December update

Dear friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of Jesus our Lord.

There is an air of excitement at the Seminary today. Everyone is busy getting ready for the baccalaureate service this evening and the graduation tomorrow (3rd). The baccalaureate service is when all the awards are given to the students who have excelled in one area or another during their studies. It is more like a family get-together whereas the graduation is more formal though still enjoyable. This year we will only have 65 students graduating. Normally it is a larger number than this but many of the degree students were unable to complete writing their theses on time. This probably means the number who graduate next year will be larger. Pray for our graduates as they plan what they will do next.

Since our prayer letter sent out last month, our provost has written to the Board of Governors requesting he step down from the position of provost. He will have been there for nine years by the end of this year. Normally ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All), which owns the Seminary, gives people such appointments for six years but some people go beyond that as is the case here. Our provost has helped the Seminary to develop in terms of structures and starting higher level programmes of study. He still wants to stay here and teach at the Seminary. The ECWA executive has agreed he should step down.

We are expecting Dr Sunday Agang to come as the new provost. He is presently the Academic Dean at the ECWA Theological Seminary at Jos (JETS). Pray for him as he takes on this new responsibility and for JETS as they select a new Dean. Assuming Prof. Kafang stays here, pray for a good working relationship at the Seminary.

November seems to be a month when people like to visit! We have had visitors from Canada, Australia, the USA and Northern Ireland in the last few weeks. It is great to enjoy the bond that unites us in Christ and we are always happy when people visit the ministry here so they can pray for the work and, possibly, encourage others to join us in missions.

In less than two weeks we will back in the UK. As I look out the window the sky is that continuous blue you often have in jigsaw puzzles. You know the kind where it is easy to put in the pieces where the tree branches are but the rest is more challenging since there are no clouds. The temperature here starts at a modest 22C in the morning and rises to 33C by mid-afternoon. We will be saying goodbye to both these circumstances soon but it will be good to be back in the UK. Seeing family and friends will more than compensate for those cold, dark, winter days.

Now we just have to tackle the marking and packing things away. Pray we get most of the marking done on time and for Debbie who has two meetings in Jos next week in connection with the Africa Christian Textbooks ministry (ACTS).

Thanks for your prayers and we wish you all a happy Christmas and New Year. (2 Cor. 9:15).

In Christ,

David and Debbie