Our Story
A ministry born in the middle of conflict, shaped by the conviction that no Muslim is beyond the reach of the Gospel — and that Christian families are God's primary missionary strategy.
A Conviction Takes Root
Call to Obedience Ministry Nigeria was born from a simple, radical conviction: that no follower of Jesus has the right to look at a Muslim neighbor and call them unreachable. The founders of CTOMN believed that the barrier was not spiritual — it was linguistic, cultural, and strategic.
In 2013, Rev. Umar Ado — himself a former Muslim from Plateau State — gathered a small group of Christian leaders who shared this conviction. They asked a pointed question: What would it look like to carry the Gospel to Nigerian Muslims not with confrontation, but with fluency? Not with condescension, but with the depth and precision that Islamic scholarship respects?
The answer was Classical Language.
“The Gospel is not new to this land. It has simply not been offered in the language of those who most need to hear it.”
The Early Years: School and Service
CTOMN was formally registered in 2014. The first major program was the Classical Language School — a rigorous curriculum designed not to produce converts to Islam, but to equip Christian evangelists with the linguistic and theological tools needed to engage Muslim communities in their own intellectual tradition.
The early cohorts were small. Resources were scarce. But word spread. Students who completed the program reported dramatically improved conversations with Muslim friends, colleagues, and neighbors. The approach worked.
In 2015, the Beacon of Light School opened its doors. Located in a conflict-affected community, the school accepted children without discrimination — including children from Muslim families. Education, CTOMN believed, was a form of mercy. And mercy opens hearts.
Growth Through Crisis
Plateau State's Middlebelt region has been marked by cycles of inter-communal violence for decades. As conflict intensified between farming and herding communities — conflict with deep ethnic and religious dimensions — the number of displaced persons grew sharply.
CTOMN expanded its mandate. In 2019, the Women, Children & Vulnerable (WCV) Program was formally established to provide trauma-informed care, psychosocial support, and economic empowerment for women and children most affected by conflict and displacement.
In 2021, the Ministry launched its social enterprise arm — a Guest House and Internet Café designed to generate sustainable revenue and reduce dependence on external funding. The enterprises serve the local community and fund the ministry simultaneously.
“Mercy is not a strategy. But it is often the first language God uses to open a heart. We have seen it happen.”
Cairo, Conflict, and Expansion
In 2022, CTOMN formalized a landmark partnership with Dar Cambony in Cairo, Egypt — one of the world's foremost centres of Classical Language scholarship. The Classical Language Training Exchange Program sends selected CTOMN students to Cairo for advanced immersion training, returning with the kind of scholarly depth that makes engagement with Islamic institutions credible and productive.
On December 24, 2023, coordinated attacks struck Christian communities across Plateau State. Hundreds were killed. Thousands were displaced. CTOMN mobilized immediately — providing food, shelter coordination, and trauma support to over 200 families in the immediate aftermath.
The attacks did not slow the ministry. They clarified the calling. The need is not theoretical. The mission is not optional. CTOMN continues to grow — seeking $200,000 to expand the WCV program, deepening its Classical Language curriculum, and expanding the reach of the Beacon of Light School.
“We did not choose this context. But we choose to stay — because the Gospel is most powerful precisely where suffering is most acute.”
The Founder
Rev. Umar Ado
Founder & Executive Director, CTOMN
Rev. Umar Ado grew up in Plateau State, Nigeria — a region defined by the intersection of Christian and Muslim communities, by fertile farmland and recurring conflict. His personal story includes a journey from Islam to faith in Jesus Christ, a journey that gave him both the empathy and the vocabulary to carry the Gospel across the divide he once crossed himself.
His conviction that Classical Language was the key to unlocking Muslim hearts was not theoretical — it was born from years of personal experience, failed and successful conversations, and the recognition that intellectual engagement, when done with love and precision, opens what confrontation closes.
He founded CTOMN in 2014 with the goal of building an organization that could sustain the mission beyond any one person — through institutions, trained staff, documented methods, and a model replicable across Nigeria and the African continent.
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