Evang. Lekan Amusan has been a missionary for about 30 years now and has been involved in church planting in Nigeria and some West African countries. He worships in Christ Image Assembly whose overseer is Pastor Bode Orekoya
Amusan is the coordinator of a para-Church group known as Evangelists to the Nation; a body he pioneered to give relevance to evangelists in the body of Christ and make them fulfil their ministry.
In this interview with Church Times, he shares his experience as coordinator of the group and the impact the impact the group has made so far in the Church
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You started Evangelist to the Nations. What informed the group?
The idea of the group occurred to me when I noticed that the ministry of the evangelist is dying in the Body of Christ in Africa despite the fact that it is one of the five-fold ministry.
Initially I thought it should just be club where we can come together to encourage ourselves. But with time, the Lord made me realise it should be more than a club but a movement where the interest of the evangelists can be best served.
So, in 2023 I spoke with some leaders in the church and itemised reasons why we need this body. I made them realise that the evangelists should be given their rightful place in the Church, so that they can do their work effectively and also be fulfilled in ministry.
We discovered that many evangelists move from one church to another because they are not getting support or perhaps, they are not given the opportunity to live out their calling. Some have become prayer contractors patronising wealthy people and giving false hope to people all over the place because they got frustrated along the line. Some turn themselves to deliverance ministers overnight and are okay with praying for people inside the church.
But then, the Bible says we should do the work of an evangelist. Many people who have been called to do the work of an evangelist are finding it difficult to find their feet in the church system.
Many evangelists and their families are struggling. This is unlike what obtains in the West where people confidently do what God has called them to do and they get support. We know of Oral Roberts, TL Osborn, Reinhard Bonnke, Billy Graham and a host of others in the West. They stayed in their ministry and were able to live through it when they were alive because they got all the support they needed. But that is not the case in Africa.
But we also have the example of Uma Ukpai in Nigeria and a couple of others who are doing well as evangelists.
Yes. But you can only talk of Uma Ukpai in Nigeria who has successfully stayed through to his ministry. Many others who tried to live out their call as evangelists are nowhere to be found today. Some tried for some years but ended up becoming pastors because of the need to survive. You hardly see a Nigerian evangelist who has not been tempted to start a church. While we are not against evangelists starting a church, the question that should agitate our minds is do they remain evangelists after starting a church? The evangelist is at liberty to start a church. That is what we do. We plant churches. But we don’t now get tied to the church. That is where the challenge is.
The point I am making is that only a few get the kind of support people like Uma Ukpai has gotten over the years.
In concrete terms what model are you recommending for Evangelists?
The model is simple. Stay with your local church but go out and do the work of evangelist. The evangelist should not be allowed to get depressed to the point of losing focus on his call. Uma Ukpai for example belongs to the Assemblies of God Church which is what we encourage in our group. We believe that every evangelist must belong to a church. They don’t have to start their church if God has not called them to do so. And if they start their church, that church should be managed by a pastor while they do the work of evangelists.
Again, we think it is important that every evangelist belongs to a church for identity purposes. For those who are heads of churches and also evangelists, we ask them to get recommendations from their fathers in the faith if they want to be part of Evangelists to the Nation. Our vision is to be a foremost global movement for evangelists and a platform where evangelists can find expression.
But don’t you think what you are doing is not novel?
Well, we can’t deny that what we are doing is not new so to speak. But the cutting edge for us is that beyond giving evangelists platform to find expression, we engage in continuous enlightenment to encourage people who have been called to the office of the evangelist to remain in their calling no matter the temptation to do otherwise. We also collaborate with movements who share some of our burdens and concern. We identify with them when we see them as partners.
Why do you think an evangelist must be part of your group, Evangelists to the Nations?
As I said earlier, our goal is to encourage those who join us to concentrate on their calling. We encourage them to go after souls. We also let them know they have to be known in their local church. We try to provide platforms for them if they don’t have one. We connect them to the field where evangelists are needed. We discover that what the evangelist is looking for, which many people don’t know is fulfilment. Once they are fulfilled, they are okay.
Don’t you think they are also looking for survival?
Well in some sense particularly for those who don’t have a full grasp of what God is calling them into. Some move from one place to the other because they don’t have financial fulfilment in their local church. But those who understand their call as evangelists are simply looking for fulfilment. Unfortunately, some pastors feel threatened by the gift of the evangelists in the church. That is why evangelists serving in some churches are treated anyhow. Some are sent to remote areas where they will not be seen just to keep them away from the limelight
But does it matter as long as there are people in those remote areas? I think the issue should be about souls. What do you think?
Yes. It’s about souls. We are not saying they can’t go there. I think it is the motive of sending them to a remote place that should be interrogated. If I am asked to go to the village based on the fact that somebody does not like my face, that is not good enough. But even at that, we make the evangelists know that they can shine wherever they are asked to go. The real issue is that the evangelist is a church planter and should not be tied to a church in the name of trying to multiply branches. Many evangelists have become overnight pastors because of Church expansion.
