FCBH program sparks church revival in West Nigeria

ORO, Nigeria — “What revival cannot accomplish the Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH) program can,” said David Oyerinola, an elder of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA). Mr Oyerinola works in a predominantly Muslim area and has found that many people of other faiths are open to attending FCBH listening sessions.

“People would not come to revival meetings, but they will join FCBH groups,” he explained. “This program has become a remarkable tool to reach people without any cost or effort, and many people who are nominal in their religion have heard the Scriptures on cassette.”

Helped

Mr Oyerinola was speaking at a meeting of FCBH group leaders in Oro, a town in west Nigeria. As well as sharing stories about idol worshippers, mask dancers and traditional healers becoming Christians after hearing God’s Word, leaders also spoke of how the program has helped many Christians to develop a deeper knowledge of the Scriptures.

All the stories show that the FCBH program here, which is partly being funded through the UBS global expansion program Opportunity 21, is bringing people from a variety of backgrounds together around the Word of God. According to Pastor Joseph Omojola, the Area FCBH Coordinator, the impact upon churches has been remarkable.

More coming forward

“When we began this program we had no idea of how it would bring the churches together with the Bible,” he said. “At one point we thought we had contacted all the churches and that there was no more work to be done. But now, on our third visit, there are more and more churches coming forward for sets of the audio New Testament.

“Fifty churches in this area are now taking part, and there are new avenues opening up in schools and other places. [In this area alone there are] between 1,500 and 4,000 people listening to the New Testament regularly every week, and when this is multiplied across a state the numbers begin to be very significant.

New-found knowledge

“If the correct discipleship follows, the impact upon the region will be significant, and evangelism will naturally grow out of people’s new-found knowledge of the Bible,” he added.

Sharing God’s Word with young people is one of the priorities of the FCBH program here. Willie Alamu, FCBH Coordinator for the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN), believes that audio Scriptures are an important way of bringing God’s Word to young people, many of whom do not have their own Bibles.

“We owe it to our young people to give them access to the Bible so they will know how to live as they grow older,” he said.

Joy Alamu, who holds listening sessions in one school, said that students are showing a keen interest in the Scriptures and enjoy discussing what they have heard.

Swear words

“Some of the students who use swear words were particularly affected by hearing Matthew 25, which talks about giving account of ourselves,” she said. “After the session, I overheard one student telling another, ‘Did you not hear what the Bible says – that we will have to give account of every careless word we say?’”

Church leaders are also benefiting from the FCBH program. The Rev T J Ayodele, who works with Christ for Rural Area Ministry (CRAM), described how listening to the tapes has given him the courage to share the Gospel message in a hostile environment.

Hesitant

“The persecution of the early Christians in the Book of Acts really affected me when I listened to the tapes,” he said. “I had been hesitant in the past when faced with hostility – in the north Christians are often targeted and persecuted for their faith – but now I have understood that standing up for Christ is part of my commitment to him, and I feel much more prepared to minister in areas of difficulty when the call comes.”

Victoria Ogunbiyi, another FCBH leader, said that although she had been a Christian for a long time, listening to God’s Word helped her to overcome “a real spirit of anger, which was affecting every aspect of [her] life.”

Healing

In one church, the tapes brought healing to a divided congregation.

“There was a rather serious misunderstanding in the church which threatened to split the leaders and congregation,” said Senior Apostle Kayode of the Church of the Cherubim and Seraphim.

“Thanks to the listening tapes those involved have reconciled their differences. The group has grown from 20 to 60 participants, and the Gospel’s message of reconciliation has become a strengthening factor in the growth of our church.”

While the FCBH program has taken off well in the towns, many churches in remote rural areas are yet to be reached. As well as transport difficulties, one problem is that most rural churches cannot afford batteries to power cassette players. The BSN is investigating ways of overcoming the practical challenges, such as helping the local people raise funds for generators to power the cassette players.