NIGERIA

WEST AFRICA
WEST AFRICA CHRISTIAN MISSION
DONALD D. BAUGHMAN
33 J, I'arkison Avoiiue
Ool-iimljus, Ohio
12 Febiniary 1966
W. E. McGllvrey
Mission Services
Box 968
Joliet, Illinois 60434
Dear.Brother Bill,
Your praj/ers on our behalf have pcevailed, and
at long last the LeMay*g visa has been api:)roved by
the lligeciau go/ernraent. Because of the recent overthrow
of the government Don was unable to leave there in^
January. A letter from him reoeived yqqterday "sayg that
it will be mid-March before he is able to return to the
stages.
The Ohristirins are still aole to hold regular services
and, appar'^n':ly, the_ new regime is determined to rid the
country of tribal rivalry and of tlie regional political
parties tnat have been the cause of the recent upheaval,
Oon'jinue to pray for the Nige-ian Cliristi-nis, the
Lel ay*s, and that we will continue to receive the ftinds
necessary to carry on the proclamation of the Gospel,
In Ohristian love,
Mariarme Baughi'i'in
West Africa ahristi:in Mission
forwarding Agent;
Mrs, Oarol Soarbrough
243 Mizell
Dune ranvilie, Texas
On the field:
West Africa Chv-istian Mission
Box 46
Otta, Migeria
NOTE ON NIGERIA
.4lr, yj ?
by Mrs. Don Baughman ^ ^
Your prayers on our behalf have prevailed, and at long last the LeMay's visa has
been approved by the Nigerian government. Because of the recent overthrow of the
government Don was unable to leave there in January. A letter from him KSESxiffiit recently
says that it will be mid-March before he is able to return to the States.
The Christians are still able to hold regular services. Apparently, the nex^ regime
is determined to rid the country of tribal rivalry and of the regional political parties
that have been the cause of the recent upheaval.
Continue to pray for the Nigerian Christians, the LeMay's, and that we will continue
to receive the funds necessary to carry on the proclamation of the GospeL^^ forwarding
Agent: Mrs, Carol Scarbrough, 2L3 Mizell, Duncanville, Tex. '~J^ ZC?D^
^<Zf3S . Z?fOUr('. ^
V3ao7. _
The Christian Mission, VoL 10, No, 6, June, 1966 Page 5
WEST AFBICA CHRISTIAN MISSION
West Africa Christian Mission was formed
in 1955 When the Roy Goldsberry .and Don Baugh-
man families came to Nigeria, then a British
Colony in West Africa, to inaugurate a new
mission work. Through the various means of
personal work, preacher training school, re
gular radio broadcasting, and correspondence
school, the work has slowly grown until there
are now ten churches meeting in two distinct
regions of Nigeria, Miss Zola Brown, veteran
missionary of the Congo, and the Lester. Le-
Mays with experience in South Africa, have
assisted in the work; but since ^e Goldsberrys
left for work in Italy in 1963, tlie Don Baugh-
mans have been the only permanent mission
aries in this important work,
Nigeria, now independent, is the most
highly populated country in Africa, Its national
language is English, but in addition there are
over 200 tribal languages and dialects spoken.
