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Church and Community Mobilisation (CCM) Experiences in Nigeria

By Danladi Musa, Tearfund Country Representative for Nigeria

1. Introduction

Tearfund’s corporate vision is to have “More than 50 million people lifted out of poverty,

their lives transformed through the work and witness of Christians and 100,000 local

churches”. Nigeria contributes towards this vision by implementing a strategy that mobilises

approximately 1,000 churches to transform the lives of more than 500,000 people in their

local communities. Fifteen partners work together with Tearfund to achieve this.

The focus of the implementation plan of Tearfund in Nigeria is the local church. Tearfund in

Nigeria is making a strategic adjustment to its work with partners, both denominations and

Christian Development Organisations. It is placing the local congregation of believers at the

heart of its development strategy. This is because failure to do this to date has resulted in the

church not being the salt and light to the communities in which they live. They have been on

the periphery and not at the heart of the challenge to poverty.

The first move in order to make this happen has been to convince both leaders of NGOs and

denominations that this is a sound approach, both developmentally and theologically. Hence

the pro-active measures to introduce a core mass of 240 evangelical leaders to the concept of

integral mission. This has been done consistently and with persuasion by running workshops

in four church groupings throughout the country. It challenged and persuaded them to focus

their local congregations’ attention towards meeting the very real needs that face them and

their communities in the spiritual, social and economic spheres of life. In parallel to this,

future generation of leaders of the churches are also being targeted. Six theological colleges

have been challenged and supported to introduce an integral mission curriculum to their

teaching calendars.

As this new approach becomes more and more accepted, churches are being shown practical

ways to begin the process of transforming their communities through a process called

Church and Community Mobilisation (CCM). It has been systematically introduced using a

resource person from Kenya (Francis Njoroge) who is working with two partners to train

trainers for churches in the northern zone. By 2011, 56 local churches had been through the

formal CCM process. Other forms of engagement with the local church to impact the

community are also being supported.

Five partners in Nigeria are implementing the CCM programme. These partners are:

• Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) with its development arm the COCIN Community

Development Program (CCDP).

• Calvary Ministries (CAPRO)

• Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRCN) with its development arm the Integrated

Development Program (IDP)

• Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) with its development arm the People-

Oriented Development (POD)

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• Ekklesiyan Yan Uwa a Nigeria (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) – (EYN) with its

development arm the Integrated Community-Based Development Program (ICBDP)

2. Partners Training

To carry out Integral Mission with the partners, Tearfund asked RURCON to train the 5

partner representatives on the CCM, a process that has been applied successfully in other

countries where Tearfund operates. RURCON trained a total of 97 participants from all five

partner organizations between January and March 2007, but mostly decision makers in the

churches and in their respective development arms. It was expected that the trained

organizational staff would then begin to implement CCM. The training was followed in May

2007 with a visit to Narok Integrated Development Program (NIDP) in Kenya, to expose the

denominational and organizational leaders to CCM as it has been implemented practically

there. RURCON followed up the partners with further training, this time including the staff,

who were expected to carry out the actual implementation of CCM.

June 2008, a mentoring visit was organized, with the aim of assessing how well the trained

participants understood and implemented CCM. During the visit, all the partners were visited

for two days each. The visits showed that the leadership had fully understood Integral

mission really well and were integrating the concept in the church policies; now they awaited

the staff to produce results of CCM. On the contrary, the staff members were stuck because

they had limited CCM skills. It was therefore agreed that a series of workshops would be

organized to equip the staff with the skills. The aim of the training was to equip the

participants with knowledge and skills for facilitating CCM in the church and with target

communities

The stages of CCM are 1) Church awakening, 2) Church and Community Description, 3)

Information gathering, 4) Analyses of information and 5) Decision making

The first workshop in the series took place in May 2009 and aimed to introduce the

participants to CCM, and equip them with skills to “awaken” the church to begin engaging its

immediate community in a holistic manner. Church Awakening is the first of five phases of

CCM. The second workshop took place in February 2010, and equipped the participants with

skills for church and community description, the stage of CCM that follows Church

Awakening. The third workshop took place in September 2010, guiding the participants

through the information gathering stage, the third stage of CCM, which enables the church

and community to examine their situations in a more specific manner. The fourth workshop

took place in February 2011 and focused on the Analysis stage of CCM, which enables the

church and community to deeply examine its situation so as to cause meaningful change.

