Founder of Missions Enabler, Pastor Omoniyi Osomo has called on the Church to begin to give orientation to young people on the need to embrace missions as only 10 per cent of the 15000 Nigerian missionaries are young people.
He made the plea at the Global Mandate Conference taking place at the Agape Generation International Church, Maryland, Lagos.
The conference which began on Thursday, February 20, attracted about 150 missionaries from across Nigeria and some African countries.
Young people and missions
Osomo said from research many young people are not interested in missions because they have not been told what it entails. ‘The 10 per cent of Nigerians involved in missions are less than 30 years old.’ He said.
Giving a personal example, Osomo said he was in the church system for years but did not know about missions because nobody told him about it.
He said his idea of missions was to work towards expansion of his denomination. ‘it was when we began to encounter Muslims while preaching that we discovered that we needed to find out how to reach the unreached That led us to discover Capro and we had sufficient education on missions.’
Many pastors uniformed
While noting that many pastors don’t have an idea about missions, he said, ‘The challenge is that nobody is communicating missions to the coming generation.
“You cannot expect them to do what they have not been told. We are not communicating the urgency of the great commission. Unfortunately, those who are supposed to pass on the information know little about missions.’
Recruiting youth
On how to go about bringing young people on board, he said ‘the first place to start is to carry them along and involve them in missions meetings.
“We should also understand that every generation is peculiar. ‘Though the generations are different the gospel is the same. So each generation has a responsibility to pass on the message to the next.
‘The Generation Z according to him is peculiar because they are exposed to too many distractions. They are exposed to too much information, unlike the generation before them. So they needed to be handled with that understanding.’
He noted that a lot of young people are potential labour force for the work of missions. But they have to be taught.’ He said adding, ‘We can’t start talking to them when they are in the university. That will be too late. I believe missions” awareness must be part of our Sunday school manual. People have to be taught on the importance of missions from when they are young.:
Osomo said many young people are professionals in different fields and their professions can be brought to bear on the missions fields.
There are places a missionary who is not a skilled person cannot enter but a missionary with a skill or a profession can have access because of the service they render. We can use the expertise of the young people to advance God’s kingdom.’
Over the years, Osomo said he has used technology to harness a lot of young talents for missions. We meet them regularly online and they have been quite useful for missions
.
He urged the missionaries to take advantage of technology for the spread of the good news and for discipleship lessons.
Peculiar people
’At a later session with the missionaries, the convener, Rev. Toyin Kehinde urged the missionaries not to look down on themselves adding that they should not go about with a self-defeatist attitude.
‘It is not the material things that you have that define you. It is God in you that makes you peculiar. You are special before God. He calls you a royal priesthood. A holy nation. You are a peculiar person. So never look down on yourself and don’t go about feeling less than some of your friends who are in other areas of life. You are carrying out a noble assignment before God.’
He stressed that they should take time to look good and presentable adding that, ‘there are places you may not be able to enter if you don’t look presentable. And you don’t have to use expensive things. It’s not expensive to look good.’
Rev Kehinde who has been hosting the Global Mandate Conference for over 10 years also educated the missionaries on the need to be accountable to their sponsors and refrain from being parasites on people who chose to support them.
‘Give an account of what they give you and also report your activities on the missions field to those who support your work so they know how you are doing.. Learn to build trust in people. and let them also build trust in you. That is how you can sustain sponsorship. It is not when you need support you reach out to them. You should also show that you care. And learn to say thank you and appreciate the support given to you.’