The secret key to opening up hard-to-reach places
Our mission team in Northern Nigeria was able to gain access to hard-to-reach people groups by applying what Jesus taught in Luke 10:5-7 when he said, "But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house."
We adopted this strategy by saying, "As-salamu alaykum", to every community we try to reach with the Gospel. This is the instruction of Christ to His disciples and it is now a greeting in Arabic that means "Peace be upon you". The salam is a religious salutation among Muslims when greeting, though it is also used by Arabic speakers of other religions such as Arab Christians, as well as many non-Muslim Indians and Pakistanis who speak Hindi-Urdu. Experiences have shown us that God has strategically placed persons of peace in every community and our ability to identify such persons had helped us immensely to access hard-to-reach and unreached communities with ease. Persons of peace are the gateways for Gospel propagation, and if adequately identified, harnessed and appropriated, lead to bountiful soul harvests.
When we wanted to access a particular mission field, we earnestly prayed for God to give us a person of peace. On arrival, we shouted "As-salamu alaykum", meaning "Peace be upon you". One time, an elderly man rushed out of his hut and responded, "wa 'alaykumu s-salam", meaning "and also with you too". We exchanged pleasantries and we introduced ourselves as missionaries who had come to the village to tell the people about Jesus. The man frowned as he heard us mention Jesus. After a few minutes of gazing at us, he said, "Since the existence of this village, no one has ever come to tell us about the God of the Christians. But since you have the boldness to come, I will allow you. I will not be a Christian but I will give you my four wives and fourteen children to join your religion."
We were dumbfounded as we had not even proclaimed any message but had already won souls through our introduction. The man moved around and invited friends and neighbors and we preached Christ crucified and a total of seventy six people surrendered their lives to Jesus. He offered our missionary a room in his hut to live while we disciple the converts. The church from those converts in that village grew so much that there arose persecution.
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On another occasion, we went to a village for the first time for spiritual mapping. As we entered the village, we were confused because we did not know where to go or whom to approach. We hoped to see somebody who might help give us direction to the village head's house. We were at a crossroads and were contemplating which way to follow when a young man sighted us from a distance and approached to demand who we were looking for. We asked him to show us the direction to the village head's house, but he insisted on knowing why we wanted to see the village head. We told him that we were there to preach Christ to them and would like to see the village head for research questions and permission for us to hold a Gospel crusade in the village. He objected to us seeing the village head and told us that the village head would not allow us to hold any meeting concerning the God of the Christians. He asked when we would like to hold the crusade and we told him as soon as possible. Then he told us to go back and come after two days to allow him time to mobilize the villagers.
We were surprised at the willingness and zeal of the young man to help us introduce Christ to the community and asked him to tell us why. Then he answered, "Five years ago, I left this village to our local government headquarters and I saw the way Christians were singing and worshiping their God and I decided to join them and become a Christian. I was a Christian for one year and when my stay in the local government headquarters expired, I returned to the village but could not continue with my Christian faith since I am the only Christian in our community. I have been praying for God for the past four years to send people who will establish a church in this village. I love Christianity but I do not have anyone to practice it with."
When we returned after two days, we were surprised by the mammoth crowd that the young man had mobilized. We preached Christ crucified in the English language and it was interpreted in Hausa language while our person of peace interpreted in Kambari (the language of the target group). When we made an altar call, over two hundred people surrendered to the saving power of Christ including the village head.
Persons of peace are powerful tools in evangelism and missions and Christians should always pray for their emergence whenever they are embarking on any Gospel intervention work. God has already placed them in every community and it is our duty to discover them irrespective of their obscurity.
Oscar Amaechina is the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria. His calling is to take the gospel to where no one has neither preached nor heard about Jesus. He is the author of the book Mystery Of The Cross Revealed.
