Bringing Light to Togo 

Togo, one of the world’s poorest countries, lies between Benin in the east and Ghana in the west with a 56 km Atlantic Ocean coastline,160km wide and 600 km from the coast north to Burkina Faso.

A corrupt military Government combined with the pervasive practice of Voodoo have bound the Togolese in poverty, illiteracy, superstition and fear. The unemployment rate is 95%. The European Union embargo on Togo from 1990 to the present causes further suffering by driving up costs of food, gas and other basic necessities, with little hope of relief in sight. In such unpromising conditions, God’s grace abounds to the Togolese people through Army of Christ in Mission (ACM), a ministry for evangelism, church planting and social services started by Aziato Petro Elikplim.

Petro was raised in a Presbyterian family but became an orphan at age 6. When his only brother also died from snake bite, witch doctors told his family that his deceased father had returned as the serpent to kill all his children. Petro was then sent to Ghana to escape death. There he met the Lord and received the call at age 15. Through much suffering but under the grace of God, he was able to attend school in English in Ghana and French in Togo. He can also speak and write the tribal Ewe and Twi languages. After attending the English school, he was working in a textile factory when the Lord told him to go back to Togo to save souls.

He graduated from the Assemblies of God Bible College in 1985, working under this church for 20 years.

He has a great burden for the lost souls and the poor. He and his family moved from town to town to preach the gospel and plant 52 churches from the north to the south of Togo. He is now reaching the unreached people in rural villages. According to the opening that the Lord gives him, he is also helping disabled people and victims of HIV/ AIDS.

Petro and his wife Mana have ten children: Mawulom 17, Kossi 16, Mawunyo 15, Akpene 14, Mawutor 12, Daniel 10, Jeremie 9, Debora 6, Esther 4 and Victoire 2.

God has given a wonderful plan to Army of Christ in Mission workers to both evangelize and physically help their people. First the gospel is preached in an area where preferably no evangelical witness exits. A new body of believers is formed, and a trained worker is provided to nurture this flock. The team goes to the village with used clothes, shoes and sometimes with a medical team according to how God provides them with medicines through charitable persons. And from the beginning the new church becomes an instrument of hope, giving practical and spiritual help to the community.

The ministry focuses on education and vocational training not to the youth alone but also to widows and disabled women. After the training, loans are given to these women for self-help micro projects in order to become self sufficient and to care for their children. Every church building is a multi-purpose centre. Worship, disciple training, literacy teaching, vocational training etc. all operate out of the church.

During their outreach programs in the villages, Army of Christ In Mission (ACM) workers meet with hundreds of orphans and street children who are in such a situation that a true Christian cannot pass by. And because Army of Christ in Mission doesn’t have a building to establish an orphanage for them, it seeks for Christian families in the city where it places them and provides a loving Christian upbringing and good education to at least 150 of the neediest orphans and children of the street. A total of $15,000 is needed to build an orphanage.

A good education is the only way to escape the spiral of hopelessness, yet few families can afford this for their children. Street children are a growing phenomenon in Togo. Children huddle in cardboard boxes or whatever other shelter they can contrive. They beg or turn to crime in their efforts to stay alive.

 Army of Christ in Mission (ACM) wants to school as many of these children as it can afford.  Army of Christ in Mission is praying and seeking for funds to build its own orphanage and primary school if possible next year to provide students with uniforms, books, supplies and a daily meal free of charge.

Along with an education, they will provide a chance to hear the good news of salvation. Many who have no homes will find shelter at night within the protective walls of the compound of the school and the orphanage. Total coast per child is $100 per year. A sponsorship of $15,000 can build the school. Around $2700 can maintain an ACM school for a year, including the teachers’ salary.

Some victims of HIV/AIDS also are helped with food and medicine, encouragement and Biblical counsels. $100 per month will provide food and medicine for a victim of HIV/AIDS.

