Prayer Letter for January 2017

Dear friends,

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

David here. Many thanks for your prayers.

East Africa trip

Many thanks for praying for our trip to Ethiopia and Kenya in December. The SIMGROUP meeting in Addis Ababa went well and I have been asked to chair a sub-committee to recommend changes to the SIMGORUP constitution. Pray this goes well. Our committee has to complete its proposals by August this year in advance of the next board meeting in October.

While in Addis we visited Niall McCune and saw the SIM-run school where he works. He seems very much at home in Addis and is learning Amharic – the local language. We were surprised at how cold it was in Addis Ababa compared to Kagoro. The altitude makes quite a difference.

We also visited Kevin and Joyce Richardson in Nairobi and it was great to catch up with them and what they have been doing in Kenya. While there, we went to Amboseli game park and that was well worth the visit. It is hard to beat a game park with such a wide variety of wildlife and see Kilimanjaro nearby. I put some photos on Facebook if anyone wants to check them out.

January to May 2017 semester

The new semester has started. This time we have two courses each to teach and quite a number of theses to supervise. As the acting Graduate Dean I have some extra meetings to attend but the workload is manageable. The pressure is on, however, to complete the marking and such on time. I am also to hand over this role to another faculty member in the near future so pray that goes well also.

Staffing at the Seminary

We thank the Lord three new faculty members have been recruited this semester. This is an answer to prayer since three lecturers left at the end of last year. Two of the latter, Momolu and Layahn Massaquoi are back in their home country of Liberia to work at a seminary there. Our loss is Liberia’s gain.

BB Event

Every now and then I get to speak at a Boys’ Brigade event here. This time it was a BB camp being held on the Seminary grounds in December and they asked me to speak on the topic of using the BB as a means of evangelism. The early SIM missionaries at Kagoro, Thomas and Grace Archibald, started a BB company here in the 1930s and it was very effective in spreading the gospel among the boys and young men of the region.

Moving to the UK

I suppose the main news this time is our decision to move back to the UK. There are several reasons for this which we would like to explain to our prayer supporters in person rather than by this medium. We believe this is what our Lord would have us do and it is a major change for us both. We have been working at Kagoro for eighteen years and I was based in Jos, Nigeria, for the previous eighteen years. The plan is to sell, give away, or take some of our things back to the UK with us and be based in Moneymore from mid-June 2017.

Initially we will have a short ‘home assignment’ during which we hope to see as many supporters in Northern Ireland as we can. We do not intend to leave SIM and plan on returning to Africa each summer to teach in the Seminary’s Summer Programmes, for example (D.V.).

Going forward

One of the ministries we have lined up in Northern Ireland is to jointly teach some missions courses at the Irish Baptist College starting in September. This is not a full-time position and I will probably do most of the teaching. As many of you know both Debbie and I studied at the Irish Baptist College and are pleased this opportunity for teaching ministry has opened up (Eph 2:10).

Debbie has been asked to help SIM with its management of Theological Education. She will focus on supporting this ministry in English-speaking countries in West Africa. This is a new position set up by SIM International. This means Debbie can bring her training, skills and experience to bear in defining this new role. We praise our Lord that SIM has seen the need to network those engaged in this important ministry and request prayer for Debbie as she works on this new task.

While we are in the UK we will still be available to help the Seminary at Kagoro and SIM Ireland in several ways but we ask you to pray other doors for ministry will open up for us. During 2017 I will still be involved in SIMGROUP and Debbie will still be involved with ACTS (Africa Christian Textbooks Service).

As always, thanks for your prayerful support.

In Christ,

David and Debbie

Dear friends,

This is Debbie writing to give you an update on the last few months in Kagoro. We really appreciate your faithful prayers on our behalf.

Shopping Kagoro style! Someone called me this morning to say they had chickens for sale. I ordered one which was just delivered, ready to cook, thankfully without the head and feet! The tailor arrived this afternoon with my new outfit. Last semester a student gave me some lovely cloth and I am just getting it sewn now. It’s not quite online shopping but we can get quite a bit done through texts and phone calls!

