The Years Ahead

Chapter 15 of  Journey to the Dark Nations

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21)

And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. 39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. (Mark 1:38-39)


Certainly, it is impossible at this point to write the last chapter of my life. Like Apostle Paul indicated in Philippians 1:21, my resolve is to live out the rest of my life for the one who paid the supreme price for my salvation with the consciousness that when death come knocking, I will be remembered for my input in taking the light of the gospel to the darkest part of the earth.

Looking Back
In October 1982 when we came into the scene of world evangelization as a student, little did I know there is world of darkness out there that needed attention. The presence of God was very conspicuous in our campus fellowship and by extension, the entire campus such that those who were not born again were out of place. In 1984, it was like Jesus spoke to His disciples in John 4:3 to lift up their eyes and look on the fields. I had the reality of the field beyond the campus when God led me to work among the Aiona people and from that point, my view of the field continued to enlarge by the day.

In 1997, the Global Consultation for World Evangelization (GCOWE '97) was mind blowing. Research reports made available at the event especially the one by Joshua Project on the status of world evangelization and the remaining unfinished task were very revealing. The Nigeria Taskforce on the unreached people powered by the defunct AD2000 and Beyond Movement were not left out.

One of the Project they embarked upon was a survey of 300 people groups in Northern Nigeria. The result was staggering. It was established that 178 of the 300 groups were confirmed to be unreached people. Out of the 178 Unreached people are 100% Unreached, 76 are African Traditional Religion adherents, 172 are Muslims and 70 of them are classified as top priority and mission agencies/Churches are advised and encouraged to consider for urgent attention.
Some of the people groups includes the:

• Achipawa in Sakaba local government area of Kebbi State and Marige local government area of Niger State where we have only 25 converts in 3 villages.
• Baruba in Baruten local government area of Kwara State with no single Christian.
• Buduma on the shores of Lake Chad with no known Christian.
• Bolewa in Fika and Nangere local government areas of Yobe State with no known Christian.
• Laru in Borgu local government area with no known Christian.
• Shangawas also known as the Kyengewa, descendants of Kishera who left Badr near Meda to escape Islam. They are found in Dendi, Bagudo and Yauri local government areas of Kebbi State. The only Christian convert is reported to have gone back to Islam. They are 100% Muslim now.
• Bashar in Wase and Kenan local government areas of Plateau State, with no known Christian.
• Bisa in Borgu local government with only two Christians.

The Great Commission has not changed and I felt I don't need extra call to be challenged to contribute my quota in enthroning the Lordship of Jesus in some of these places. It is against this background I concentrated my life in pursuing this course. With the birth of Grace Foundation Inland Missions in 1989 we reinforce our labor in places where ordinarily they may never be able to access the gospel.

After many years of labor as an individual and 25years of Grace Foundations labor in the dark places, we have not only succeeded in our target but have mobilized many Churches and individuals to engage scores of unreached people but going by current statistics, the volume of the unfinished task is even more staggering.

It is not because our labor is not yielding positive result but the more we lift up our eyes, the more we discover more unreached people that were not captured in earlier missions research reports and also very sadly some other lands are lost to the enemy.

Current  Sobering State of World Evangelisation
Currently, the total population probably is 7.178billion. Out of these number 2,997,692 globally  are yet to be followers of Christ. The total number of people groups globally is said to be 16,800. Unreached/least reached people is 7,300. Out of the 7,300 30% have had no exposure to God's word. India leads with 2365, China follows with 455, Pakistan with 453, Bangladesh 345 and Nepal 332.

It is no longer news that many nations that were captured by the early Church have slipped into darkness. Turkey is a good case study. It is located in the present day Europe and partly in Asia. Christianity existed there for 1023 years. Some people said Mary the mother of Jesus actually taken to Turkey by Apostle John. The Christians were first nicknamed so at Antioch located in today Turkey. One of the largest church in history, The Hagia Sophia was located in Turkey. Sadly, Turkey is now 96% Muslims and 0.02% Christians.