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3. Impact of CCM

After one year of implementation (Sept. 2009 – July 2010), the following activities and

impact were recorded:

Activities conducted Impacts Registered

Shared with organization leaders - Church attendance has increased 31

Envisioned colleagues/staff (number of

colleagues involved)

70 Giving in the church has increased 34

Envisioned church leadership (number of leaders

envisioned)

231 People have come to Jesus** 53/6

Prepared congregation 52 People are reading the bible more in churches 32

Selected co-facilitators 266 People are praying more 29

Trained co-facilitators 222 People are sharing more of their resources 23

Bible Studies Conducted and churches involved The church is helping its needy more 24

• Bible study 2. 53 The church has built a church building/house for pastor 10

• Bible study 3. 51 Conflicting individuals/groups reconciled 13

• Bible study 4. 48 Women have greater voice 10

• Bible study 5. 32 Youth in the church are participating more actively 22

• Bible study 6. 29 Children are actively involved 18

• Bible study 7. 26 Youth and women are now in positions of leadership 17

• Bible study 8. 25 People have started projects to meet needs in churches, i.e.

• Bible study 9. 20 • Increased food production 13

Prepared church leadership for relationship

building with community

8 • Increased water supply 5

Leadership (church and community meet to build

relationships

5 • Improved shelters 1

Church CCRePs selected ** 23 • Increased income in families 15

Community CCRePs selected 22 Children going to school more 8

CCRePs trained 7 People are improving their health 15

Church described its situation 3 People are improving hygiene/sanitation 16

Community described its situation 3 People are conserving the environment, e.g. planting

trees

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**People coming to Jesus – 16/2 means 16 people in two churches

In August 2011 during a workshop for the 5 partners involved in CCM, it was noted that in

spite of this slow pace, significant impact especially in the church had been achieved, as

shown below:

• Four churches were relating with neighboring denominations.

• Three churches reported that internal relationships had improved.

• Relationship with non-church members had improved in three churches.

• In two churches, members had reported they had reconciled as families.

• In three churches, youth were participating more actively.

• Four churches reported that people were praying more.

• Attendance/church membership had increased in six churches.

• Four churches reported that families had increased their income.

• Giving had increased in 11 churches.

• Two churches were teaching their vulnerable members how to survive better.

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• Eight churches were meeting the needs of their vulnerable members.

• One church had identified the talents of its members and was using them for the growth

of the ministry.

• In two churches, elders were visiting and encouraging the weak.

• One church was addressing sanitation issue.

• Two churches had established water projects that are also benefiting the immediate

communities.

• Church membership/attendance had increased in six churches.

• Five churches had started cooperatives for their members.

• Four churches reported that their members had planted trees (total of 70 trees planted so

far).

• Four churches had started income generating projects to help their immediate

communities.

• Three churches reported that people were growing more food.

• Two churches had set up adult literacy classes.

• One church had established a nursery school.

• Five churches were building new church buildings or improving the existing ones.

• In five churches, people had given their lives to Jesus (some of these were Muslims).

• The church and community were joining hands and working together in two churches.

• In two churches, families were improving shelters.

• One church reported that women were taking on positions of leadership.

• One church reported that its members were reaching out to the members of the

community and training them in basic skills such as soap-making.

4. Challenges:

The challenges faced by the Facilitators in implementing CCM included the following:

1. Ethnic and religious conflicts that disrupted the process at the target churches, and

lack of funds to train colleagues as co-facilitators.

2. People coming late to the bible studies and inconsistency of Facilitators.

3. Low turn-out and lack of location to practice information analysis with.

4. Emergence of powerful and influential people in some communities who were

against the process.

5. Post-election crisis that affected some churches directly (some church members

were killed), and a very busy church schedule.

6. Slow response of the community because they expected handouts, and

misunderstanding between the pastor and the church committee.

7. Transfer of the local Pastor, and the busy engagement of the church and

community during the rainy season.

8. Lateness and failure of men and women to attend meetings.

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9. Very busy planting season, wrong interpretation of tasks by community members,

postponement of meetings, difficulties in translating of materials into local

language, and some domineering attitude by some community members.

10. Transfer of the former pastor – the new pastor introduced his new bible studies,

making the church too busy to continue with the CCM.

11. Threats by Muslims which kept people in fear and therefore unable to meet

together. Long distances that the Facilitator must travel, heavy job assignments of

the Facilitator.

5. Stories of Transformation:

1. EYN (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) Integrated Community Based

Development Programme.

EYN is a partner of Tearfund in Nigeria, It is a church denomination based in the north

eastern part of Nigeria. Partnership with EYN started in June 2007. Key EYN church and

development leaders were trained and envisioned on integral mission in October 2007. In

May 2009, EYN was one of the 5 Tearfund partners that participated in the first module of

the CCM. Six of their Facilitators participated in the workshop.

One of the Facilitators was Adamu Aga. He started the process of envisioning the local

church at Ghumitika and conducted Bible study 1 to awaken the church for integral mission

in July 2009.

Ghumitika is located in Adamawa state in the north eastern part of Nigeria. The people there

are predominantly Kamwe people called Michika. Among them are a clan of people called

the “Makeris”. The Makeris are considered to be outcasts and other groups or clans do not

relate to them. It was a taboo for other clans to interact with them or do business with them.

Christians in the area strongly held to this tradition and did not interact with them.

