The 2024 African Missions Leadership Institute(AMLI) Program

 

Who should apply?

The pre-field missions training is excellent but the landscapes of missions have changed tremendously. The need for upgrading our knowledge can not be overemphasized. Applicants must have served as a missionary for at least 10 years, a leader of ministry intending to incorporate missions as central in their ministry, or a mission executive with five years of work experience. Candidates may include alumni of AMLI and strong individual contributors with supervisory aspirations and those in managerial positions who are growing in the leadership phase of their ministry. Applicants should have a strong desire to move to the next level of excellence in missions.

When is the Program?

October 24-31, 2024 

Sessions are generally intensive as one whole month program is condensed into one week. During the training, candidates will participate in a 3-day Pioneer Missionaries Conference (PMC) and Mission Festival marking the 35th year of Grace Foundations' labor in the dark places of the earth.  

Where is this located?

School of Cross-Cultural Missions, Grace Foundation Headquarters, Zarazong New Layout, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.

How much does it cost?

$50 (N79,000)

The fee is subsidized to cover feeding. accommodation, tuition, utilities, etc.
Limited scholarship funding is available for candidates from individuals and nonprofits.

September 2018 Missions Update

Calvary Greeting in Jesus name. We praise God for the grace, help, and blessing this past month. There is no doubt that mission work is getting tougher for us now more than ever, but we can also testify that the grace of God is stronger than ever.  Thank you so much for your prayers. As usual, we want to share with you some of the critical things God has done for us/through us that you need to join us to praise God for and to also share some essential prayer points.

Missionaries' Son Came Back to Life

Luka & Esther Iliya and the baby

The son of one of our missionary couple in the Benin Republic, Luka Iliya and his wife passed on recently. This is the second time they are losing their child to death in the past two years. While preparation was being put in place to bury the child, he came back to life. This miracle is beyond what we can express with words. The news shocked everyone around in the community. We are grateful to God that affliction did not arise the second time. Please, join us to praise God and also pray along with us for divine protection for this couple, their family and the all our missionaries laboring in dangerous fields. The spiritual warfares are intense, but we continue to rely on God for His mercies and the prayer of the saints.

The Internally Displaced Camps: A New Frontier

At the Heipang Internally Displaced Camp

You may be aware of the continued attacks on Plateau State villages resulting in the death of over 200 persons by now.  Several thousand of persons were also displaced from their ancestral homes. They live in scattered camps across the state. The situation in the camps is very pathetic. In addition to praying for them, we trusted God for the practical way we could help them. God provided. Recently, in collaboration with Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association (NEMA) and Tabitha Arise, we bought 11 bags of rice, six bags of gari, clothes, toiletries and took to them, Those items were like a drop of water in the ocean. Pray that God should bless the partners that made the donations possible and for more provisions. Pray that God will bless all our partners that make the donation possible.

One Collapsed Church Rebuilt, One Other in Progress
It is also no longer new that four of our worship centers in very critical mission fields where no

New Dir Church building

church existed collapsed one of those fields is over 90% Islamic. We prayed for God’s intervention. To God’s glory, we had rebuild  Dir church to the point that it can be used for worship. We still have some finishing touches to make when the Lord provides the necessary fund. Please join us to thank God that the Dirawas have a place that they could gather to worship God again. We also resume work on the Samunika church, and it is halfway built. Please, join us to thank the Lord for his help thus far and pray that God will provide for us to complete it.

Souls Embrace His Lordship
Thank God with us for the souls that are drawn to the Lord at the various mission fields. It is difficult to disciple convert during raining/ farming seasons like this. Please pray for wisdom for all our missionaries on how to effectively overcome this challenge.

Prayer Need
1. The 2018 edition of the Advanced Mission Leadership Course is around the corner,  October 1-7, 2018. Please pray that God will provide the fund for our missionaries that have been shortlisted to join leaders of other organizations for the course. We need the training to move to a higher level. Pray for open heaven for the programs.
2. On October 4-6, 2018, we will be hosting our 3rd Annual Student/Youth Mission Summit. It is a deliberate, determined and conscious effort we are making to integrate the youth in missions.  Please, pray that the Lord will honor and breath on these efforts to yield fruits that will impact the nations.
3. As the season for heavy rainfall gradually ceases, we have scheduled monthly outdoor crusade in October, November, and December.  Pray along with us that the next one planned for Furaka will bring souls to Christ.
4. The kids at the Home of Grace (HOG) enjoyed their holiday. They returned to school this week.  We have paid the school fees of some of them and bought their textbooks, but we still covet your prayers for the fund to take care of the remaining kids and sort out their outstanding school fees. Pray that they all enjoy good health during the new term. We have a new girl, Alheri. Pray that God bless help her as she adjusts to the home. We have adopted another orphan for home-based care. She was withdrawn from school when she lost her father. Thank God, she is back at school.
5. We have enjoyed peace in the city of Jos and our Furaka mission base in particular for the past three years. It is not the same for the villages around us. Please, we covet prayers that God would bring to an end this continue attacks, killings, and destructions that is ongoing.

