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Monthly Archives

April 2023

For Prayer…

By Prayer

This month, we’re inviting you to join us in prayer for some upcoming trips including visits to partners in Rwanda and Uganda later this Spring. Please also pray that we will have enough funding to accept invitations to South Sudan, Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe later this year.

Rwanda

Please pray for Dave who will be travelling to Rwanda in May. Pray for those he will be meeting in Rwanda including:

  • Victor Imanaturikumwe and leaders in the Église Évangélique de la Bonne Volante au Rwanda who will be trained to use eVitabu.
  • Bishop Assiel and clergy in Kigeme Diocese where parish priests have received solar power systems for home lighting and for mobile phone charging businesses.
  • Charles Munyamahoro from the Free Methodist denomination who is supporting untrained pastors achieve starter level qualifications at Wisdom Bible School.
  • Emmanuel Gatera from Word of Life Ministries. Dave and Emmanuel will be training pastors from this network of churches to use eVitabu.

Uganda

After Rwanda, Dave will move onto Uganda. Please pray for three major APF conferences with Ugandan partners including:

  • Church of Uganda Provincial Secretariat where Dave will be following up on the eVitabu launch last year and working with selected clergy who will be trained to implement the national roll-out of eVitabu across the Church of Uganda.
  • International Association of Evangelical Chaplains exploring ministry in conflict zones and in majority Muslim nations.
  • Pastors Discipleship Network for Digital Theology workshops.

Elsewhere in Africa

Please also pray for funding so we can accept invitations for Dave or Geoff to deliver eVitabu induction workshops with:

  • New Nation Church in South Sudan.
  • Masasi Diocese in southwest Tanzania.
  • And possibly the Diocese of Southern Malawi and SIM Zimbabwe.

We are trying to make fewer but more focussed international visits, so please pray for “journey mercies”, as they say in Africa, and for the resources needed to fund these exciting and strategic opportunities.

Thank you!

April 4, 2023
Love1

Nigeria to London via Ukraine

By eVitabu, Nigeria, UK

Wherever you find yourself living, my guess is that the route you took to get to where you are today may not be quite as dramatic as the path taken by Father Soloman Ebi Ekiyor. His passion for mission took him from Nigeria to Ukraine, before the Russian invasion forced another major upheaval. He now lives in London where he is studying Digital Theology.

I started my ministry in the Anglican Diocese of Western Izon in Delta State, Nigeria as a parish priest. With a young man’s heart and strength, I always loved to use my gifts to develop relationships with young people, praying for them and sharing the good news of the Kingdom. I had various ministry and administrative responsibilities in the diocese, and in time, I became an Archdeacon and Residentiary Canon of St Matthew’s Cathedral in the riverside city of Patini.

Western Izon Diocese is a missionary diocese spanning Delta State and Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria. It includes the Niger Delta region, a vast and low-lying wetland filled by lakes, swamps and creeks. Countless distributary rivers and streams meander towards the sea where freshwater marshland gives way to brackish mangrove swamps along the Gulf of Guinea coastline.

The people of Bayelsa State are some of the poorest in Nigeria. Many who live in the delta region are cut off from the mainland by rivers and wetlands. They lack access to clean water, electricity, health facilities, transport links, schools and other basic amenities. With rising sea levels caused by climate change, flooding is becoming a huge challenge, adding to other problems such as contaminated soil and water from oil pipeline leaks and toxic fumes from the illegal burning of crude oil (locally called ‘kpo-fire’).

My heart has always been for cross-cultural mission and in 2017 I moved, with my wife, Elas, and our children, Jemima, Jedidiah and Jesaiah, to Ukraine where I was appointed to pastor Nigerian students and the wider English speaking international student community. I served as the head of the Fellowship of Christian Students International in Chernivtsi and Ternopil in western Ukraine and I was also involved in ecumenical ministry, building bridges with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Baptists and Evangelical churches.

My heart has always been for cross-cultural mission and in 2017 I moved, with my wife, Elas, and our children, Jemima, Jedidiah and Jesaiah, to Ukraine where I was appointed to pastor Nigerian students and the wider English speaking international student community. I served as the head of the Fellowship of Christian Students International in Chernivtsi and Ternopil in western Ukraine and I was also involved in ecumenical ministry, building bridges with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Baptists and Evangelical churches.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine profoundly disrupted our lives and the wonderful ministry I served. In the days that followed, I was very busy helping Nigerian students who were struggling to leave the country and were being turned away en bloc at the Polish border. I soon found myself acting as the link between the students and the Nigerian embassy officials in Warsaw.

