“No Excuse, No Alternative”: A Charge to the Body of Christ from the Global Missions Board
An Inspiration Article Drawn from the Farewell Address of Deacon Professor Boyowa Anthony Chokor
Chairman, Global Missions Board, Nigerian Baptist Convention | 2020 – 2026
I. The Setting: A Faithful Steward Steps Down, But the Mission Steps Up
Six years. Two tenures. One Great Commission.
On April 2026, Deacon Professor Boyowa Anthony Chokor laid down the mantle of Chairman of the Global Missions Board of the Nigerian Baptist Convention. His farewell was not a eulogy for what was. It was a blueprint for what must be.
His words to the Body of Christ were clear, sober, and Spirit-charged: “There is no excuse and there is no alternative. There is something you can do, please do it.”
This is not a Baptist memo. This is a Kingdom manifesto. And it belongs to every believer, in every church, on every continent.
II. Seven Pillars for a Church That Finishes the Task
From Chairman Chokor’s address, the Holy Spirit is raising seven pillars for the Body of Christ in this hour. Let every pastor, deacon, youth leader, and saint in the pew take heed.
Universal Obedience: “There Is No Excuse and No Alternative”
Acts 1:8 — “You shall be my witnesses… to the end of the earth.”
The Chairman’s first charge cuts through apathy: missions is not a department; it is the definition of the Church.
We enter newness not by conferences, but by “Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit” deployed for the unreached. The question is not “Are you called to missions?” The question is “Are you a Christian?” Because if you are, Acts 1:8 is your job description.
Inspiration Point: Your gift has an address. It is either in your Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, or the ends of the earth. If you don’t know where, start with generosity. If you can’t go, you can give. If you can’t give much, you can pray. But “there is something you can do.” The Body of Christ has no spectators. Only foot soldiers.
Intentional Rhythm: Embrace the Mission Emphasis Weeks
The Board calls every church to annually observe Home and International Mission Emphasis Weeks. Why? Because vision leaks. Burden fades. Maps get old.
These weeks are not fundraisers. They are family briefings from the front lines. They tell us where the gospel is advancing, what the needs are, and how we can build projects and infrastructures that outlast a mission trip.
The N100 Challenge: N100 per family member per month. N1,200 a year. Less than a bottle of Coke a week. Yet multiplied by the Body of Christ, it becomes wells in Niger, roofs in Sierra Leone, Bibles in Asia. Kingdom math turns widows’ mites into missionary highways.
Inspiration Point: Put missions on your church calendar before you put it in your budget. What gets scheduled, gets done. What gets celebrated, gets repeated.
Strategic Unity: One Window, Greater Impact
Chairman Chokor honors separate mission efforts by churches. Then he calls us higher: coordination for impact.
The Global Missions Board is the “Key Convention Window for Missions.” Not to control, but to compound. In a season of “increasingly scarce resources,” duplication is disobedience.
Paul didn’t plant churches that competed. He built one Body with many members. When we coordinate, N1,000 from Benin plus N1,000 from Boston plus N1,000 from Birmingham becomes a training center in Freetown.
Inspiration Point: Tell the Board what you’re doing. Let iron sharpen iron. Your local flame plus their global map equals wise stewardship. Unity is not uniformity. It is fire moving in formation.
Digital Courage: Enter the Virtual Mission Field
The enemy is online. So must we be.
The Board’s “New Drive for Virtual Missions” is prophecy, not program. TikTok is discipling teenagers. YouTube is catechizing nations. Algorithms are the new Roman roads.
We cannot curse the darkness when we refuse to light a phone screen. Online is not less real. It is less reached. And it crosses borders without visas.
The Board will also partner with pastors in diaspora — Europe, Asia, North America. Because the “scattered” are not lost. They are seeded. Acts 8:4.
Inspiration Point: Your smartphone is a pulpit. Your WhatsApp status is a tract. Your Zoom account is a church plant. The Great Commission didn’t stop at “geographical boundaries.” Neither should we.
Sacred Stewardship: Protect the Missionary
With 400+ missionaries traveling, the Board instituted a Journey Management Plan & Guide.