But are you worried about evangelists who have turned themselves into beggars in public places?
We have zero tolerance for that. We see them preach in the bus and afterwards raise money. We tell those who join Evangelists to the Nations that they can’t do that in our organisation. If you listen to the gospel they preach, you find out that they preach what will make people give them money after their ministration. That is wrong. That is not evangelism. That is hustling
Have you had cause to challenge some of these evangelists?
Yes. I have done that several times. But some tell you that is what God has asked them to do. In that case there is nothing you can do. The challenge is that since they don’t belong to our circle, we can’t stop them. We can only tell them to preach Christ and also tell some other evangelist who preach condemnation message to preach the gospel and stop being unduly meddlesome
What if people give an evangelist unsolicited money after preaching in the bus, can the evangelist collect?
Yes, as long as the evangelist did not ask for it. I think there are people in the bus or any other public places who are Christians who feel compelled to support the evangelist. That is okay. But the evangelist must not raise funds in the public after preaching. The same thing goes for crusades. It does not make sense asking people who are yet to know Christ to support your ministry. God values their lives more than the money they want to give.
What has been the testimony of the group, Evangelists to the Nations?
God has used us to bring more understanding to the church on the place of the evangelist. Some pastors now have more understanding and they appreciate that the evangelist is as important as the pastor. They send their evangelists to us for training which we have done a couple of times. We had a programme called evangelism, discipleship missions gathering recently in Abeokuta. We discovered that the number of evangelists is going down. But that narrative is changing as more people are now embracing their calling as evangelists.
Could it also be that the method of evangelism has changed over the years. More people are now on social media?
Not every one is on social media. But then a larger percentage of what people post on social media are not what could be called the good news of Christ. They use these platforms for their businesses. Only a few use it for missions. No doubt a lot is going on in the media but it could be better. Our group has made some people go back to their ministry. We also emphasise discipleship. We talk about missions. People are not willing to go for missions like before.
We say the harvest is plenty but labourers are few, but the few we have want to stay back. But there is hope going by what we have seen lately. We see that people are now embracing their ministry more. One of our assignments is to provide platforms for those who have the call who don’t have where to function.
Talking about crusades, how relevant is it now in these days of social media?
There are many people that are not on social media especially those in remote villages. They are still in the majority and they need to hear the gospel. Unfortunately, when churches hold crusades in the city, such crusades are largely populated by church members. I think crusades should be taken to where the people are. It does not have to be in the stadium. And some publicity should go ahead of the crusade especially in the villages where people don’t have access to technology.
But churches hardly organise crusades?
It is expensive to run crusade. Many churches don’t want to pour money into it because of fear of losing their money. There idea of evangelism is to make profit which should not be. They don’t value souls. But even if it is one soul that is won in a crusade it is worth all the funds in this world. I have been evangelist for close to 30 years and have seen God work in the lives of people. I have seen great transformations which can not be quantified in money terms.
Which of the methods of evangelism is the most effective going by your experience on the field?
One-to-one evangelism is still the most effective. But we must also appreciate that it is only the Holy Spirit that change lives regardless of the method of evangelism. Ours is to preach the gospel. What we preach, where we preach it and how we preach it should be directed by the Holy Spirit.
But then there are basic things we must not do while preaching the gospel. We must not preach our church, religion and our pastors. Our lives is also the greatest weapon of evangelism. Some don’t give their lives to Christ because of what they see among Christians. They also see the hypocrisy of many who called themselves pastors.
Lately there are case of people who claim to have known Jesus but now are back into world; some joined other faiths. How will you react to this?
There is difference between being in church and being in Christ. You can’t have encounter with Christ genuinely and not be transformed. Paul talked about people who have tasted and now go back. It means there is a possibility for people to go back to the world. But I am saying when you truly give your life to him, you won’t want to go back. You will rather want to die than go back. Some feel offended in the church and thereby go back. Some because of money they are tempted to do things they are not suppose to do.
It is the issue of the heart. I can’t imagine myself going back. Job says though he slays me I will yet follow him. I think the foundation of the believer matters. If it is come to my church, that person can be there and be disappointed. But if it is about preaching Christ and the person is well grounded, there won’t be a turning back. People needed to be told they will suffer persecution in Christ.
Many have also claimed they have abandoned the faith because they don’t understand the idea of trinity. How will you react to this?
The concept of trinity bothers on a personal relationship with the holy spirit. When we introduce people to Jesus, he will be the one that will give them understanding. If what we are giving to people is cosmetic gospel people will remain confused about trinity. The holy spirit will explain to them if they are genuinely saved. He is the best teacher that can let them know the truth about the triune God. That concept is a mystery and the holy spirit is the best interpreter.