Seminary News

We are praising the Lord that our classes are smaller and the workload more manageable this semester. There are fewer students in my classes and I have three courses instead of four because of changes in the curriculum. David is teaching four courses again which keeps him very busy.

However, we both have Master’s and undergraduate theses to supervise which takes up lots of time and energy. We need prayer for wisdom and patience as we help the students with their research.

As usual, November is a month full of meetings as well as graduation. We would appreciate prayer as we attend the SIM area council meeting in Jos on the 18th November and the ACTS Executive and Board meeting I will be at on the 28th and 29th of the month. The Seminary graduation is on the 26th November.

David is chairman of the Printing Committee for graduation. They have the task of organizing the production and publication of the programme and, for the first time, a brochure for the seminary.

In December this year, our Graduate Dean, Rev Dr Momolu Massaquoi, his wife, who also teaches at the seminary, and his family, are returning to ministry in Liberia after spending eleven years in Kagoro. Praise the Lord for their years of service at the seminary. Please pray for them as they return to work in Monrovia. In the meantime, the Provost has asked David to be ‘Interim’ Graduate Dean alongside Hassan Musa who will take on this position permanently by the middle of next year. David would appreciate prayer as he helps in this way. Presently, Hassan is finishing his PhD in Old Testament in South Africa. He is one of our former students and we are delighted that he will be one of our new faculty members from January, 2017.

December Travels

This year, one meeting will require more travel than usual. David is a permanent member of ‘SIM Group’, SIM’s cooperative insurance service. The annual Board meeting will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the 6th December, so that stakeholders in Ethiopia can take a more active role in the running of this service. I’m going to accompany David on the trip. Niall McCune, an SIM missionary from Northern Ireland, works in Addis. It will be good to see him as well as some of the other SIM ministries during the three days we will spend there. We decided to make the most of the opportunity of being in east Africa by visiting good friends, Kevin and Joyce Richardson, who now work in Nairobi, Kenya, after spending many years in Jos. We will stay with them for one week before returning to Kagoro. We value prayer for safe travels, a successful meeting and a good time of reunion with our friends as we explore a different part of Africa.

Security

Although some progress has been made in the north-east of the nation, security has become a concern not too far from Kagoro. Many have been displaced due to violent attacks by herdsmen who have taken lives as well as destroyed crops which people depend on for their food. Please pray for Zwandien, our staff member, who lost his cousin and sister. He is one of many who are giving shelter to family members and friends who have had to leave their homes or who have lost their homes, in the last two months. Former students, Pastor Daniel, his wife, Hajara and their son, David, had to leave the church where they were working because of the danger. Much prayer is needed for God’s protection, an end to the violence and comfort for those who are grieving. Psalm 46.

After our travels we will have to complete our marking before going to the SIM Spiritual Life Conference in Miango in January.

We praise the Lord for a successful surgery for Coletta Shelly who had a cancerous tumour removed at the beginning of October. Pray for her as she has radiation treatment in the next few weeks and for her and Dennis as they plan to return to Kagoro at the end of December.

We appreciate your faithfulness in prayer and giving which is evidence of the Lord’s care and your loving partnership in the Gospel. Phil 4:19.

God bless,

Debbie and David Colvin

October prayer update

Dear Friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord.

David here. Many thanks for your prayers for us. We are enjoying teaching at the Seminary and are almost half way through the semester. We have some assignments written by the students that we still need to mark. Hopefully, we can do that during the mid-semester break. Most of the courses we teach are accredited by the University of Jos so we have to submit end-of-semester exams and marking schemes to the University for approval. Pray that process goes well.

I have had a few opportunities to preach since returning. The most recent one was at a Boys' Brigade service at the Seminary. The BB used to be very popular in this region but declined somewhat in recent years. Several people are trying to revive this youth work and one of our students has taken it upon herself to get a Girls' Brigade company going at the Seminary Church. We believe the BB and the GB still have important roles to play here.

Last month Debbie mentioned a conference on Expository Preaching being run by Langham Partnership which will actually take place in early October it seems. We expect many of our students will attend the conference.

Though I am no longer the registrar, I am helping the Seminary in terms of administration with some computer support. Several of the computers at the Seminary have viruses on them and I am trying to disinfect them. Clearly our office staff need to be made aware of the importance of keeping the anti-virus software up-to-date.

