Earlier this year the campus of Obafemi Owolowo University in Ile-Ife was closed unexpectedly for some time. Did our campus staff assigned to OAU just sit idle during that time? Of course not! For a month they went instead to the O.A.U. Pre-degree centre at nearby Moro for evangelism and discipleship. This was a strategic move, because more than 50 percent of these young students may eventually get admission into OAU next session so follow up and discipleship with them would be possible.

The six who were going to this campus (four missionary staff, a volunteer and a student) were able to witness to 158 students through one on one method within these 4 weeks and out these 23 indicated decisions to receive Christ. It was a good experience trying to help these students understand how to receive Christ. They met many who were not sure if Christ was in their lives so they had to take special time to explain to them from the Bible about assurance of God’s salvation.

An example of how God’s timing is right is the young lady whom one of them came across, who had tears in her eyes. The very night before she had had a dream in which she saw that she died after getting admission into Obafemi Awolowo University and she was understandably upset. As the conversation continued, it came to light that she was a recent convert from another religion. We taught her to hold on God’s word and prayed against every wile of the devil.

The team also met many students who belong to another religion and who struggle with the fact that Jesus is the Son of God and He is the only way to heaven. Some made comments which made it difficult to even continue with the witnessing. Nevertheless, a number of these did hear a presentation of the good news of salvation. Please join us in trusting God to bring forth fruit from the Word they have heard.

At the end of the day he told us. He said, “I thank God that I came for this programme. I could not apply these to my children but my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be blessed by this. I will take these points seriously and apply them to my grand and great-grandchildren.  You should not under rate what God can use others to do in your life. When you stop learning you are dead.”

During June to August the Kaduna Family Life team, which is made up entirely of volunteers, also held four Family Life conferences, including one residential weekend conference that was targeted particularly at grandparents. This enthusiastic group of eleven senior couples was ready, like the great-grandpa in Lagos, to pass on what they learned to the younger generations.

The other three conferences, held at various churches in Kaduna, attracted a total of about 130 people. Several indicated decisions for Christ during the meetings, and even more said that they prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Testimonies abound about how the teaching has helped them build more godly marriages and homes. For example, Mrs. N. said, “This conference has taught me to control my anger and to return good for evil, to also respect, honour and remain obedient to my husband in all situations.” Another participant said that the conference has helped him to look inward in the area of conflict resolution and the husband’s role in marriage.”

Pray for all those involved in the Family Life ministry, that they would continue to see people believe in Jesus, allow the Holy Spirit to control them more consistently, and build Christ-honouring marriages and families. Pray that the influence of this ministry would continue to expand into new areas as well.

Though both Comfort and Mercy were keen athletes in school, neither had ever played volleyball. In 2003 and 2005 respectively, God got their attention and they began playing at the Jos Stadium. Both are now on the senior women’s team, and both had the privilege of representing their country at the All Africa Games this year. But getting to Mozambique wasn’t easy. Each girl has a story of God’s faithfulness in the process.

Training for the games began on June 27^th in Abuja. Mercy says, “When I got to camp, I wasn’t impressed with my game. I wasn’t playing my best and I didn’t know why. I talked to God about it, and he encouraged me. Gradually, my game improved.” But then she began to have back pain. Again she prayed, and was able to continue playing despite the pain.

Comfort, too, experienced some challenges and God’s miraculous intervention. Toward the time of team selection, she began to hear from one source or another that she might not make the team. Her teammates advised her to play to impress the coaches, to ensure she makes it. She refused, quoting 2 Cor. 10:18 which says, “For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” She decided to simply play her best and trust the Lord, but when the names of those going to Mozambique were posted her name was not among them. In tears, she prayed, and God told her to be still and continue to trust him. She started packing to leave camp, and in fact was already at the motor park when she received a call from her coach telling her to return to camp. And that is how God got her on the national team, which played in the Nations’ Cup in Kenya and then at the All Africa Games in Mozambique.

These two women are part of the AIA (Athletes in Action) discipleship ministry of the Great Commission Movement in Jos. They meet once a week for discipleship where Mercy says, “I have really learned to study God’s Word and to hear from him day by day. When I study his Word, there is a comfort that man cannot give.”  Comfort says that through their studies she has really understood that as Christian athletes they play for God’s glory and not their own, or their team’s.

GCM Staff meeting for discipleship with athletes.

God is using these godly young women to bring others into his kingdom and cause them to mature in faith also. For example, early this year Comfort took up badminton as a second game. Over time, her godly responses to the happenings on the team drew the attention of the other players. The difference in her conduct became so glaring that the coach also noticed and they all became inquisitive. Comfort could not but share some of the biblical principles she has learnt through the AIA ministry. She let them know that these have served as spiritual pillars for her, that they have helped her remain steady and focused as she plays both within and outside the country.

