Pastoral training.
Church planting.
A lasting partnership in Nigeria.

To understand our partnership, begin with the Nigerian church itself. HEKAN—the United Church of Christ in Nigeria—grew from Christians of different church backgrounds gathering for worship in Kaduna. Its own history describes soldiers, police, and other personnel seeking a shared place of worship.

In the livestream, Scott explains how this commitment to unity developed into a calling to plant churches in Nigeria’s cities. As people moved and congregations formed, the movement needed pastors who could teach Scripture and lead those new communities. That need for training would eventually connect our stories.

Scott and Andrea Vander Ploeg spent a year serving in Nigeria before Scott became Sunlight Community Church’s pastor in Florida in 2004. At Veenstra Seminary in Donga, Scott taught future pastors from the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria and HEKAN. He recalls this season as 2001–2002.

Some of those students became close friends. One was Darshak Toma, a future HEKAN leader. Scott later helped him pursue advanced theological study in the United States. Their relationship continued beyond the classroom, and a conversation about church planting opened the door to something neither could have done alone.

Darshak described a clear opportunity: HEKAN had pastors, people, and a calling to plant in major cities. The obstacle was the cost of getting started. Without an international financial partner, some city plants were beyond what local congregations could fund on their own.

Scott asked what would make a difference. The early conversation centered on roughly $10,000–$12,000 spread over three years. The purpose was to help a congregation get started, giving its leaders time to build a church that could sustain its ministry locally.

In 2015, Sunlight partnered with HEKAN to plant its first congregation in Benin City, Edo State, under Rev. Dauda M. Anto. What began with nine people grew, by his October 2022 report, to 170 weekly attendees and 47 new converts over seven years.

The published history records new congregations in Lafiya in 2016; Sabon Gari Danauta and Kangulu in 2018; Gamfu in 2019; Sabon Garin Babanlalah in 2020; Bauchi and Port Harcourt in 2021; and Manager Island near Lagos in 2022. Nine church plants had been reported by October 2022.

The partnership continued through Sunlight’s evening service, March Missions giving, and faithful supporters. Multiply222 leadership’s church-planting report records fourteen Nigerian plants. These are communities led by Nigerian pastors, with families, children, and new believers carrying the gospel forward.

Scott’s October 8 account explains another part of HEKAN’s story: some congregations began on military bases, where they had been allowed to build places of worship. Over time, those buildings became the gathering places of established church communities.

When a church in Abuja was demolished, its congregation needed somewhere new to meet. Sunlight helped with land and a new building. Scott visited in 2025, and the livestream includes a Nigerian pastor describing the relief of having a place to worship again after the demolition.

That experience gives this partnership a practical shape. We help new churches begin, and we stand with existing churches when their ability to gather is threatened.

In the same conversation, Scott reports that a HEKAN congregation in Lagos has now experienced the demolition of its church building. The photographs show the congregation gathering before the demolition and the remains of the building afterward.

In a video shared during the livestream, a church leader describes moving the congregation’s belongings outside and the discouragement of losing their place of worship. He also expresses continued trust in God and asks for help finding another place to gather.

The congregation has since identified a rental space. Scott explains that the proposed arrangement requires four years of rent in advance: $15,000 in total. The appeal announced on October 8 is to raise that amount before October 15, 2026. It is a specific opportunity to help this church have a place to worship, care for families, and continue its ministry.

Scott and Aaron plan to travel to Nigeria beginning October 23, 2026. In the October 8 conversation, Scott describes a conference bringing together 50 pastors and leaders from the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria and 50 from HEKAN—100 leaders in all.

The training will focus on disciple multiplication through 222Disciple and the practice of Public Reading of Scripture. The visit also provides time to strengthen relationships with leaders Scott has known for about twenty-five years and to visit the displaced Lagos congregation.

That is why pastoral training and church planting belong together. Scripture forms leaders. Leaders care for people and prepare disciple-makers. Those disciple-makers become the life of churches that can reach and serve their communities. We keep returning because these relationships matter, and because there is more gospel work to do together.

Scott’s vision reaches beyond one trip or one appeal. He wants these long-standing relationships to keep growing, with Nigerian Christians helping shape the strategy. He also believes churches in North America have much to receive from their partners’ devotion to Scripture, commitment to evangelism, and faith through hardship.

The partnership is already reaching beyond Nigeria. In the conversation, Scott describes Sunlight’s support for a Nigerian missionary serving in Kenya and his hope that Nigerian churches can send more missionaries across Africa.

The invitation is for other pastors and congregations to join this work: build relationships, learn from Nigerian leaders, pray with them, and help fund the opportunities they are ready to pursue. The Lagos appeal meets an immediate need. A wider circle of churches can help carry the mission into its next chapter.