Dear family and friends,
Biblical ministry is a reminder that nothing stands still in Christian service. If it does, it dies. True Biblical ministry involves constant challenges and change, learning and growth, and how we handle these various elements determines the strength and success of the work that we do. Indeed, ministry or missionary call is knowing we are sent, and the One Who has sent us is I AM.
Cyprian arrived back in Nigeria on Feb. 14, 2000. Soon after his arrival he visited several Emmaus centers, took care of pending matters, and received several encouraging reports of what the Lord is doing among His people. Antibiotics that had been donated through Ireland Outreach were distributed to needy clinics near Ankpa as well as privately operated hospitals in the Makurdi metropolis. These selected establishments are run by Christian doctors, so they were also given a good supply of tracts. Mr. Onimisi, a lecturer at the Kogi State College of Education, took the Emmaus courses to his village Ihima Okene . The courses are now widely studied among the Anglican parishioners and university students in the area. It is a growing center with new active correctors being produced and discipled. Mr. Onimisi undertook this challenge because he was so impressed with the affect of the courses on his colleague at the College of Education, a Muslim who came to the Lord through studying the Emmaus courses. In Otukpo Dr. Okwoume, an eye doctor and Anglican priest, introduced the courses to the community of believers there after successfully completing them himself. Today every Anglican priest in the parish is required to complete the first twelve courses to satisfy continuing education requirements for the priesthood. Dr. Okwoume himself was so affected by the content of the courses that he asked to be baptized by immersion and is now resigning his priesthood. He has declared that if he has twenty students studying with him, thoroughly being discipled, he considers that a far more effective ministry!
On Feb. 25th Cyprian went on to Ghana and spent time with the Kumasi believers. Although a place of worship has not yet been found for the young believers that gather unto the Lord there, there is a sense of divine direction and control in this matter. Later in April a young commended worker from Canada, Joseph Frimpong, hopes to be with them for three months to take up where Cyprian left off. Pray that God will richly bless his ministry among them, building on the foundation of Christ.
For the past five years our family has been involved in sponsoring a selected number of students in the local universities. Today we are pleased to inform you of the happy endings for some, and that we are taking on some more. Those who are finished are graduates in International Relations, Nursing, Legal Practice and Law. They all expressed the view that the assistance rendered to them helped keep them from compromising their Christian beliefs in order to pay the bills. Pray for us as we continue to serve such disciples, for disciples cannot be mass-produced. They must be hand-tooled by the Master for the work He has for them to do.
In the 19 Northern States religious activities are ordered to be kept at a low profile. Over 1000 people died following the eruption of violence between Christians and Muslims when Islamic law (Shariah) was adopted in some northern states. God will only protect us when we do that which originates from Him. Please pray.
Faithfully resting in the Master's hand,
Cyprian and Joy