Moreover, Comfort saw that members of her badminton team were eager to hear the gospel and be discipled. Along with GCMN staff member Eunece (who disciples her) she made plans to reach out to them. After some time of prayer and planning, they asked the coach for permission to meet with the team for this purpose. Several attempts had been made to work with this team before, but this time God had worked through Comfort, and the coach gladly gave them free access to the team, and his blessing! Already, some of the players are meeting for discipleship. Indeed, when an athlete is living for Christ, his or her peers would be affected for God.

These were the words of a man in a village in the core-North of Nigeria as GCMN staff and volunteers came to his village to conduct a Jesus film showing in the Hausa language. Their visit was just part of a much larger plan to reach five LGAs in that influential state, so that the indigenes would have an opportunity to know who Jesus really is and choose to follow Him.

The project had begun much earlier, when our staff mobilized pastors of the churches in the capital city of that state and invited them to a vision-casting conference in January this year. This was aimed at creating awareness of the Great Commission Movement, and of the plan to target five LGAs in their state. They hoped to have the city pastors behind the project so as to advise, support and pray for the village outreach. They also wanted to expose the pastors to some effective strategies of evangelism that they could use in their own ministries. These aims were indeed achieved. One pastor said, “This is my very first experience with the Great Commission Movement of Nigeria and I dare say I am well blessed. In this seminar, my eyes have been opened to the fact that I have not really been doing what I am supposed to do, partly out of ignorance…. I now know that I have a duty to reach out to the world and make disciples of all nations.”

Next, church leaders and members were mobilized from the existing churches in the target LGAs, and training was held for them at the end of March, in two centres. At the end of that training five of them were selected to join three GCMN workers to carry out the Jesus film “saturation” campaign in the target areas in early May. All of these eight people (except one who has worked for many years in the area) are indigenous Hausa Christians, since they are the best ones to evangelize their own people. Most of the people attending this training were pastors, and GCMN appreciates the very fruitful partnership with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the area, which did much of the recruitment for the training.

Besides recruiting volunteers for the saturation campaign, this training had many benefits for those who attended. One pastor said, “I have witnessed before and I was only happy with those who prayed to receive Christ. I was ashamed and did not testify about those who did not believe. I have now learnt the secret of success in witnessing. It was a relief to me. I used to see things half way”. (As always, we tried to get people see that success in witnessing is simply sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.) Another pastor testified, “I have also learned to insist on encouraging a new convert without giving up on the person too soon.” A woman church leader said, “Prior to this training, when a person I witness to tells me that he or she is a Christian, I will just leave the person. That ends the witnessing. I have made lots of mistakes in the past. Now I know that I should not just leave the person like that but I need to push further.”

Having completed the training, our staff put a plan in place to begin saturating the area with the Jesus film in Hausa language, as soon as the national elections in April had finished. They did the film shows during May and June. Over eleven thousand people watched the film in 42 villages, with nearly 500 indicating decisions for Christ. Apart from those who gave their lives to Christ during the Jesus film shows, the number of conversions keeps on increasing as the volunteers conduct follow-up meetings. For example, in one village where 12 people gathered for follow-up, eight of them indicated that they were ready to believe in Christ for the very first time. In a period of about three months about 100 such decisions have been recorded. Praise God for drawing these people to faith in Him.

Finally, we thank God for how he is using the project to revive and encourage existing churches and Christians. In village N. the church had been quite divided and members didn’t attend any activities beyond Sunday morning service. The pastor asked our workers to help him in devising a strategy to unify members. A follow-up and discipleship meeting on Sunday is helping not only to unify them, but also to increase their Biblical knowledge, and the pastor is much encouraged. In village G.N. the church had actually given up meeting altogether. Our volunteer workers have begun a Wednesday evening discipleship group there with an encouraging turn out, and Sunday services have been revived. Praise God for what he is doing in this part of the country.
Another reason to praise God is the growth being experienced by Christians as they listen to the Bible in their own language. GCMN has been thankful for our partnership with another ministry which provides recordings of scripture in various languages loaded on a simple playback device called a “proclaimer”. In one village eager members of a scripture listening group asked, “Please give us one proclaimer. We need it so that it will serve as our pastor when you are not here.” In another village, one of the listeners declared, “We have been going to Church but we don’t know anything about what we believe until after listing to the audio Bible. Our eyes have been opened to know God better.”