North Africa is an eye sore. That was the region of the world that hosted Jesus when Herod attempted to kill Him. It had the best of seminaries and theologians at a time. The term Trinity was coined from this region. Sadly, the same region is today the heart of Islam.

The worst of all is the Western world. This part of the world had contributed immensely to the evangelisation of the world. Great men and women like William Carey, Mary Slessor, John Knox, John Wesley, Robert Moffat, David Livingstone,  and many others too numerous to mention will be wondering what went wrong when they exited the scene for eternity. An author recently analysed the region and explained that birth rate of 2.11 is required to perpetuate any culture and the general Average for the region is 1.9 with the following breakdown: European Union is now 1.38, Canada is 1.6 and USA is 2.11 while the Muslims that migrated to the same region is 8.1. According to the author's calculation, if nothing is done to alter it, in the next 35 years, France will be Islamic Republic. By 2050, Germany will become Islamic Republic and in 25 years time, USA will have 50million Muslims.

Gordon-Conwell's Center for the Study of Global Christianity's Survey
A recent survey  by Gordon-Conwell's Center for the Study of Global Christianity's titled Christianity in its Global Context, 1970-2020  came up with very staggering revelation.  According to the survey, one out of five non-Christians in North America doesn't know any Christians. Missiologist Todd M. Johnson and his team found that 20 percent of non-Christians in North America really do not "personally know" any Christians. That's 13,447,000 people—about the population of metropolitan Los Angeles or Istanbul—most of them in the United States.

And that number includes atheists and agnostics, many of whom are former Christians themselves and more likely to have close Christian contacts. Without that group, 60 percent of the non-Christian population has no relationships with Christians.

Worldwide, the numbers are much worse: more than 8 in 10 non-Christians do not personally know a Christian. But Christians only make up a third of the world's population. The United States, meanwhile, ranks in the top 10 Christian countries, with 80 percent of the population identifying as Christians.

The biggest factor in explaining why so many North American non-Christians don't know Christians is immigration, Johnson said. The U.S. attracts more Buddhist, atheist, and agnostic immigrants than any other country in the world. It ranks second for Hindu and Jewish immigrants, and seventh for Muslim immigrants.

But immigrants are also keeping the percentage of those who don't know a Christian from going higher. That's because the U.S. also attracts more Christian immigrants than any other country. And the region that sends the most immigrants to the U.S. is (by far) Latin America, where 90 percent of non-Christians know Christians. (In the CSGC study, Mexico was categorized as Latin America, not North America. As per U.N. categorization, North American countries included Greenland, Bermuda, Saint Pierre & Miquelon, Canada, and the U.S.)

Migrants move into enclaves and don't venture out. But even Christians who live close to Chinatowns and Little Italys don't often venture in, Johnson said.

Separation between religious groups isn't limited to the United States and Canada. But North America has a unique opportunity to connect across religious lines, he said."The United States is a very strategic place for people to interact," he said. "It's ironic in a place with all the freedoms to interact that people don't do it. In light of the deficit of contact, what better thing could happen than to have a bunch of people move into your neighborhood and build houses of worship?”The Journey Ahead
Against this background, I have laboured alongside with my team at Grace Foundation and the Network of Mission Leaders to do my best in the past years and by the grace of God spend the rest of my life to do far much more than I have ever done if Jesus tarries and as the Lord enables me.  My primary focus is to change paradigm and raise at least:

