Encompass Explores New Ground in Nigeria
July 2023
In mid-2023, Encompass sent a small team to Nigeria, which marked our first visit to the country in an official capacity. The purpose of the trip was to meet with the local Charis Alliance leaders, observe their ministry efforts, and assess if it makes sense for Encompass to start sending workers there.
The Charis Alliance has had a strong presence in Africa for decades. In recent years, missionaries have been working hard to nurture the Alliance’s presence in Nigeria, and now the country is home to a handful of young Charis Alliance churches.
The Charis Alliance in Nigeria recently invited Encompass staff members Florent and Jason to make an exploratory trip. Florent directs Encompass’s Church Equipping Network, and Jason serves as one of our global workers in Cameroon. While they were there, Florent taught about the centrality of Christ, and Jason facilitated a training course on the qualities of pastors and elders.
The local brothers and sisters warmly welcomed our team and told them about all their projects regarding church planting, church equipping, and holistic ministries. One of the projects they initiated was the development of a fish farm, but in order to run optimally, they needed more investment, new equipment, and further training. While they were there, our team took inventory of Nigeria’s churches, needs, and ministries and prayed with their leaders about future collaboration.
While Encompass does not have immediate plans to send workers to Nigeria, we are prayerfully considering next steps. If God wants us to send workers to Nigeria, He will need to give us a clear pathway for our development there. In the meantime, we are committed to assisting their fledgling churches through our Chadian partners and by occasionally helping directly.
Pray for God to continue working through Charis Alliance churches to bless the people of Nigeria.
More Stories
When Anna* was challenged to think about her goals for 2026, she sensed a clear nudge from God: begin preparing material to train others....
February 17, 2026
“In the 1980s, if you walked into a Christian bookstore in France, you’d find maybe two shelves of Christian books,” Florent...
February 13, 2026
As someone who’s spent much of his life planting churches in Asia, Ted now serves as the Director of Encompass...
February 10, 2026
Reaching the unreached is a beautiful idea, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Even so, Auburn Grace Community...
February 9, 2026
“I had no idea what Japan was,” Kya says. “Then my parents took me when I was 10, and now I wake up every day and think about...
January 30, 2026
Mika* grew up in Japan as part of a family that was culturally Buddhist, yet God gently placed people in her life who...
January 29, 2026
Grace Church in Simi Valley, California has been partnering with Encompass for over 60 years now, making us their primary missions agency. That...
January 23, 2026
The environment a child grows up in becomes their baseline for what’s normal. As you can imagine, children growing up overseas often form a...
January 23, 2026
“I never set out to become a crisis response person,” says Barb. In fact, if you had asked her younger...
January 21, 2026
