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

November prayer letter

Dear friends,

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

Colleagues
Dennis and Coletta Shelly will be spending Christmas in the US with their son and daughter but be back in time for the new semester to start in January. We are expecting a new family to join the work at Kagoro soon. Rick and Alanna Creighton are originally from Northern Ireland but have been living in England for some years. They have three young children (the youngest, Jack, was born in October) and SIM is renovating a house at the Seminary for them to use. They hope to arrive in mid-February so pray for them as they make this relocation. Though both Rick and Alanna have been to Nigeria before for short trips, moving here to live will be a major adjustment. Rick is presently completing a doctorate in ethics and theology and will be lecturing at the Seminary. We expect Alanna will be fully occupied at home.

Another answer to prayer for teachers is the arrival of Dr. Gabriel Olaniyan who had been in pastoral ministry for some years and has recently completed a doctorate in Christian Education. We have needed and were praying for someone in this field of study so he will definitely strengthen the faculty in his area of expertise.

Home assignment

We will be back in the UK in December and start taking meetings in January 2012. Pray for the Provost as he selects someone to take on the work of the registrar while I am away. During this time of ‘home assignment’ we will be staying in a house on the Ballygowan road out of Belfast owned by our friends Rev. Mark and Elaine Shaw who are in the Presbyterian ministry in Strabane. We thank the Lord for this provision especially since the apartment we have been using in recent years isn’t available.
We are looking forward to seeing many of you soon. Our contact details will be the usual ones for our times in the UK with phones being: 07810203459 for Debbie and 07833145995 for me. You should be able to contact us on these numbers from 15th December. Apart from these, our usual email addresses will work such as david.colvin@sim.org but if you want to send large attachments (i.e. greater than 1M) please use colvin@runbox.com. Please address any normal letters for us to my Mum’s address: 29 Woodvale Crescent, Moneymore, Co. Londonderry, BT45 7PT. Thanks.

Graduation

Our last few weeks here will be busy as we try to finish teaching, marking and packing some things away. The graduation is set for 3rd December and the semester ends just one week later. It is always great to see our students graduate and go off into full-time service. Pray for them as they each seek God’s guidance for the next step (Psalm 31:3).

Curriculum review

Thanks for praying for the curriculum review. Our committee of eight spent three days at the SIM guest house in Miango to work on this. We were able to finalize the contents of the new post-graduate diploma (PGD) in theology and the PGD in Christian Education. These are for people who have a first degree in another discipline and want to switch their specialization. For those who want to study at the master’s level, the PGD can bridge the gap between previous study and the MA programmes offered at the Seminary. The committee also streamlined the design of the five MA programmes. While we were doing things like this, Debbie was catching up with some marking.

Building projects

A Nigerian businessman is sponsoring the construction of a new multi-purpose hall. (It hasn’t made it onto Google Earth yet but you can see some Seminary buildings at 9º, 26”, 25N and 8º, 23”, 15E.) When it is finished, we should be able to hold the graduation services inside. The Seminary Chapel seats only 500 people and the attendance at the graduation is over 1,000 people. The two-storey, 16-unit, married students’ dorm is still under construction and a recent gift from the US should finish the walls. If you want more information on these and other projects check the Seminary’s web page www.kagoroseminary.com and its links.


Visitors

We are happy to receive visitors here at Kagoro. Malcolm and Liz McGregor of SIM International were here earlier in the year. Recently Mary Crawford, who is one of the regional representatives for SIM in England, was here to see the work of SIM in this country. Dr. Paul Todd was also in Nigeria at the same time. He is back with SIM and works with the Africa Christian Textbooks (ACTS) ministry. Debbie is on the ACTS Board, by the way.

As always, thanks for your prayerful support and please keep on praying for us as we travel and take meetings in the next few months in the UK (Acts 14:27).

Thanks again,
David and Debbie Colvin

Update for August

Dear friends,

Greetings in the name of the Lord.

Many thanks for your prayers as we've settled into life in Kagoro after our time in the UK.

The past month has been characterised by an abundance of rain but we are not complaining even though it means an abundance of mud!

There has also been an abundance of visitors both local and international. Many friends and students have come to sympathise with us and pray for us which has been a comfort and encouragement. A team from the USA (mostly former missionaries) and Africa were based in Kagoro for a writer's workshop and we had them over for a meal one evening. I got a friend to cook up some local food and I made the western food. It was an example of international cooperation to feed an international group of 19 people. Two weeks later, Alan Purser, the team leader of Crosslinks, came to take part in some seminars for pastors and we had the opportunity to enjoy fellowship with him during the meals we shared together.

An abundance of disruption was a feature of two days last week when the Local Government came to drill a borehole just beside our house. It is intended to supply water for the seminary students and staff who live on this side of the road. This means we will not struggle to get water during the dry season. Praise the Lord for this provision and pray that we will be able to work out the logistics of getting the water to all who need it.

The pile of marking is gradually going down but not as quickly as we had planned. We're nearly there!

One thing we have been concerned about is the number of armed robberies in the area during the last two weeks. Last week the chief of Kagoro was robbed which was a huge shock to the community. Two other homes were targetted the same night. Please keep on praying for God's protection.

This Friday I, (Debbie) will travel to Miango for a Board Meeting and David will be taking part in the Primary School Board Meeting. Please pray for safety in travel and wisdom in discussions and decisions.

As well as trying to get ready for the beginning of classes on 16th August, David will be busy with the orientation of new students and the registration process next week.

The date of the conference we're taking part in has been changed to 13th-15th August. David will be speaking twice on 'Knowing your Position as a Child of God' and I will a give a seminar on prayer. Again we need prayer for safety in travel and for the Lord's help in the programme.

I am marking assignments on the book of Zechariah and have been reminded that our work cannot be accomplished by human effort but by reliance on the power of the Spirit (Zech. 4:6). May you know His empowering in all you do.

Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers.

God Bless,

Debbie and David