Anytime funds are available, Army of Christ in Mission organizes outreach trips to unreached villages where the pervasive practice of voodoo has bound the natives in poverty, illiteracy, superstition and fear. After a week long crusade, ACM seeks land and erects a simple shelter with available materials. On Sunday,  the new converts gather under this shelter to plant the church in the village. The average church plant is 250 members. It costs $15,000 to build a block building. Where there’s no proper building, worship meetings, disciple training classes, literacy and vocational training for unlearned women and many other programs cannot be held during bad weather.

Many believers - and even workers - lack Bibles.

A  Bible can be provided for $ 7.50

Monthly three-day discipleship training offers workers Scripture study and practical training. Each month $600 is needed to feed the attendees.

Many workers go on foot to evangelize and to visit believers. A bicycle ($100) would allow them to expand their outreach and use their time more efficiently. Some of the proven workers travel among four or five churches which they oversee. These men could make good use of a motorcycle ($700 used).

Every Monday at 5.30 AM, Petro preaches on Gospel Radio 100.3 FM in  Lome, the capital of Togo. The message reaches 2.5 million Togolese listeners and millions of people in Ghana and Benin. $100 can pay for one month broadcasting the Gospel for 45 minutes each week.

Since football has become an attraction for people of all ages, ACM is now using it as a powerful strategic tool to reach people that may not come to the crusade ground nor welcome preachers in their homes. On outreach trips the ACM evangelistic team is accompanied by the ACM football team called "LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH". This team of 18 year olds organizes games with the village’s football teams and wonderfully reaches people on the football park by preaching the Gospel and sharing tracts during halftime. Monthly support of $300 is needed for equipment, training and perfomances by this team.

ACM – Love Lines is a telephone ministry which allows those who have problems but are not willing to visit a church or pastor to still receive Biblical counseling and prayer. The love line center receives over 50 calls on an average day. Major political, military and business leaders call anonymously. They receive a listening ear, counseling, teaching and prayer. Some of them receive healing and baptism in the Holy Spirit on the phone. $100 can help pay for a months telephone bill.

How can the partnership between American churches and Army of Christ in Mission (ACM) be so incredibly fruitful?

First of all, know that the mission field to which the Lord is sending every Christian to go and make disciples is all nations including Togo and the entire African continent especially the French speaking countries. Very often Americans and Europeans are not as motivated to reach the French speaking countries. This negligence leads to wars and corruption. Even worse is that Muslims are quickly winning those countries with dangerous strategies, resulting in persecution of Christians.

Know also that your coming personally to evangelize those countries will cost you many things,such as learning the language. The money you may need to plant churches will be used to satisfy your own housing, electricity and necessary needs. But Army of Christ in Mission team members already speak the language(s) and know their own culture inside-out. They don’t have to worry about getting an entry visa or being expelled because they don’t they don’t represent a "foreign" or Western religion; rather, they automatically communicate what the Gospel looks like in their own culture. The result? Many baptize hundreds of new believers and plant dozens of new churches in their lifetime.

Moreover, because they live at the same economic level as those they are ministering to (between $35 and $100 a month), native missionaries represent our best investment in terms of world evangelization.

Any Christian organization can partner with Army of Christ in Mission (ACM) to provide it a headquarters and representation in the USA within their group. They would chose God fearing, soul-burdened, honest and charitable persons, full of Holy Spirit and wisdom to form a special Army of Christ in Mission board within the church. This USA board and ACM-Togo will make a year-churching program for Togo and for another french speaking country in west Africa.

The USA board will collect contributions and send them regularly to the ACM-Togo. Army of Christ in Mission - Togo will execute the program and send activities and financial reports and photos to the USA board to be used for encouraging the donors. At least once a year they will come to Africa to see and to evaluate the work.

By the grace of God, Army of Christ workers accomplish great things with very limited resources. Army of Christ urgently needs your prayers and financial assistance in the good work it’s doing.