This is Genesis 33:13 applied: “If they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.” We cannot send and forget. We must send and shepherd the shepherds.
Inspiration Point: If the Board can protect 400, your church can protect 4. Pray for safety. Budget for insurance. Debrief trauma. A healthy missionary force is the fastest way to a healthy mission field. The Body of Christ bleeds when its missionaries burn out.
Kingdom Maturity: The Goal Is Indigenous, Independent Churches
On May 2, 2026, Sierra Leone International Mission Field receives autonomy after 65 years. Read that again. 65 years.
This is not delay. This is discipleship. Paul stayed in Ephesus 3 years, Acts 20:31. The Board’s policy framework is moving mission fields “Towards Maturation and Independence.”
Inspiration Point: We don’t do missions to create dependence. We do missions to create siblings. The day your mission field no longer needs your money is the day heaven throws a party. True success is succession. Are we raising sons or keeping servants?
Sacrificial Funding: N200 Million Is Not a Target. It Is a Testimony
The math is stark. 20% of 20% funds 70% of the budget, and 77% of that pays salaries. Critical capital projects are starving.
Chairman Chokor’s challenge: The Annual Convention-in-Session should raise at least N200 million for missions. We’ve “hardly achieved 12%.”
This is not about money. This is about Isaac and Rebekah. When Abraham’s servant needed to fund a bride for Isaac, he loaded 10 camels with wealth, Gen 24:10. Why? Because the Bride matters.
Inspiration Point: The Church will fund what the Church values. N200 million sounds big until you remember we serve the God who owns “the cattle on a thousand hills,” Ps 50:10. If 1 million Baptists gave N200 once a year, the goal is met. The question is not “Can we?” The question is “Will we?” The Mission Charge and Offering is not a break in service. It is the service.
III. The Cloud of Witnesses: Gratitude as Fuel
Chairman Chokor’s farewell is wrapped in gratitude: to Dr. Supo Ayokunle, Dr. Israel Akanji, Dr. Femi Adewumi, IMB-SBC, Central Baptist Church Benin, Rev. Dr. T. Olu Aibinuomo, and above all, Deaconess Oritsegbubemi Chokor — praying in the UK while nursing granddaughters.
Inspiration Point: Behind every public missionary is a private intercessor. Behind every board policy is a spouse who prayed through the night. The Body of Christ advances on two knees. Thank your Aaron and Hur. They hold up your arms, Ex 17:12.
And to the “Beloved Missionaries… the grassroots foot soldiers of Christ”: Heaven sees you. Your name may not be in the minutes, but it is in the Lamb’s Book. Your well in a village is a river in Revelation. Do not be weary, Gal 6:9.
IV. The Charge to Us: From Farewell to Forward
A chairman is bowing out. The Commission is not.
So to the Body of Christ — Baptist, Pentecostal, Anglican, Methodist, non-denominational — receive these seven charges:
Obey — Find your something and do it. No excuse. No alternative.
Schedule — Put Missions Emphasis Week on your 2026 calendar today. Start the N100/N1,200 habit.
Unite — Tell the Global Missions Board what you’re doing. Strengthen the window.
Go Digital — Post the gospel. Disciple online. Counter decadence with truth.
Protect — Adopt a missionary. Fund their safety. Pray their covering.
Mature — Plant churches that can plant churches. Work yourself out of a job.
Give — Let N200 million be a floor, not a ceiling. The Bride is worth it.
V. The Final Benediction: Enter Into Newness
Chairman Chokor’s theme verse was Acts 1:8. It is also our marching order.
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.”
Power for what? Witness.
Witness where? Everywhere.
With what? Fruit and Gifts.
Until when? Till the ends of the earth hear.
The Global Missions Board has run its leg. The baton is now in your hand.
May God’s blessings of peace and divine supplies be poured upon you all as you obey.
Amen. And amen.
Let the Church say: “Here am I. Send me.” Isa 6:8
The Body of Christ is not a building. It is a battalion. And the battle is not yet won. But the war is.