• 50 market place missionaries for closed nations in the next 10 years. I have taken the last 10 years to build network relationship in North Africa and across the Arabian Peninsular and a lot of prayers have gone into it.
• Also, 50 more missionaries will be recruited for the local work in Nigeria.
• To accomplish these, intensive mission mobilisation will be carried out using various platform across different nations of the world especially countries with enormous human resources and very low mission awareness.  Some of the platforms include mission conferences, publication of magazines, books, etc. To sustain this, our GFIM team and I plan to start off mobilisation offices in at least 10 nations across the world that will facilitate the recruitment of the marketplace missionaries as well as raise logistic workforce, prayers and financial squadrons. The prayer squads will in addition to facilitating the work of the missionaries focus on praying for restoration, revival and the nations.
• Thirdly, our training arm will move to her permanent site at Lamingo with the target of training 300 regular full-time residential missionaries, 200 mission leaders at our Advanced Mission Leaders Institute(AMLI), 400 indigenous leaders through our Indigenous Leadership Course(ILC).
• We also plan to enlarge our Mercy Ministries to increase the number of orphans and vulnerable kids from unreached people background we are taking care of  at our Home of Grace(HOG) to a minimum of 75 and train 15 of the ones present now to degree level and sound in the things of God to the point of making significant input in ministry between now and the next ten years and consolidate the ones in other nations.
• We may not be able to accomplish this huge goal in isolation. We will therefore continue to provide leadership to the Network of African Mission Leaders (AMLI), mentor younger missionaries with other mission agencies and network with many other individuals, agencies and church organisations nationally and internationally.
• As the Lord may permit, the next generation should have been made ready to take over the leadership of the ministry in the next 10years if Jesus tarries.

Partnership
God used the input of friends and partners to make the journey to the dark nations possible. It would have been absolutely impossible to get to the height we have attained without their active role of providing the needed moral, prayer and financial support. Groups like Gospel Bankers Inc(GB)., Missions Supporters League(MSL), defunct Rescue Fellowship of Nigeria(RFN), Missions Challenge Network(MCN), Missions Exposures and Training(MET), World Mission Resources, Christ Anointed Hands Fellowship, Our Daily Need Ministries(ODNM), National Hospital Chapel, Chapel of Good News, Women and Children Departments of Oritamefa and the Express Road Baptist Church, ATBU Chapel of Victory, Kingdom Outreach Ministries International, Calvary Bible Church, Christ Redemption Mission, etc. had partnered with us in providing support for some of our missionaries  and funded some of our projects on the mission fields at one point or the other. Many individuals too numerous to mention have been used by God to put smiles on our faces. We are eternally grateful to all of them. God will certainly reward you for your labour behind the scene.

The journey ahead is no doubt certainly capital intensive. It will gulp so much in terms of prayers and finance. A lot of this work especially the ones in closed nations will be done under cover because of the security implications. Little  and sometimes absolutely no publicity will be given electronically or otherwise and as such may not attract support. We will be depending on God and the confidence you have for us the past 25years for future funding. We pray earnestly that God will lift you financially so you will be able to give sacrificially. We also pray for the Spirit of supplication to come over you so you can consistently support us on your kneel. We trust the Lord to raise those that will independently start prayer squads/chapters across nations that will labour in prayers to bring the ministry vision to reality.

Numbering My Days and The Finishing Line
It was the Psalmist who prayed: So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12). If Jesus tarries to come, we will all certainly die to exit this world. This is one basic truth we sometimes shy away from.  Jesus was in tune with this reality when He said in John 9:4: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 'The night' is when our life on earth is ended. It also implies when doors of opportunities are closed and when for reasons of age or ill health one may not be able to contribute significantly to world evangelisation any more. 'The night' is not static. It moves and Jesus said with all certainty that it is on the way. In His words: " the night cometh".

In the past few years, I have seen many things happen that substantiated Jesus' statement.  First was my health. I have had a running battle with diabetic such that it has drained a lot of the needed strength for the work. Fasting, a very integral part of the life of every successful minister had become very irregular as a result because of the implication on my health. I am thankful to God for modern technology and medicine that has helped me to manage this challenge for many years. I am also thankful to Him for provision of healing in His words but the truth still remains that I can no longer cope with stress as much as I did in my early days in ministry. It serves as warning that whatever is left for me to do, I must get them done now before it is too late. I therefore live my life with every sense of urgency.

Also, with the little strength left, I noticed that many part of the world I could easily access in the past, the doors of the opportunities are shutting up. The North East of Nigeria with the continuous menace of the Jihadists, Boko Haram is one of such. Missionaries and other Christian leaders are being killed and threatened. We recently had reasons to withdraw some of our missionaries from this part of the country for safety. This is a place where in the past we travelled day and night in the past. The story is different now.

