The Christian Reformed Church, Nigeria (CRC-N) came into being after many years of effort on the part of Sudan Unite Mission (SUM). In 1904 the SUM under the leadership of Dr. Herman Karl Kum, sailed to Nigeria together with others as; Ambrose H Bateman, John G Burt and J. Lowry Maxwell. After receiving permission by the then British High Commissioner in Northen Nigeria to establish the Mission Center at Wase, so the party travelled from Lokoja and arrived at Ibi on 3^rd September, 1904. From there they moved to Wase and arrived the town on 8^th October, 1904. To spread the gospel, Mr. John Burt travelled to Wukari in April 1905, and made a second trip at the end of the year with J. Lowry Maxwell; hence their first attempt to preach the gospel there. Consequently, Wukari became a new Mission station that was occupied by Young and Maxwell on 29^th May, 1906.

Subsequently, Burt and Maxwell travelled to Donga from Wukari in consideration of its navigable route from Ibi.

After the Christ mas of 1906, Maxwell relocated to Donga and started preaching the gospel there and was joined by Hoover, Guinter and Derr at the end of January 1907, culminating to Donga becoming the center of their work in the region.

The Church in Donga was constituted as a consistory (LCC) on 17^th June 1917. Between 1910 and 1920, several visits were made to Lupwe, Takum area for possible expansion of the gospel. In 1916, Mr. Filibus Ashu Angyu was the first indigenous missionary to start work in Takum before the arrival of the foreign missionaries. A mission station was established and built in Lupwe in 1919 by Mr. William Nuckle Bristow. In February 1921, Mr. Whiteman and Miss Johanna Veenstra arrived the new station at Lupwe.

Another congregation started in Ibi in 1922. The gospel spread further Nyita in 1936 through the efforts of Mr. Edgar Smith and Siman Atajiri. In 1937, Mr. Istifanus Audu, Edgar Smith, Musa Chiroma, and Habila Adda took the gospel to Kurmi area. Thus the gospel spread out to the three major tribes in Kurmi. All these personalities that carried the gospel to these areas were volunteers; they were not on any pay.

CRCNA Take – Over

Before her death, Johanna Veenstra, a member of the Christian Reformed Church came under the umbrella of SUM had made necessary preparation for the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) to take over the mission fields established in the region. in 1940, the CRCNA officially took over the mission field which comprised of Ibi, Wukari, and Donga mission stations. It is this mission field that is now known as CRC-N.

Birth of Indigenous Church

The mission field was declared indigenous church for the first time during it first meeting at Ibi on 25^th July, 1951 with the name “Ekklisiyar Kristi a Sudan” (EKAS) Lardin Benue (The Church of Christ in Sudan, Benue Region). The church was registered by the Nigerian Government in August 1960, just few months to Nigeria independence. The church became a legally constituted autonomous body incorporated under the Land Act CAP 98 in Lagos with the name Ekklisiyar Kristi a Nigeria (EKAN).

Due to changes in the national geography as more states were created, the need to change the name became necessary. The church became Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRCN) in 1967.