The Diocesan Bishop of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Oke-Ogun Diocese, the Rt. Reverend (Dr) Solomon Olaniyi Amusan has assured missionaries, especially those serving in Oke-Ogun Diocese, that a great reward awaits them, provided they served the Lord willingly and cheerfully.
While addressing the second session of the First Synod of the diocese recently at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Oke-Abe, Igbeti, on the theme Missionary Reward, the bishop defined a missionary as a person commissioned to take the gospel to another culture and reward as payment for good or evil.
He, however, noted that a reward is thought of as the return for good while punishment is thought of as the return for evil.
Amusan also reiterated the fact that ”˜the missionary’s reward is glorious, it is forever and ever, it is abundant, it is according to God’s standards and the gifts are both temporal and eternal.’
Its funny reading a headline like this – many people in the West (whether Christian or not) just assume that this must refer to white western missionaries.
But +Oke-Ogun was talking about Nigerian missionaries spreading the gospel to other cultures and religions. We are in a new age where the Africans and Asians shoulder the bulk of the missionary work, in terms of numbers of missionaries sent. They are now the standard bearers for Christ’s kingdom and we have taken a back-seat role.