Conclusion:
Thank you so much for being always there for us. Your prayers and finances have helped us much. We continue to count on you. We pray for you very often, and we trust God to bless you, contend with every power that contends against you and gives you victory on all sides. We appreciate you dearly. Thank you so much.

His bound servant,
Andrew Abah.

Understanding Terrorism

Welcome to Advanced Missions Leadership Course (AMLC 2018)

Thank you for registering for the Advanced Missions Leadership Course (AMLC 2018). It is a special privilege to receive you in Jos and a great honor to host you here for the next one week. The program kicks off today, October 1, 2018. As believers in Christ Jesus, we are enjoined to know what will happen many years ahead. Knowing ahead will prepare us for the time we have found ourselves now. As leaders, in particular, we can best prepare our followers for the realities of terrorism based on the understanding we have.

In 2 Timothy 3:1, Apostle Paul urged Timothy to KNOW that in the last days, PERILOUS times shall come. Some other version used the word UNDERSTAND while the New Living Translation stresses that it will be DIFFICULT to be a Christian. The Message Bible begins it with “Don’t be naive.” The Philips Bible says the last days will be “full of danger.” Sadly, many Christian including mission leaders are being caught unaware.

That day is here with us - the day of terrorism. If we have the knowledge Apostle Paul wrote about, it will prepare us for the worst. We will strategize. We will not be caught unaware. Of course, it will still be challenging to remain a Christian and like you may have noticed that providing leadership for mission work is tougher to ever.

A substantial part of the AMLC 2018 will be devoted to understanding/ preparing for the reality of terrorism. Terrorism is as old as the Bible. In fact, the Devil is a terrorist. But the current dimension of terrorism is staggering. We will all serve as a think-tank for the greater body of Christ as we pray and brainstorm on what should be the missions best practices at such a time like these as most of this current realities were not taught in our Bible Schools, Seminaries and even in our School of Missions.

As we prepare for the course, please ponder on the following questions in the context of the intensive terrorism across the globe today:

1.  Should we forget about pressing on to closed nations/new frontiers with the current challenges of terrorism?

2.  Should we move our missionaries from the field because of threat and impending attacks?

3. Do we have any budget for emergencies and how much will be enough - if the missionaries die or have to be evacuated in the heat of terrorist attack?

4. What can we do to check the increasing rate of missionary attrition in the face of the alarming rate of terrorism?

5. What can we do to address the shortage of challenges of recruiting new missionaries?

6. What are our experiences with Boko Haram, Fulani Militia and related challenges in our locations?

I hope you arrive ready to engage our resource persons. They are all experienced resource persons in their various fields but we are still dependent on the Holy Spirit to lead us through. We are incredibly privileged in this session to have:

1.     Professor Samuel Odeh, a MET Alumni and one of the founding faculty member of School of Cross-Cultural Missions, Jos handling Missions in Marketplace

2.     Dr. Sam Alaha, also a MET alumni and President of Faithway Ministries speaking at our Crusades.

3.     Dr. Samuel Afolabi, a MET Alumni/Faculty addressing Leadership and  Marital Challenge Management

4.     Brother Ikechukwu Ugwuanyi, Mission leader and Discipler with Hospital Chapel, Abuja teaching Discipleship: Christ Enduring Leadership Strategy

5.     Rev. John Olanrewaju, President of Living Word Outreach and Missionary at Zamfara State speaking on Leading Mission Work in Times of Terrorism.

6.     Gideon Odoma, President of Fortress Ministry, speaking on Leadership and Apologetics.

7.     Rev. Bala  Usman, immediate past National Director, NIFES speaking on The Next Generation

8.     & Dr. Bitrus Audu, President of Christ Missionary Outreach(CMO)addressing us on Current Trends in Global Missions 

Two of the night sessions will be devoted to open-air outreach while the rest will be dedicated to research and assignment. Your laptop and internet devices will be required. We may take time to visit one or two churches involved in the Great Commission and a fraction of a day to visit the museum/zoo for relaxation if the time permits. Other issues in this year's curriculum are:

1.     Security Issues & Political Integration

2.     Leadership Principles in Missions

3.     Leadership and  Marital Challenge Management

4.      Finances in Ministries & Missions

5.     Preparing for Foreign Missions/Exploring Opportunities for Foreign Missions

6.      The Next Generation and Remaining Unreached Peoples

I certainly believe that the time we will stay together here will be fruitful. God bless you. You are highly welcome.

ADVANCED MISSIONS LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE - 2016 Invitation

I bring you greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the master of the harvest.