At Jordan, we received report of massive conversions of Syrian refugees and had prayed, planned and raised fund to deploy a missionary to join the team on ground to disciple the converts. Just at the last minute, we have to suspend the trip indefinitely because of increase in volatility in the country,  to access it, we were to be assigned Tourist Police which is detrimental to our work mainly done under cover. Again, the night seems to have come in some ways for that part of the world. Another case study is that of Mauritania, an Islamic State requiring urgent gospel attention. It was part of West Africa and was easily accessible by citizens of Economic Community of West Africa State(ECOWAS). They have pulled out and joined the Arab League making it absolutely difficult to access now.

At Jordan, we received report of massive conversions of Syrian refugees and had prayed, planned and raised fund to deploy a missionary to join the team on ground to disciple the converts. Just at the last minute, we have to suspend the trip indefinitely because of increase in volatility in the country,  to access it, we were to be assigned Tourist Police which is detrimental to our work mainly done under cover. Again, the night seems to have come in some ways for that part of the world. Another case study is that of Mauritania, an Islamic State requiring urgent gospel attention. It was part of West Africa and was easily accessible by citizens of Economic Community of West Africa State(ECOWAS). They have pulled out and joined the Arab League making it absolutely difficult to access now.

There are however many needy nations still open and beckoning for help. May the Lord help us to engage them before they draw the curtain. Like Jesus said in John 4:34-35 which is my resolve and prayer : "My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work".  Let us join hands together to get the job done now before it is too late. When you are dead, opportunities for you to make input will be over. There will be no mission work in heaven.

Powers Encountered on Life’s Journey

 For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9)

Life's journey has not been without opposition as the Devil is not excited with the input my family and I make on a daily basis in enthroning the lordship of Jesus in the dark nations of the world and he does not hide it. On a regular basis, the Devil expresses his fury by attacking my family and I. He comes to kill, to steal and to destroy as documented in John 10:10. Once, a demon possessed girl confessed that she was delegated to kill me but since she could not, she targeted my wife but failed. Not giving up, she focused on my kids and succeeded in throwing my eldest son who was three years old at the time into a very deep well and covered him up in the well. According to her, their plan was for the boy to die in the well all in a bid to discourage us from continuing with our mission pursuits.

Unknown to Her, the God who called us assured us that He has given unto us power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt us. From under the well the angel of God held my little boy's head above the water and amplified his voice and my wife who was far away in the room heard his cry and traced it. It was then she discovered that he was crying from inside the well. She got confused and raised alarm. A man passing by whom I believe was God's angel asked why she was shouting and on hearing that my son was inside the well, he brought him out. 

Miraculously, Nehemiah was not injured neither did he sink. Nevertheless, he was rushed to the nearest pharmacy for checkup to be sure there was no internal injury. The Nurse and Pharmacist, on duty did not believe our story. As far as they were concerned, it was impossible for a boy of three to be thrown inside the well and not die either because of the water in the well nor suffocate because the well was covered nor sustain injury. It ordinarily would have been impossible to hear his cry from inside the well.  We were, and are persuaded that it was divine intervention as only God can do what seems impossible to man. When He commissioned us in Matthew 28:20, He also assured us: "...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age". 

To the glory of God, Nehemiah is in his final year in the University and he will live to fulfill his destiny.

It however looks like there may be no final victory until our work on earth is over and we transit to heaven.  This is because, the Devil never gives up. Even for Jesus, the Devil never gave up on Him.   In Luke 4:13, the Bible confirms this: "...And when the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed from him for a season." It is therefore not surprising that the Devil has ceased to give up on me. The more the attack the more the victory.

Lucy's Cancer Encounter
Another assault from the Devil that cannot be easily forgotten was my wife's close shave with death. The Devil knocked her down with cancer, first on one of her breast. The Doctor sent for me and advised me strongly to consent to her surgery which implied the removal of the breast. The logic according to the Doctor was that it will prevent the cancer cell from spreading. That was not to be, as Few months later, despite the surgery the cancer had extended to the second breast and the armpit. 