After that we tried to leave Ukraine ourselves. We first headed for Slovakia, but the border crossing was completely clogged with cars. We then tried the border with Hungary. This crossing was less congested and eventually after much prayer we made it through. After about six weeks in Budapest, we secured visas to relocate to the UK and for the last year, I have continued in missional ministry with the Diocese of Southwark in London.

Also in London, I am now studying for a master’s degree at Spurgeon’s College. It was there that I was introduced to APF and the eVitabu app which is such a great resource for the Church in Africa. I love APF’s approach to mission. Training missionaries and sending them to foreign nations is worth it but it is far more sustainable to raise up, train and equip indigenous people for the work of ministry in their own communities. I believe I am in a good position to understand and appreciate this as a missionary in Europe who was born and raised in poor and marginalised rural communities in Africa.

I look forward to APF extending their work in Nigeria, especially in the Diocese of Western Izon. Let us continue challenging ourselves to step outside the box and seek the Lord’s guidance on how to passionately and faithfully live out His call for mission.

April 3, 2023
Love1

Sharing the Gospel in Somalia

By eVitabu, Somalia, Uganda

Christian Leaders Fellowship in Mogadishu is a team of dedicated Christian leaders from the small number of Christian groups who live and work in the Somali capital’s protected ‘Green Zone’. APF have been supporting their dangerous but vital work for a few years now, most recently through their ‘Charity Program’, which seeks to engage with Somali nationals. Daniel Masiga, a Ugandan lay pastor who works in logistics for African Union peacekeeping forces in Somalia, describes what the Charity Program does and how this wonderful demonstration of love is opening doors.

We started the Christian Leaders Fellowship (CLF) in Mogadishu in June 2019 when Christian leaders of different nationalities serving in the United Nations and African Union peacekeeping efforts came together to strengthen each other and to share much-needed love and hope in Somalia.

Having witnessed the desperate suffering of the Somali people firsthand, we were compelled to mobilise resources and reach out to share the gospel. With the support of the APF, we set up the CLF Charity Program to better engage with Somali nationals in Green Zone hospitals and residing in the surrounding communities.

Through the Charity Program we are now providing support to local Somalis by distributing medicine, clothing, food, and other essentials. Through these donations, we have built strong relationships and trust in the neighbouring communities and have been able to share the love of God in a tangible way.

As Somali nationals tell us of their ordeals ranging from hunger and starvation to lack of shelter, trauma, bereavement, unemployment, sickness and insufficient medication, not to mention violence and insecurity, it is increasingly clear that greater support is needed. Most of them hope to be relocated if possible due to the extremes of their circumstances.

The Charity Program has already created many opportunities for us to engage with Somalis in meaningful conversations. These conversations often lead to prayer with those in need and, when possible, we share Jesus’ good news of life and hope.

APF has been a key partner in the hospital outreach ministry through their financial support and our prayer is that this continues and grows. There really is much more to be done. We look forward to having a place of safety where members can come together to worship, pray, and share the gospel with the Somali people and help them grow in faith.

Going forward, we are looking to better equip our team through training and with online education resources like APF’s eVitabu app. We are taking resources from eVitabu and translating them into booklets that share the good news. We also hope to offer more regular support to local families we have identified are in dire need.

We are constantly engaging with Somali nationals and, with the love and support of friends of Somalia and partners such as APF, we are confident that a lot shall be accomplished to the glory of God and the betterment of the lives of God’s people in Somalia.

A key part of the training was about accessing the eVitabu app. This was, for us all, the headline part of the experience. We learnt how to download and install eVitabu on our smartphones and how to search for resources in the app. eVitabu will quench my thirst for Christian education material because it has a wealth of information from many different contributors. I am really looking forward to exploring the app further and finding resources for my community, church and family.

We also discussed digital culture and theology. The training on digital theology in Africa was very timely. We were all forced to embrace digital ministry during the Covid-19 pandemic out of panic as a response to the crisis. We were reactive and not prepared. This training helped us build on those experiences by having time for theological reflection around the opportunities and dangers of technology in church ministry.

