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.