Denominational Christian missions have
been here for many yea,rs, but the influence of
Islam and paganism is still strong. The Res
toration Movement has been represented by
well-financed a capella Church of Christ mis
sionaries and the West Africa Christian Mis
sion, The Gospel Broadcasting Mission has
paid for radio time for the "Search the Scrip
tures" broadcast over Western Nigeria Broad
casting System each Sunday morning since
1961. The program is produced and contacts
are followed up on the field,
LIFE IN ABUNDANCE
How does faith in Jesus Christ provide
abundant life? Let us consider some testi
monies of those whose lives have been changed
in Nigeria. For instance, Hussein Momodu,
minister of the Church of Christ at Bariga, a
suburb of Lagos:
"My name is Hussein Momodu, Perhaps
you may wonder why my name is Hussein, a
Moslem name. It is customary for us Niger
ians to take a Christian name from the Bible
when we become Christians, but I have kept
my Moslem name for I want it to be a testi
mony that a Moslem can accept Christ and
become a Christian. I was raised in the Is-
lamic faith, but when I compared Jesus Christ
with Mohammed, I found that Jesus died and
then arose from the dead while Mohammed
died and is still dead, I want to live and serve
the one who is alive, and that is why I am a
preacher of the Church of Christ,"
"My name is Lawrence Ebak. Having no
father, I came to Lagos in 1956 to earn mo
ney to support my mother and sister, I was
invited by a friend to attend Bible classes
at Mr, Baughman-s house near me. After
attending several of these classes, I was
baptized in the ocean at midnight one eve
ning. Then Mr. Baughman asked me to
come to the Bible school in Otta to train
for the ministry. It was hard for me to
make up my mind. In fact, I waited until
I could tell my mother and sister and didn't
go until 1959, At the time I found school
very easy and I thought, "This is the first
step to my new life," Now I have found my
Lord and I have God as my Father,
Before I had found it difficult to mingle
myself with friends because each time we
met they said something about their fathers,
but I could not. This made me feel unhappy
and rejected. Now in my new life, I have a
Father who will always be prepared to re
ceive me. Now I can work with others in
any town or society, feeling that we are all
the same. So I was able to take up the mini
stry gladly, not mihding what others think of
me. My life during these few years has been
a great success in comparison with those who
do not know God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
I think my experience would be a great chal
lenge to them. Even if we have earthly
fathers or not, we can cleave to God and live
a happier life than we could have if we did
not know God at all,"
GOALS
As our name implies, we are not satis
fied to limit our work to Nigeria, There are
already responses to our radio broadcasts
from several neighboring countries, and
there are possibilities of additional broad
casts.
During 1966, we are seeking to recruit
missionary personnel to take advantage of
the quota we now have of 19 missionaries in
Nigeria and Ghana, and to prepare to open
new fields as the Lord leads.
We are in full cooperation with pioneer
mission work being opened in Ghana by Bro.
Edgar Nichols.
We have hopes of penetrating not only
(continued on next page)
Page 6 The Christian Mission, Vol. 10, No. 6, June, 1966
(continued from previous page)
the five English-speaking countries of West
Africa, but would like to reach the ten French-
speaking countries and the Portuguese and
Spanish enclaves.
NEEDS
Our greatest need is for additional mis
sionary personnel to become the vanguard of
undenominational Christianity in West Africa.
We need to expand our radio program and
put it on more powerful stations that will reach
out further.
We need French-speaking missionaries who
can produce a French version of "Search the
Scriptures."
We need funds to pay for production and
follow up costs.
We can use Christian literature. We re
ceive many requests for Bibles, tracts and
Sunday school papers. The economy of these
countries is such that churches are seldom
able to afford such supplies, unless they can
receive used materials from those more for
tunate^
Most of all, we need your interested and
cpnceined prayer. Africa is a sleeping giant,
full of potential for either good or evil. Who
will arouse this sleeping giant to action? Will
he be awakened by hjonns of godly praise that
will lift his people to new heights of Christian
service for the good of all men? Or will he
be rudely shocked into awareness by the
clanking chains of a new exploitation, that
of communist-trained overlords who would
swiftly bleed away all the new independence
and enslave him once more? The choice is
not wholly Africa's. It may be your choice,
or your neglect. Interested and concerned
prayer by many people may become the seed
bed for God's harvest.
Lester L. LeMay
(con the field until April, 1967)
P.O. Box 46
Otta, Nigeria
Donald D. Baughman
(on furlough until April, 1967)
38 E. Markison Ave.
Columbua, Ohio 43207
Forwarding Agent:
Ernest DeArmy
634 Skyway Drive
Independence, Kentucky 1051