USA: Nigerians Find New Home in Indiana
Source: Assemblies of God News, February 17, 2023
Although he had pastored and planted Pentecostal churches in Nigeria for a quarter century, Paul Adeymo fled his native land in 2018, narrowly escaping death en route to a prayer meeting when attacked by Fulani herdsman.
Adeymo, his wife, Lola, and their three children—Joseph, Blossom, and Timothy—applied for asylum in the U.S. In part, Paul and Lola sought to move because Joseph, the oldest child at 24, has cognitive challenges. Medical facilities didn’t exist near his Nigerian home to effectively help him.
Despite not knowing anyone in the Hoosier state, the entire family immigrated to Indianapolis in 2018.
“I did research and found this is the best place to live,” Adeymo says. “We didn’t have to break the bank to survive. But I didn’t know how cold it would be. Yet the cold has not killed us.”
The Adeymos initially lived in low-income apartments near an Assemblies of God multi-ethnic congregation of 1,100 weekly attendees in the Indiana capital. Dozens of other Nigerians who live in the complex attend Lakeview Church, and the Adeymos began worshiping there as well.
Adeymo now is in the early stages of pioneering a church in Indianapolis for Africans.
The full story offers Pastor Adeymo’s perspective on violence in Nigeria and insights on ministering to immigrant Africans, as well as briefly describing Lakeview Church’s transformation from a previously all-white congregation to one that better reflects and connects with its now-diverse neighborhood. A good read.
Things continue to be rough for Christians in Nigeria. See 10 Prayers You Can Pray for Nigeria’s Christians (Global Christian Relief).