April 3, 2023
Love1

People for Jesus bringing hope to Maasailand

By Kenya, Training

Between 2019 and 2021 Pastor Tom Opiyo, founder of People for Jesus Ministry (PFJM) in Kenya, received an APF scholarship to study for a bachelor’s degree in theology at the Pan Africa Christian University in Nairobi. He graduated in July of last year and recently sent a very full and encouraging annual report.

PFJM is a registered Kenyan non-governmental organisation. It is based in Narok County in the south of the country and works in Maasailand in practical and pastoral ways. Tom’s report ran to nearly twenty pages so here is a brief except and a few of the highlights:

Adult Literacy Programme

PFJM churches are being encouraged to address the education gap experienced by many Maasai women and girls that drop out of school due to early marriages. The classes combine basic literacy with income generation skills and advice to enable adults to earn as they learn. Although the overwhelming majority of pupils are female, around 15% of the cohort is male.

Support for Flood Victims

During 2022 there were severe floods in the Kandaria area. Many local residents were housed in the compound of Kandaria Secondary School, a PFJM foundation establishment. Even after the floods subsided some people remained due to food and economic insecurity with more than 350 people displaced from their homes that were lost to the flood.

Outreach to the Nations

During March 2023 PFJM teams were visiting Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Iganga in Uganda for short term missions. The outreach involves evangelistic crusades and intercessory prayer gatherings, as well as support to local projects and churches. Closer to home two churches have been planted at Loita, near the Tanzania border and Nyang’ande in Kisumu County in the far south west.

Care for Vulnerable People Groups

In Nyang’ande, People for Jesus Ministry is giving a helping hand to more than 80 children living with disability through socialisation activities and around 40 senior citizens at the Bigoma Community Centre. The community is not connected to the national grid and lacks power, lighting and access to clean water. Tom hopes that once the power supply is installed a well can be drilled if resources allow.

In addition to these ministry needs Pastor Tom requests prayer for his family, especially his wife Eunice who shares much of the ministry burden in church and managing the many women’s projects, and their children: Joy (studying Public Health at university), Joshua, Deborah and Peter who are still at various stages in their school careers.

The PFJM motto for 2023 is Isaiah 40:31. Let us pray with them as they reach out to the hungry, thirsty, helpless and oppressed that, waiting on the Lord, Tom, Eunice and all the team will “mount up with wings like eagles … run and not grow weary … walk and not grow faint.”

April 3, 2023
Love2

April 2023 newsletter

By Impetus

April 2023 Impetus.

Welcome to the latest edition of Impetus.

We have to let you know some important banking changes…

The increasing frequency and size of international transfers we’re making to support dedicated pastors serving in remote and marginalised parts of Africa is great news to us and those we work with. However, supporting church leaders in insecure parts of Africa appears to have posed a challenge for our bank.

About a month ago, we were contacted by CAF Bank who told us that they did not have the capacity to monitor our account effectively any longer and in May 2023 our account would be closed. From then on, any donations to our CAF Bank account (sort code 40-52-40 / account number ****6972) would be rejected and returned to the donor.

If you donate to APF by standing order or internet banking (faster payments) through our CAF Bank account, direct from your own bank, please kindly change your donation to our new Virgin Money Charity Choice account detailed below:

Account name: African Pastors Fellowship
Account number: 30479282
Sort code: 82-11-07

Please note, this change only affects direct donations into that account and doesn’t include other gifts you may make through our website, eVitabu sponsorship, Stewardship, Charities Trust or CAF Donate which will continue as normal.

If you use internet banking, use these details to set up a new donation and cancel any old donations to our CAF Bank account through your bank’s website or app.

If you prefer to use a standing order mandate, please contact your bank to cancel your old standing order mandate and use the form enclosed with this edition of Impetus to set up a new standing order. Simply post this form back to us in the reply-paid envelope provided and we’ll contact your bank on your behalf to restart your giving.

We are obviously very concerned about losing donors in this process and the knock-on effect this will undoubtedly have in Africa. We are always hugely grateful to each and every donor and trust that this banking change will not mean a loss of financial support. Instead, we pray that all affected donors will be able to easily update their giving and even consider a small increase if that is at all possible. Please do contact me if you have any questions or concerns.


Revd Dave Stedman
CEO

Download 'Impetus' here
April 3, 2023
Love1