At this point, one can sense the helplessness from the way the Doctor sounded. He referred us to another hospital for further test and then to the United Kingdom for further examination. The Doctor at the other Hospital was callous and crude at the same time going by the way he spoke to us. To him, we generated the cancer and were careless in seeking for medical help in time. We had no resources to travel abroad for further treatment but were convinced that the Helper of the helpless will see us through. 

We resolved to pray, and our friends across the nations were  committed to praying for us. A particular note was the involvement of a senior colleague, Pastor Joseph Egwuda who was at the time the Presiding Elder of Chapel of Goodnews, Kaduna, Nigeria. He assembled Pastors and other church leaders in the city to pray for us. Many others were doing same both at their family, congregation and individual level. 

The Lord was not silent either. At a point, I heard him clearly say to us what He said to Simon in Luke 22:31-32: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32”But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers”.  If Jesus prayed for us so that our faith will not fail and He is the same person to answer the prayer, it then means that our faith will not fail. It is like an examiner writing the answers to the questions. It is absolutely impossible to fail the same exam. Secondly, it was obvious that God allowed the cancer assault for a post-experience ministry.

With His assuring words, we persevered in prayers until God opened our eyes to basic fruits and vegetables that had nutrients which could to tackle cancer cells. We had personal encounters with cancer survivals like Gloria Davies. We further took time to study books written by the founder of Hallelujah Diet and listen to her experiences on video. That further built up our faith. Lucy was optimistic that God would heal her as she constantly confessed that cancer was inclusive in the sickness Jesus' stripes took care of.  A family friend got several faith-building books for her and even amidst the pain, she managed to read some of the books.

One night she resolved not to eat cooked food for the next two months until God healed her. She then concentrated on eating fruits and vegetables which she juiced and others she blended. God breathed on these and trashed all the cancer cells in her body and regained her health. Another senior colleague of mine, Rev. Gerald Golbeck and his wife, Patricia then invited us to South Africa to one of the best Oncology Centre for a test which they paid for. The Centre conducted several tests and came to the conclusion that there was no cancer cell in her body any more.  Since then, she has visited the Centre from time to time for check-up and they have consistently congratulated her for staying cancer free.

One of the things the Lord spoke to us when she was really sick was that after her healing, she will be instrumental to healing others. We have seen that happen over and over. One of the cancer patients we saw God deliver from death was a lady by name Dorothy, a relation of her listened to my wife testify of her healing in Kaduna and called her to get in touch with my wife. She did and as usual, my wife told her what to eat and drink and what not to eat. She said she wanted to come over to Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria where we lived because most of the fruit and vegetable were not common where she lived at Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. We said it was alright if she had a relation to stay with but she had no one and pleaded to stay in our family house which we agreed with the assumption that she was going to be accompanied by a member of her family. One night, we saw her walk in alone. Looking at her was quite scary. Her case was cancer of the bone and she had already commenced radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Her eyeballs were deep down in her sockets and all her hair was gone because of the negative impact of the therapies. It was as if she was going to die the following week. Apparently, having given up on her must be the likely reason why no family member accompanied her to Jos.

We prayed and got the fruits and vegetables for her as she was determined and believed that God could heal her. God stepped in and in one month, her strength was restored. Her hair grew, her eyeballs fit in the socket and gradually she became fully healed. She was amazed herself at the speed and one evening went out to look for the King of the Igbos in Jos to come register her deepest appreciation on behalf of her family. She returned back to her family strong and healthy and we return all the glory to God for her healing.

We have scores of different manner of cancer patients from across the world that God has healed through counseling, direct supervision, phone calls, etc. Space and time will not permit us to give vivid testimonies here. We also have many who took time to read through Lucy's book: “How God Healed Me of Cancer and His Remedies for Terminal Diseases” and put into practice what they read and testimonies of God's healing abounds. God turned the table against the Devil as what he planned to use to bring down the ministry, God used and He is still using it to promote the work He has committed into our hands. People from different faith cutting across various classes in the society including Muslims have had reasons to visit us because of cancer related cases and they have all provided opportunity for us to show them the love of Christ. No consultancy fee is paid. Freely we receive and freely we give. " ...And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."(Luke 22:32b)

Thunder, Armed Robbery, Attack and Accident, Etc.
The catalogue of power encounter is endless. In the words of Apostle Paul: "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries".(1 Cor 16:9). I will like to share some more of the fury of the Devil directed at my family and I and how God fought our battles and handed over victory to us.