A couple of our fellow missionaries have had their email accounts hacked recently so just in case someone breaks into one of our email accounts, please note we do not send out emails with attachments or requests for funds to our prayer supporters. Email messages will be text like this one or text with a few embedded pictures. Treat anything else with suspicion.

We have had a series of messages on Colossians at the Seminary and ask you to pray Col 1:9-10 for us. Thanks again for your prayers.

In Christ,

David and Debbie

Update for February/March

Dear Friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord.

David here. Thank you for praying for us. As many of your know by now, our Lord took my Mum home on 15th February. The funeral service was on 17th. My Mum was a believer before I was born and maintained a quiet and genuine walk with God throughout her life. Though we miss her, we 'sorrow not as others' who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13ff). Debbie and I have attended several funerals since returning to the UK and have another one on Thursday. This time it will be my uncle Hugh who was also ready to go. Your prayers for us and other members of the family circle are appreciated. Thanks also to those who visited, have sent expressions of sympathy and/or attended my Mum's funeral.

Debbie has started work on her module and is feeling the pressure since it has to be completed by 23rd April.

We have been taking some meetings and the following are the ones lined up for March: both missions services at the Ballynahinch Congregational Church on 8th; Belfast Bible College on 18th; SIM prayer meeting at Whiteabbey on 19th (postponed from February); SIM prayer meeting in Londonderry 27th; Irish Baptist College on 31st. Your prayers for our Lord's help in each of these meetings would be valued.

The elections in Nigeria were postponed. They were due to be held in the middle of February but have been put off until the end of March and beginning of April. Please continue to pray for peace and stability in the nation.

Yours in our Lord,

David and Debbie Colvin

December update

Dear friends,

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

Thanks for your prayers during an exceptionally busy semester. We have reached the end with only the exams to be given and then, of course, marked. We still have other marking to do with Debbie having more to do than me since she was working on a module for her D.Min. course in these last few months. The latter, by the way, has been marked and Debbie received good comments from her tutor. She will have a break over the holiday season but start another major module next year.

At the graduation on 22nd November this year, 111 students graduated. The service was well attended and it is always a joy to see students we have taught completing their programmes of study and moving into the next phase of their lives. Some are already in full-time Christian ministry and others are looking for new opportunities for service. Pray they will all be fruitful in every good work they undertake (Col. 1:9-10).

While we are away Pastor Gambo will run the Registry. He helped me in the office back in 2004 so he knows about the work and I am confident he will be able to handle it. I am not planning to return to that position so we will have a full 'handover' process on Monday 1st December. I have been the registrar for over ten years and I believe the office needs some fresh input. I would like to concentrate on teaching in future.

My Mum is in Thomson House in Magherafelt recovering from a 'mild' stroke but also trying to get rid of a kidney infection. Apparently she is weak, not eating and on a drip. With this in mind, we decided to bring our flight forward a bit so we can be back in the UK sooner. SIM and the provost of the Seminary think we are wise to go early. So we should be back in Northern Ireland on the evening of 4th December though probably exhausted by that stage. It will be good to be home and see my Mum though she will have changed quite a bit since we saw her in the summer. Please pray she will improve. She turns 90 on Saturday 29th November (D.V.).

Our contact emails will all still work and our phone numbers from 5th December should be: Debbie 07810203459 and David 07513583581. These are mobile numbers and we think they should both still be okay despite being away from the UK for several months.

We have started taking some bookings for meetings during our home assignment which should last until the middle of July or so. We look forward to renewing fellowship with many family and friends in coming months. As always, thank you for your regular prayers for us.

In Christ,

David and Debbie

November update

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Kagoro. Thank you so much for your prayers and please join us in praising the Lord for answers (Psalm 34:1-6). My (Debbie) paper is finished and we are both so thankful. The Lord gave the strength and help needed. I really knew others were praying. Thank you!

However, we still need your prayers for other concerns. David's mum had a minor stroke while in respite care after another fall at home. She is now in a rehabilitation ward in Magherafelt hospital. Her speech and right arm are affected. Please pray for wisdom for the health care staff and David's brother and wife as they work out the best way to care for her at this time.

