FEBRUARY 2022 MISSIONS' UPDATE

Calvary greetings in Jesus' name. We are extremely grateful to God for the incredible help we have received from Him to soar in the work He has committed into our hands amidst dangers and numerous challenges this year. We are also grateful to you for availing yourself to support us in prayers and sacrificing financially to keep the work going. So many things have happened that are mind-blowing, and we need to keep you updated, so you know that your partnership with us is yielding a very bountiful harvest.

Prayer, Salvation, and Discipleship

We began the year with fasting and prayers in our mission fields, chapters, and headquarters for one
week. We met every day to seek the face of God corporately as well as encouraged individuals to seek the Lord.

Response to the altar call at IBC 2022

Just after the prayers, we continued with our soul-winning project. In January 2022 alone, we had over 100 persons surrender their lives to Christ from across literally almost all the mission fields. We had converts from both pagan and Muslim backgrounds. Some who left the faith due to pressures were restored.  The bulk of the number of persons that surrendered their lives to Christ did so at the various Indigenous Believers Camp meetings (IBC) we had in January 2022

Discipleship efforts have continued to wax stronger and stronger. Besides the individual missionary efforts that are constantly in place to help the converts to become like Jesus, the IBC 2022 served as a perfect platform where we met with the indigenous believers and spent quality time to teach them God/s word and pray for/with them. Our theme at the IBC 2022 was True Christianity at Critical Times.

Insecurity

God granted our team journey mercies as we traveled from one field from one part of the country to another end of the country amidst multiplied levels and dimensions of insecurities both on the highways, the thick forests, and the mission fields, where the unreached people largely dwells. At one of our trips, one of our Kamberi converts located at Tugan Haske mission field, Dauda Debi, was shot dead by the bandits. While we were there, the bandits struck in nearby villages. Our team has returned, but our field missionaries, who are the grassroots harvest force, cannot vacate the fields, neither can the converts leave their villages. Boko Haram has already hoisted their flags in neighboring Local Government Areas. We appeal to you to kindly intensify your prayers for the missionaries, converts, and people we reach out to.  Missionaries are in short supply. We don’t want to lose them to either death or attrition.

Church Building, Mission Houses and Borehole Project

In answer to our prayers, God provided resources to complete the roof of the Ahole church building in the Niger Republic. We have also sent the missionaries an additional N620,000 for the doors and windows and installation. We are now trusting God for the plastering, flooring, and chairs.

At Bum, the converts have built a three-bedroom flat from a foundation to the window level for their missionaries. They have exhausted the money that they have and pleaded for ministry headquarters to help. God has graciously enabled us to provide N1,461,000 for the roofing. Pray with us for funds for doors, windows, plastering, and flooring.

Kamberi field is one of our oldest mission fields, with no fewer than 16 mission stations. Unfortunately, they have challenges with drinking water. They use the motorcycle to fetch untreated water from a distant dam. In January, God provided N600,000 for a borehole at the Kamberi mission headquarters. Please, pray along for resources to provide a borehole for other mission fields in dire needs.

Last year, two of our motorcycles were stolen. One belongs to Yakubu Ishaya, who is on transfer to the Benin Republic now from Kamberi field, and the other belongs to the Boubacars in Ahole, Niger Republic. God provided resources for us to replace that of Yakubu Ishaya because of the critically urgent need for it. We also bought a new motorcycle for the missionary at Bankoula, Niger Republic, Pastor Harouna Tienogo, and his wife, Amina.

Home of Grace (HOG) and Widows Care

Kids at the Home of Grace (HOG) are fine. Siblings of some of the orphans we adopted from the IDP camps were begging for some to be released to spend their Christmas in their new villages where they now settle. We did release them, but unfortunately, on their return, we had various challenges of negative influences. A 13-year-old girl, for example, was influenced by a villager that she should return to the village to get married. The experience is a very sobering one. It demonstrated that so much of what we thought we had achieved in impacting their lives is not correct. Please, join us to pray that Christ is formed in all the children.

However, we're encouraged that for some of the children, the holiday was like going on a short-term mission trip. They preached and testified of how God backed them up by opening the eyes of their siblings to experience the love of God despite the difficulties they were going through. They have all returned to school, and the school fees of most of them have been paid. Their study center is completed, so they have a good reading environment to study now.