Early in ministry, my wife and I traveled to some of our mission fields in the North Central states of Nigeria. While we were away, thieves burgled our house and made away with many valuables from the house. It was natural to ignore it and continue as if nothing happened but a young girl under the influence of demons confessed that she arranged for the theft. According to her, she has being delegated to do anything possible to discourage us to discontinue our mission work. It was good to know that the Devil was not comfortable with our labour to advance God's kingdom. We prayed and instead of being discouraged, the Lord strengthened our hearts. We did not recover the items stolen but many persons brought gifts to us. Also, as a result of the theft, God paved way for us to buy a good car, Datsun Laurrel which added speed to our work. Again, the Devil was put to shame.

One evening we were driving from Ankpa, Kogi State of Nigeria after a very successful Mission Conference which brought together church leaders from different denominations to review the remaining task of reaching the Igala nation. The result of the conference was mind-blowing. We had many positive responses and action steps outlined to be taken to complete the task. The Devil again was very furious at such level of networking to unseat him and enthrone the Lordship of Jesus and on our way back we ran into the hands of some armed robbers. We prayed and God answered us and none of us was hurt.

Another night, we concluded a great meeting at the famous Baptist Seminary at Ogbomosho in the South West region of Nigeria. The responses were heartwarming. Many of the students training to go and serve as Pastors volunteered to go into the dark nations of the world where Jesus was not known and this made me glad as I could imagine the vast number of nations the volunteers of this four day meeting will cover. While thanking God, I took off that night via Ibadan to Lagos from where I was scheduled to take a flight to the United Arab Emirates. The Devil again was deeply furious. On our way between Ibadan to Lagos, there were many cows covering the road. The Driver did not seem to see them, he accelerated the vehicle while the passengers screamed "cow! cow!! cow!!!". The more they screamed the more he accelerated until he crashed into the cows. Many passengers were badly wounded. I knew the Devil hard targeted me but God rescued me unhurt. I trekked few kilometers that night to the nearest point where we got a taxi and still made my journey to United Arab Emirate.

Thunder Blast ~ Reaction from DRC
Few years ago, I was invited to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) to speak at the Missions Fest, a mission conference organised by the local churches in the city. One early morning after the conference, my friend and I drove to the hospital where we took time to pray for the sick and casted out demons from people that were possessed. At the same moment, thunder lightening struck in my house faraway in Jos, Nigeria heading straight to my wife with the children standing by her side ready to go to school. My wife shouted Jesus and immediately the thunder diverted into the electric cable and destroyed the thunder resistor, burnt the cables, meter and electronics connected to it.  We are thankful to God that they were not hurt. God remains the unbeatable champion.

10 Things I Will do Differently in Managing Relationship as a Leader ~ Andrew Abah

The Bible has been very insightful in my journey leadership. I sometimes wish I knew all I know now when I began to lead as a student in 1983 and later as a mission leader in 1989. It would have saved me a lot of setback and apparently, the work God committed into my hands as a leader in the missions enterprise would have flourished more than it did. It is however not too late as I am daily adjusting in a number of ways and have liberty of sharing my experiences knowing that upcoming leaders can take advantage of my failures and never make same mistakes. Can we read together Romans 12:9-21 and use it as context for managing relationship in Leadership:

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”  21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

There can be no leadership without followership as the leader cannot do it alone. He needs the team to work with. The people make up the team and they are indispensable in accomplishing the goal. Unfortunately, many leaders may fail not because they are not energetic, brilliant and visionary but because they don’t know how to cultivate and sustain relationship. The above passage will be very helpful for leaders to use in cultivating wholesome relationship as it prescribes the character every leader needs to succeed. We will outline ten of the precepts here:

1.     Respect: Every leader wants to be respected. It is important to stress here that the leader must also respect everyone including even those that oppose them. Leaders must learn to esteem others better than themselves. They must recognize the worth and the value of the other person. No matter how little, everyone has intrinsic value because they are made in the image of God. This includes the most incapable, degraded and handicapped alike. The leader must recognize that value. When you honor the person, you enrich yourself because you surround yourself with people of worth.