This is a personal letter to you and a few others that are networking with me in frontier missions. You will agree with me that the battle for the nations is getting fiercer by the day. It is apparent that we must update our strategy if we must fully enthrone His Lordship over territories that the devil still lay claim on. we thank God for the mission training you already had, but the need for retraining is a must!

It is on this note that I am inviting you to attend the Advanced Missions Leardership Institute (AMLI) for 2016. The course is not open to all missionaries. It is for key leaders and the course fee is N35,000/$100. N50,000 for married couples. The fee covers accommodation, feeding, transportation within Jos and course materials from October 18^th (6pm) to October 24^th, 2016. Full attendance is not negotiable. The areas of this year’s  course will focus on are:

•   Networking in Missions
•   Remaining Unreached Peoples Group
•   Integrity Issues in Missions
•   Preparing for Foreign Missions
•  Current Trends in Global Missions
•  The Next Generation
•   Advancing Missions via ICT &
•   Coping With Financial Pressures in Missions.

You have the liberty to extend the invitation to missiionaryies who have spent at least seven years in frontier missions after pre-field training, heads of mission agencies and heads of mission department in churches and para-mission organizations. Below are excerpts of testimonies of some of the AMLI graduates:

From my personal experience as a participant in AMLI 2014, I can bodly say that it is the best resourceful program of GFIM for mission executives and practitioners as it tillt to address the current needs and challenges of ministry in this difficult times and proffer time tested approaches to overcoming them. I have adopted several notes from the materials in the capacity building of mission workers in our ministry after then sincere thanks to Rev. Andrew Abah for the unrelenting efforts on matters of missions and missionaries.

-Rev. Dr. Peter Okoh, Retired Deputy Commissioner of Police and General Overseer, Christian Life Evangelical Ministry

''I recommend AMLI for every Missions Leader. It is a rejuvenating, empowering and transformational time in the presence of God. It is a must for every leader to attend. The facilitators are seasoned leaders who speak the current mind of God. The curriculum is relevant but undiluted''.

-Basupi Thsepang, National Director, Calvary(CAPRO), Botswana.

Welcome Charge - 2016 AMLI Session

Dearly Beloved 2016 AMLI Candidate,

Andrew Abah

International Director

It is a special privilege to welcome you to the 2016 session of the Advanced Missions Leadership Institute (AMLI) and to host you for the next one week. I trust it will be an excellent experience as we pray together, learn together and explore ways we can network together.

As you can see from the lecture schedule, I will be handling the bulk of the courses.  It is deliberate, and it is in the spirit of and the essence of the course. I had labored among people in the dark places of the earth since 1984 when God in His wisdom deployed me to work among the Aiona people. Within these past 32 years, the Lord has helped me through several experiences both bad and good. Also, the landscape of missions has become more dynamic than ever. The seminary and mission training we had decades ago have become obsolete. We can no longer use it to confront the realities of closed nations, terrorist constituencies, and many hardened unreached peoples of our time, today.

Also, the global opportunities opening up today given the increase in technology is being left for the Devil to explore. If the trend does not change, the future generation is at risk. I have been at the forefront of technology crusade - mobilizing mission leaders across the continent and beyond to engage the tool to reach the unreached nations. I am committed to transferring as much knowledge as possible before ''the night comes''. I insist that the skill is simple and transferable. Any level of missionary can use technology to advance world mission.

This session we are bringing on board, Israel Olowookere, the Research Secretary of Calvary ministry as usual. He will highlight on the staggering volume of unreached people with a focus on the South East and South-South of Nigeria. We have resources covering the least reached groups in Nigeria.

Also, we are bringing on board Adesina Emmanuel to facilitate the lecture on the Next Generation. He is passionate about this and all my life; I have known him to invest in

youths and teenagers, the hope of the next generation. Some of those he worked on are today adults working on other lives.

As you are aware of, Jos city is home to headquarters of mission agencies that have affected many nations of the world like Evangelical Missionary Society (EMS), Calvary Ministries (CAPRO), Agape Missions, SIM, etc. and movements like Nigeria Evangelical Missions Associations (NEMA). We will squeeze out time to some of the organizations and interact with them.

We urge you to maximize your stay and trust that the training session will improve your life and ministry to a level that is beyond your imaginations and prayers.

Our approach in AMLI is that we all learn together. The lecturers will simply facilitate. Do not hoard your experiences, bring them to the table and let us learn from you. I also trust that my 27 years of leading Grace Foundation, a wholly indigenous mission agencies will benefit you. May it be a time of bonding for us all. May the Lord visit us with His mercy as we find the grace that will help us at this critical time of need. May this moment be a time of healing and blessings of all sorts.

Thank you for availing yourself irrespective of your very tight schedule. Thank you for the confidence reposed on us. Thank you for the privilege of learning together.

His bondservant

Rev. Andrew Abah

International Director

Pioneer Set

Pioneer Students of Advanced Missions Leadership Institute