We consistently provide succor for the widows under our Widows Care Program (WCP). In addition to the missionaries wife on the list, one of our partners provides resources to support the wives of two missionaries that recently passed on in December. They were encouraged, and we are glad we put smiles on their faces. The widow’s housing support could not kick off because of a lack of support. We, however, still trust the Lord that before the next rainy season, we will at least re-roof one of the widow’s (Missionary’s wife) houses. Please, pray along with us that God would raise men and women who will provide funds to support wives of missionaries who died on their duty posts.

Missions Training

Internship at Niger Republic

Our missionary trainees have almost completed two months of their second internship. We have a couple from Niger serving in the Benin Republic. Abdul Rasheed from Cameroon is serving among the Zullawas, Hassan, Garba, Aisha, and Alisabatu are serving at Niger republic; the others are serving at Kamberi and Oma fields. We are deeply encouraged by the testimonies/reports we are getting on most of them.

The admission process is already on for the next batch. Please, pray with us as we take very serious decisions on who to admit and who not. Also, pray for sponsorship. Our new class has a capacity for 40 trainees, but the cost of training is ridiculously high now.

Staff Matters

Thank you so much for your prayers for Andrew Marafa. We still believe in God to restore his sight. The good news is that he is in sound spirit, and the sight challenge has not affected him in any way. He headed the prayer band of our recently concluded Indigenous Believers Campmeeting, and he did very well. His Regional Director also reported that he is doing very well in evangelism, discipleship, and pioneer church planting.

Iliya Luka and his wife have been transferred to Kebbi State to head the team while Ishaya Yakubu takes over in the Benin Republic.

Yohanna and Linda Ali left the Bolu mission field in November 2021. He has not written a formal letter of resignation, nor has he handed over the resources belonging to the field in his possession.  Pastor Sabo Tella and his family resumed on the field in December 2021 and have been doing well. We pray God to bless Yohanna and Linda Ali in their future endeavors and are grateful for the period they served with us. Pray for Pastor Sabo Tella that God Almighty will help him and his family move the work to the next level.

We are in the process of recruiting ten additional missionaries. Pray that the Lord will guide us in the selection process and not make mistakes.  Pray that God would raise partners who will adopt the new missionaries for monthly financial upkeep and regular prayer support.

Mission Events

We will have our maiden Discipleship Making Movement (DMM) Course on March 11-13, 2022, at our

James Forline, President of Final Command
Lead Resource Person, Disciples Making Movement

Zarazong Mission Base, Jos East, Nigeria. The theme is:  Multiplying the Harvest.

Our 27th African Missions Summit is scheduled for March 16 to 20, 2022, at Zarazong Mission Base, Jos East, Nigeria. The theme is The Shakings and the Nations.

Missions Exposures and Training (MET) will resume in Pretoria, South Africa, on March 2022 with the Advance Church Leadership course and in October 2022 for the Missions for Church Leaders (MCL) course. The course fee for both is $850 and is not negotiable. Interested candidates have to apply on time to have ample time to process visas.

Kingdom Bride, in collaboration with Grace Foundation, will hold an intensive Short Term Cross-Cultural Missions Training to be anchored by our training team on May 1-14, 2022, at Ugep, Cross-River State.

Please, pray for the success of these programs for an open heaven and that Covid 19 will no longer raise its ugly head in Jesus' name.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for the role God has used you to play to bring the ministry to this height. As usual, missions generally are challenging and sometimes frustrating, but God, through your prayers and financial support, has helped us immensely. The results we are seeing with the growing number of persons embracing the Lordship of Jesus are quite encouraging. As we continue with our forceful advancement into newer missions’ frontiers, we will continue to rely on God to use you to partner with us to capture more ground. In the words of Oswald J. Smith, withdrawing from your partnership is equal to withdrawing those your support is sustaining. Reducing your support is equivalent to reducing the number of missionaries. Increasing your support equals increasing the harvest force to capture more territories.

We are praying for you and your household always. God will continue to bless you in all dimensions this year. Thank you so much.