It was in this context that Adamu started the CCM with the church awakening Bible studies

in the EYN local church at Ghumitika. During the first Bible study, discussions touched on

the fact that all people are made in the image of God. It was then that God opened the eyes of

the members of the local church that their neighbouring clan, the “Makeris” based in Wantsa

were also made in the image of God just as they were. They noted that if that was the case,

they needed to interact with the Makeris and not see them as outcasts. They were convicted

through the Bible studies to begin relating with the Makeris. A date was set for the first visit

to the Makeris in Wantsa. They were received initially with scepticism but later on with

enthusiasm when the Makeris realised that the church was sincere in its desire for a good

relationship with the people.

The show of love and concern by the local church resulted in the conversion of 11 traditional

worshippers (8 males and 3 females), 1 Muslim, and the Village Head with his 47 extended

family members. This development led to the planting of a new local church in the area. The

Makeris constructed the church building through communal efforts.

Adult literacy classes for men and women are now going on. Basic education for their

children has started with a primary school being established. Their children who before this

were not going to school are now going to school.

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Converts at the new Church

premises

The Village Head (left) and

EYN Vice President (right)

The Village Head (left) and

EYN Vice President (right)

Converts at the Church premises

(Church building behind them)

The Village Head’s extended

family EYN Vice President and

EYN CCM Staff

Gathering and exhortation at the

Village Head’s palace

Gathering and exhortation at the

Village Head’s palace

Tearfund Country

Representative, EYN CCM

Staff and the Converts at

Wantsa Yesu

Tearfund Country

Representative’s visit at Wantsa

Yesu

2. Calvary Ministries (CAPRO)

CAPRO is an indigenous mission agency based in Nigeria and has been a partner of Tearfund

since 1997. Tearfund had been providing support for their community health programme

which was carried out among the people located in newly planted church areas. In 2007, the

concept of integral mission and CCM was introduced to them. In May 2009, CAPRO was

one of the 5 Tearfund partners that participated in the first module of the CCM. Six of their

Facilitators participated in the workshop.

One of the Facilitators was Nehemiah Sija. He envisioned the local at Angwanar Daji and

conducted Bible study 1 to awaken the church for integral mission.

Angwanar Daji is located in Kebbi state in the north western part of Nigeria. There was

always some form of conflict in the area. In addition to this, they were suffering from poor

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crop yields and poultry production was low. It was in this context that Nehemiah started

facilitating church awakening Bible studies in Angwanar Daji in August 2009.

The local church in Angwanar Daji community started being transformed as a result of the

CCM bible studies in the local church assembly. One of the effects of the bible studies was

the bonding together and increased love among the church members. One of the major

challenges facing members of the church had been poor yields during harvest. The church

decided to help one another during the last farming season. This resulted in increased yields.

Secondly the poultry vaccination program is yielding fruits as the trained volunteers have

owned the process. They on their own go as far as Kaduna to purchase the Newcastle

Vaccines. This has resulted in drastic reduction in losses of poultry due to Newcastle disease

with resultant increase in household poultry and income.

Members of the angwanar Daji Church after a CCMP meeting

3. Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) Community Development Programme.

COCIN is a partner of Tearfund in Nigeria, It is a church denomination based in the central

part of Nigeria. Partnership with COCIN started in June 2007. Key COCIN church and the

development leaders were trained on integral mission in October 2007. In May 2009, COCIN

was one of the 5 Tearfund partners that participated in the first module of the CCM. Six of

their Facilitators participated in the workshop.

One of the Facilitators was Pastor Yohanna Bitrus. He started the process of envisioning the

local church at Sabon Gida for integral mission in June 2009.

The first 2 years during which Pastor Yohanna Bitrus served as the Pastor of the COCIN

congregation at Sabon Gida, there was no love for Jesus because there was no peace among

some members particularly the women who could not have a united women fellowship and

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this brought discouragement. By June 2009 they began to conduct Bible studies 1 and 2 on

Sundays for the entire members of the congregation. In summarizing Bible study 1, the

Facilitator charged the members of the congregation to forgive one another so as to obtain

God’s forgiveness.

A week later a woman (Zabaria Nden) came to him and repented for her unforgiving spirit,

thereafter so many others came too. The love for Jesus among the members increased and

they became more faithful in paying their tithes and offered gifts during thanksgiving. There

was also increased love for one another. The membership of the Church increased by 26

people due to the bible studies. Three traditional worshipers repented and accepted Christ as

their personal Lord and Saviour. The congregation reached out to five elderly people with 25

measures of grounded cereal and bars of soap to each of them. The Church paid the medical

bill of an old woman who had been sick for three days and was taken to the church clinic at

Sabon Gida.

The conduct of the first two foundational Bible studies also attracted some unbelievers who

also came along with the believers. On hearing that they were also made in the image of God,

two of them were touched by the word of God and gave their lives to Christ. Their names are

Ponjul and Kongkat. This has added the number of believers among the many that attend

church services and were yet to give their lives to Christ.