son was in paradise. They seem to believe a lie more than we believe the truth. Some Igbo traders who cross every border and defy every imaginable obstacle to do business get killed in remote or distant lands when a political or religious crisis breaks out. What you think is a big price to pay for the gospel, others are willing to pay for the sake of their businesses. Every life is being wasted. The question is: on what? Mary Slessor was engaged to be married to a banker before she came to Nigeria as a missionary. After attending a mission conference, God called her to the “white man’s grave.” Her fiancé asked her to choose between himself and her mission call to Africa. She did not even have to pray about it. She broke the relationship, obeyed the call and spent the rest of her life in Nigeria. The woman in Mark 14 broke the neck of her flask and poured her costly oil on the master. There are some things you have to break if you empty the content of your life on Jesus. The question we must always ask ourselves is, “When time gives way to eternity, what will we be remembered for?” The woman in Mark 14 had a memorial recorded for her because she emptied her best on the master. When the story of the harvest is told, what will be recorded of our lives? We can only pray these words of one famous song writer:
“When it’s all been said and done, there is just one thing that matters: Did I do my best to live for truth, did I live my life for You? When it’s all been said and done, all my treasures will mean nothing Only what I’ve done for love’s reward will stand the test of time.” Dr. Ferdinand Nweke, a medical doctor in Nigeria, coordinates Eternity Ministries which focuses on maximizing Calvary and living with eternity in view. He has authored several books and songs.
]]>I think that the religious sentiment of celebrating the birth of Jesus on a chosen date may not be bad at all, but I don’t think that alone makes Jesus the reason for the season or makes the season about Jesus, assuming that Jesus was actually even born on the 25th of December. I’m not complaining of Christmas Carol songs that don’t say anything about Jesus or the fact that decorating churches do not edify anybody. But rather I’m thinking this can be a season where we would intensify evangelism. Everyday of a believer’s life must be about Jesus, but then this yuletide is a season that even unbelievers acknowledge Christianity, at least socially.
Other obvious advantages include that it happens to be a holiday period; people tend to stay more at home and may therefore be more available to visit; some people tend to go out more and it may be easier to invite them to well organized church programs where they can be ministered to specially; most tend to be more tolerant with the phone and so why don’t we prayerfully send them text messages or give them calls, taking the opportunity to minister to them. Also now, some tend to give more time to the media and internet, this is another channel that Christians can use more deliberately through intelligent programming of edifying content, as well as, personal profiles on social sites(e.g. facebook), blog posts and advert spaces.
Well you may have better ideas to share but the best we can do is to go out there and take any opportunity there is to reach out to friends, family and neighbors. God bless you with a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year in Jesus name.
]]>Well there is something that I definitely didn’t stop doing in the village: Reading! Here are a few books I read recently (I couldn’t make out time to do personal reviews or commentary so I found and put up some book review links if you’re interested ):
- The Slumber of Christianity by Ted Dekker (Faithful Reader book review)
- The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway (Christian Monitor book review).
- The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway (NTP book review)
Her skirt’s open to outer space
Everything is seen in delusion
For rebellion like a thick fog mantles the atmosphere
The world seems wiser than ever
But in truth it is deader than ever
For the meaning of existence lies not in the works
Of man’s hands but in the quality of his soul
Chastity is grossly disregarded
As purity from human souls has long been eroded
The things of the spirit –even for a thought alone- is alien
Vanity of men is alarmingly prevalent
The men of the world
-In their miserably perverse wisdom-
Have let the birds pick away the seeds while
They went in pursuit of the wind that swept the chaff.
© 2001,Tee Akindele
]]>Happenings I wish I could know why
Like some difficult temptations
I hope He would explain by and by.
When in glory I see His face
I would know why sometimes He let me feel forsaken
Saying “sufficient for you is my grace”
-Even when my only consolation was the hope of heaven.
But then I have read the story
About my lord once forsaken
When He hung on the cross of Calvary
-Even how He yet loved me in His suffering.
Yet if that gallant, pathetic picture
Of His agonized face crowned with thorns
That bruised His brow and scraped His scalp
Doesn’t discard my discontent
Ah! I know what certainly will:
When I see his face in eternity
(not Golgotha’s object of pity
Dripping with His blood and devils’ saliva
But an absolute perfection of beauty)
Shinning with a brightness that cannot be described in grammar.
My! Would I have enough will to close my mouth for awe?
Or desist from kissing His feet in worship?
Oh! There could be no room for dissatisfaction
For I know He would exceed my most glorious imagination
And I know I wouldn’t have to question.
© 2002,Tee Akindele
]]>When you release it by force -
Scathing and hurting – sorry for who gets burnt
And yourself limp, sapped and choking with remorse.
But when suppressed within
Its steam rises to clog the mind
And the heat would not escape
So its pressure prevails to subject body and soul
To an ugly sickly feeling.
© 2001,Tee Akindele
]]>1. Seek the Lord {1Ch 16:11}
2. Serve the Lord {Ex 23:25}
3. Trust the Lord {Ps 37:3, Pr 3:5}
4. Enjoy (take pleasure and delight yourself in) the Lord {Ps 37:4}
5. Boast in the Lord {Ps 34:2, Ps 44:8}
Don’t mind the sentimental sound of it, but I still believe that this Legendary object of motherhood certainly has in it lessons that women in westernized modern day could learn from.
THE AFRICAN WOMAN
Bearing logs from the woods or water pots on the head;
Bearing fingers in the fire or smoke in the eyes;
Working out endless laundry and cooking for her household;
Bearing all the children in her womb;
She takes pride in her every occupation
And holds no grudge against her creator
What is this great African riddle of strength?
But the priceless mothers of our land once upon a time.
Whether by work in the farms or some petty kind of trade
She feeds her home with her fingers
- Without despising its -not uncommonly- incapable head
She carries family in mind rocking them gently with prayers
- For as long as her heart beats.
She teaches her sons and trains her daughters
She pours her maiden strength into them till she’s empty
They are her Pride; she has no other accomplishments.
She is the pillar on which a house stands
And the roof under which they have shade
She builds her house on the inside -
Shaming women who haven’t such a heart.
She makes a prince of her man
– Whether he be chief or common, a thief or a drunk -
She reveres him like some god
And serves him like a slave
Yet she clothes him like a garment
And takes care of him like a mother
She bears his children like as she looks for gems to crown her beauty
Yes indeed! God has smiled on her man
Oh! Come from the great western world
Come from all around the globe
To a great spotlight in Africa-
Not a geographical spectacle or other tourist interest
But nonetheless to an evergreen of lively fruit
And a great gift we have from God:
Real women who don’t compete with men
Or bear their children in test tubes
- In the name of maintaining their beauty;
Her children and husband will always come to find her at home.
© 2005,Tee Akindele
]]>rings a familiar bell
and I’m caught wondering
how it’s a small world really.
Everyday history repeats itself
happenstance has run out of new tricks
in its magic bag
because it’s a small world by and large.
The rich and the poor may be worlds apart
but after each has played his part
time and chance happens to all -
it’s a small world after-all.
Mostly eighty years at the best
yet of all men, the richest
couldn’t buy himself an extra life
what a small world for so much strife.