Please pray for the ongoing preparations for the graduation on the 22nd November. Our students got their theses submitted, a big relief. I was given one more student and have completed his corrections so he should be able to graduate.

Pray for a successful Seminary board meeting on the 7th November. (It was to be held on 30th October but was moved.) David is busy getting ready for that. The same day I have to go to the Miango guest house Board and appreciate prayer for safety in travel. Another board meeting comes up for David on the 14th in Jos. The 26th is the Acts Board which I will attend in Jos and the 28th is the SIM area council in Jos which we will both attend.

David will be preaching at the Seminary church on the 23rd November, the day after graduation!!

We are asking for the Lord's help for all teachers and students that we would manage to get through all the material remaining to complete our courses in preparation for the final exams. I also have a lot of marking to do.

Thank you again for your concern and faithful prayers.

Love and God bless,

Debbie and David

Prayer Letter for October

Dear friends,

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

Fada Gospel Church
Back in the 1980s ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All) encouraged its larger Hausa-speaking local churches to start churches which would use English for worship. The church we attend here, Fada Gospel Church, was one of those which started 25 years ago. The congregation held special meetings in August this year to mark the occasion and there was even a birthday cake at the service. To also mark the occasion, the church embarked on a building project. All the Sunday School children had been meeting in one room and it was decided it would be better to build some classrooms for them so they could be taught according to age groups. Thank the Lord with us that the church has grown steadily since its beginning and the main building is full every Sunday morning.

Ebola virus
You may have seen in the news that the Ebola virus has surfaced in West Africa. There were a few cases here in Nigeria but we thank the Lord it seems to have been contained. It is still possible people from other parts of West Africa could enter the country and spread the virus so pray that does not happen. We need to keep on praying for countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in which the virus is still spreading in an unprecedented way.

Meetings
As usual, we have several meetings we plan to attend in the next few months. I will just list them here and ask you to please pray they all go well. Thanks.

· I am chairing the Graduation Planning Committee and we will meet a few more times before the graduation itself on 22nd November (D.V.).
· I am the secretary of the Appointments, Promotions, and Disciplinary Committee and we need to meet in the middle of October.
· The Seminary's Board of Governors’ meeting is on 30th October and I attend that as the recording secretary.
· Debbie is the secretary of the ACTS (African Christian TextbookS) Board which should meet on 26th November.
· Both of us are on the Area Council which is slated to meet again on 28th November.

Former students
Last year we mentioned in a prayer letter that two of our students were married and they now been blessed with a son. One of the practices of believers here is to take their children to the church for dedication. This is not a baptism but a local practice based on the story in Mark 10:13-16 in which people brought their children to our Lord for His blessing. We attended the dedication service and are happy for Daniel, Hajara and their son David. Hajara has already graduated from the Seminary and Daniel should graduate next year. Pray for this family as they look to our Lord for guidance concerning the next step in their service for Him.

Teaching and preaching
The August-December semester is going well and we are enjoying teaching courses we have taught before. Marking, however, is another matter. Pray that we will be able to keep up with that process and cover the material we need to communicate in the classrooms. We would also appreciate your prayer for some other preaching and teaching engagements. I have been asked to preach on Sunday morning services on 12th and 26th October and to give a talk to the students of the pastoral department on 14th October. Debbie has been asked to lead devotions in the single ladies’ dorm on 20th October.

Home assignment
It will soon be time for our next home assignment. We plan to fly back the UK in time for Christmas and hope to take various meetings in the UK from January through to June 2015. It is going to be a busy time for Debbie since she has a major module to work on in the same period. Right now she is trying to get a 5,000 word essay written but the module next year will be the proposal for her thesis and the proposal has to be around 9,000 words.

My Mum will be 90 years old at the end of November (D.V.). She is still living at home and has carers come in each day to help her with some tasks. My brother Robert and his wife Frances help her in many ways also. We look forward to seeing these and other members of our families soon.

We also look forward to renewing fellowship with many others who read this letter.

Thanks for your prayerful support.

In Christ,

David and Debbie