Mobilization of lay persons for Christian mission: a case study of selected Pentecostal churches in southwest Nigeria

The thesis is a descriptive narrative showing how the clergy and lay persons transmit and proclaim the gospel in specific and diverse ways using a multi-faceted strategy and a polycentric mission model. It looks at the origins and contours of lay and clergy understanding of mission and how it spread from the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Ecumenical, and Evangelical to Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity. The thesis is a case study approach that provides a broader understanding of lay ministry and clergy involvement in mission within the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and the Deeper Life Bible Church (DLBC) in Southwest Nigeria. The strength of the thesis lies in the large amount of data which has been collected and carefully analysed and by the immersion of the author in some of the activities of the two denominations which form the case studies. It uses thematic analysis as an empirical study. The thesis presents the role of lay persons as important to missiological conceptualization in the research, which offers new perspectives into centrifugal Pentecostal mission. It conceptualises lay and clergy missional practice from several dimensions, including mission as God's command, lay participation in God's redemptive work, Christ's command in the Great Commission, holistic mission, the spread of Christianity, mission and ordination, and the Holy Spirit missionary impulse. Further, the thesis explores mission mobilisation as the process which eliminates the 'reserved mentality' orientation in missional practice as imperative. It seeks to envision and educate God's people about his strategic plans. It explores mission in its fluidity as the lifeblood of these Pentecostal denominations. The thesis distinguishes theology as Spirit engagement rather than intellectual engagement through lay Pentecostal mission articulation from two panoplies, Christocentric and pneumatocentric; sodality and modality orientations. The shaping and understanding of mission theology underpinning their activities and praxis recognize lay persons' uniqueness and strategic position for advancing God's mission in Southwest Nigeria. There are diversities, dissimilarities and unity in their missional ecclesiology. It is unusual to see a study of Pentecostal missions in a similar context with dissimilarities in practice because of the amorphous character of Pentecostalism.