'On Earth as it is in Heaven'

John Eigege, a self-described “missionary from Nigeria to the U.S.,” is living a new model for ministry in the historic Third Ward of Houston, Texas.

While studying the Lord’s Prayer, Eigege was gripped by the line “Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

Through this promise of renewal, he began to see the Third Ward differently, he said, “not as a dangerous place or a place that was so poor, but…as this boundary space, this threshold place where beauty and brokenness collided. Where hope and despair lived simultaneously close to each other.”

Eigege’s wife, Chichi, puts it this way: the riches of the Third Ward are not physical, material, or structural.

“A lot of the riches are in the people and in the experiences and in just the love and care that people have for this neighborhood,” she said.

Home Missions is offering Eigege’s full story of his ministry with the Third Ward in the new video, "On Earth as it is in Heaven," as a resource for the Easter season.

All across North America, God is working to transform lives and communities, such as the Third Ward, and Christian Reformed Home Missions is committed to answering God's call to join him.

“There is opportunity to do missions around the world, but there’s also so many opportunities to do missions right here in North America,” says John Eigege.

“There are things that we can learn from the perspective of ministries which are doing good work around the gospel and transformation and bringing of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven whatever that context may be.”

Besides the video, Home Missions is providing other resources — including bulletin covers and inserts, children's activity pages, and more — to help Christian Reformed Churches across North America celebrate Easter Sunday. These resources are available at www.crhm.org/easter.