The team members should be recognized also because their performance and achievement. They should be commended and appreciated publicly and privately. This can be expressed through the tone of voice, the look of the eyes and other non-verbal means. Putting an arm an arm around the shoulder pr giving them a worm hearted huge can go a long way. Being present with them on their important occasion will also mean so much to them.

2.     Understand your team members: We must take time to know those that work with us. Many times, the leader wants to be understood instead of understanding others. Leaders must deal with the selfish attitude. You cannot manage people you don’t know and cannot develop relationship when you don’t know them. To know a person will require you drawing closer to the person. This may take some time but the leader must work on it consciously. It will mean that you don’t restrict your relationship to formal setting so that people can relax and socialize. Leadership. Leaders can visit their team members even at homes. Be friendly with them. Share food and fellowship. Participate in life events like marriage, funeral, naming ceremony, etc. Laugh and weep together. Friendship is essential in understanding your members.

3.     Express Love and kindness as much as possible. No one can truly develop a true relationship without love.  In times of sickness, visit them. Offer some help in times of financial stress. Such help will improve on the bonding. This bonding will enhance the relationship. Sometimes, team members can go through challenges like accident, death, heavy burdens, etc. These challenges present opportunities for leaders to express their love.

4.     Avoid favoritism: The need to be fair to everyone cannot be overemphasized. When favor one person more than the other openly, it will be detrimental to the work generate ill-will. The Leader must therefore watch out for various possible sources which could generate favoritism and avoid it. They are: (a)   Tribe (b)  Clan (c)   Education (d)  Class (e)   Personality and personal interest

5.     Be Gracious: It is normal for team members to sometime fall short of expectation. Harmonious relationship will require that we forgive and move forward. Sometimes, not meeting, up to time schedule schedule can be very painful but let us be flexible and gracious. A leader must recognize the wrinkles in the members and accept them. We are different in personalities with strength and weaknesses which attracts and repels. No matter how you try some cannot be reformed.

6.     Capacity building: The leader must show personal interest in team members to help them grow and develop to reach their God-giving potentials. Long or short term training may be helpful. This can be in the workplace or somewhere else. Such training enhances productivity as well as encourages the individual.

7.     Vision: The leader must not assume that the team members already understand the vision. Take time share your vision in such a way that everyone will be on the same page. The need to refresh people’s mind on this cannot be overemphasized because Continuous refreshment will generate more support by the team members because they are the foot soldiers that will implement the vision.

8.     Avoid embarrassing your team members. Correction is inevitable as you work together. How it is carried out determines the result it generates. If you correct in private it will be more productive than when you correct in front of others. For many, if you correct them in the presence of others they consider it as embarrassment. When a controversial issue emerge in a meeting, it is best to suspend the agenda. Check on the person in concern privately to sort out the issue. The misunderstanding will only be deepened if you press on with the matter in a group.

9.     Build trust: For any meaningful success to be achieved the leader must cultivate a relationship of trust. This will require that both the leader and the team members must trust one another. The leader in particular must work hard to demonstrate that he is trust worthy. Character and competency are very crucial here. Character consists of honesty, truthfulness, purity and holiness. The leader must be beyond reproach in all this areas. If the team member must trust their leader, he must be transparent. The leader must be opened, self discipline is absolutely essential in any leadership. Nobody will trust you if they don’t know you and they cannot know you unless you reveal yourself.

10. Work with the team:  When the team leader assign work, he must also join in working or else he/she will be giving a wrong signal that he/she is not sharing in the burden. Action speaks louder than voice. A wise leader must himself serve. He/she must come down to the level of everybody.