Many new supporters in France and Britain heard about Grace & Light’s impact in Nigeria during our international coordinator’s visits this spring.

International coordinator Tassie Ghata spent a month in France and the United Kingdom during May and June, meeting supporters and raising new friends for Grace & Light.

Her tour started in Strasbourg with meeting people from a number of churches in the city, many of whom have become Grace & Light supporters. Tassie then visited church communities in villages around Strasbourg, speaking in church meetings, Sunday services and private homes.

“This was my first visit to France. It was good to meet our French trustees in person and spend time with them, as well as growing support for Grace & Light in France;” Tassie said.

In the UK Tassie spoke at churches in London, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Holme on Spalding Moor and meeting supporters in Steyning and Worthing. At each church she met many new people who have become Grace & Light supporters.

Tassie also joined the southern England fundraising walk between Holmwood and Gomshall in early June.

“This time I visited many new churches we haven’t been to before, as well as congregations that have been long time supporters of Grace & Light,” Tassie said. “I started coming to the UK nineteen years ago and enjoy meeting people each time I visit.”

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• New French and British supporters, that they will continue to pray for our work and give generously
• French and British trustees will be invited to speak to Christian groups and in churches about our work in Nigeria.

Another groups of secondary school teachers are able to provide pastoral care to students following a second teacher’s seminar in the past 12 months.

Thirty teachers from 15 secondary schools in Jos attended our one day seminar on 17 May at our headquarters campus.

They explored the role of a Christian teacher in the lives of their students, child protection issues, child sexuality and social righteousness.

“We encouraged the teachers to acknowledge common corrupt practices in schools such as sleeping with students, bullying and cheating in exams,” said international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

Participating teachers promised to be vigilant to their students physical and psychological needs, and to provide support while ensuring they themselves remain objective and do not become emotionally involved.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Teachers who are trained in pastoral care will support pupils appropriately
• Students will be willing to ask for help and receive the support they need.

Jos volunteer team has eight additional members following new volunteering training during May.

Organising this training caused both despondency and joy for international coordinator Tassie Ghata and the headquarters team. Twenty people, much fewer than usual, booked places on the course and then the week before 12 of them cancelled.

“They had different reasons, but fundamentally it is because the Nigerian economy is doing very badly and they needed to find ways of earning money to support their families. They need to be working rather than volunteering,” said Tassie.

“They wanted to join our volunteer teams but can’t afford to; it is a sign of what is going wrong in the economy at the moment.

“The eight who did complete the training are committed and mature Christians who are already visiting local churches on Sundays. We were able to give them lots of personal attention because the group was small.”

This four day training programme ran at our Jos headquarters between 8-12 May. During the training, participants explored in depth the scriptural basis for social righteousness, which underpins all we do.

This includes our response to HIV/AIDS, medical and societal aspects of the disease, counselling, care and support, team work and relationships, how to contact churches, preaching, establishing voluntary savings and accountability groups and action committees that administer Grace & Light activities in each church.

They also learnt how to share Grace & Light’s four key social righteousness focuses – poverty and wealth, work and corruption, sexual and gender-based violence, and the politics of righteousness.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• The eight new volunteers, that they will remain faithful in visiting at least one church each month over the next two years
• Churches in Jos will continue to welcome Grace & Light volunteers into their Sunday services to preach, counsel and test for HIV/AIDS
• The many people falling into poverty and debt as a result of the economic situation in Nigeria.

Church leaders are taking their pastoral responsibilities more seriously following social righteousness workshops during April and May.

The first workshop was for 129 people from 22 churches in COCIN RCC Kabong. Kabong is a suburb in Jos North.

In their feedback, at the end of the day-long workshop, participants said they now realized they had been unfaithful in serving their congregations and in social righteousness.

“They said they had thought it was okay to arrive late for church services and to only attend when they felt like it. Now they are taking their responsibilities seriously,” said international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

The second leaders workshop was for 66 clergy and their wives from 28 churches in COCIN RCC Pankshin, in southern Plateau State , about a three hour drive from Jos.

They were particularly interested in sexual and gender-based violence issues and openly admitted they were not handling these matters well within their congregations.

“They were following the tradition of putting women down, not supporting people who have been abused and not challenging abusers,” said Tassie Ghata. “Our workshop was timely for them and they are now focusing on sexual abuse in their congregations.”

Jos volunteers are now regularly visiting churches in Kabong and Pankshin, both to speak at Sunday services and to support leaders.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• COCIN church leaders in Kabong and Pankshin will continue to serve their congregations in ways that honour God
• Leaders will have the wisdom to meet the pastoral needs of their congregations and also challenge behaviours that are not Godly
• Recruits for the new volunteer team being formed in Pankshin.

Increasing numbers of people are choosing to be tested for HIV/AIDS  in the churches we visit each Sunday, a change on previous years.

Within Nigeria there is a belief the disease only affects older people, is from the past, and that younger people will not become infected.

Through our preaching congregations are learning that the disease can still be passed on through sexual activity and blood transfusions. They choose to be tested to double check their own health. Before they can be tested they receive counselling to prepare themselves for the results.

During counselling many people open up and share the traumas in their lives. International coordinator Tassie Ghata remembers one 28 year old woman who was into voodoo. She publicly gave her life to Christ, revealed her fetish charms and agreed they could be destroyed.

“She was a regular member of her congregation and hid her occult side. We see right across denominations many regular attendees who have no relationship with Christ.”

In another church, a 26 year old woman, who was raped as a 13 year old, pretended to be a Christian and struggled with life. Since 13 she had punished herself by sleeping with many men and had abortions.

“Her parents were so happy when she gave her life to Christ as they couldn’t figure out what was going on,” said Tassie.

We are pleased the Gombe team is active again with new members following volunteer training in January; while the Jalingo team is consistently visiting multiple churches each month.

Five volunteer teams were active between April and June, visiting 23 churches in total, sharing the gospel of righteousness with 5,227 people and testing 808 for HIV/AIDS. Of those who tested, three were positive.

The majority (94%) chose to be open about their status and join voluntary savings and accountability groups. Significant numbers rededicated their lives to Christ (1,498 people) or made a first commitment (129 people).

The active teams during January to March were Gombe, Hong, Jalingo, Jos, Obudu and Yola.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Safety for members of the Gombe and Jalingo volunteer teams as they visit churches on Sundays
• People who rededicate their lives to Christ, or make first commitments, that they will grow in their relationships with God, seek his face and do his will.

Secondary schools are more open to visits from Grace & Light volunteer teams since their staff joined our Teachers Conference in September last year.

During the conference, Grace & Light staff trained two teachers in each of 17 secondary schools in Jos who received pastoral care skills to help them support their students.

Subsequently, they have seen students’ attitudes change from stubbornness to openness to God.

“During our school visits children open up, in on-to-one counselling, about the troubles at home and how this impacts their behaviours,” said international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

“They are looking for love and support and when they don’t receive these they turn to stealing, lies, bullying and cheating in exams.”

Many don’t have enough food at home so come into school hungry and are unable to concentrate. Teachers see the consequences of this in poor behaviour.

During Jos volunteer team visits to their schools, the teachers are saying they now understand students better and are able to provide the pastoral support they learnt about during the training that is changing behaviours.

Between April and June the Jos teams visited eight secondary schools, sharing the gospel of social righteousness with 2,582 students and testing 639 for HIV/AIDS. No students were positive.

In total, 431 students rededicated their lives to God and another 173 made first commitments to him.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Pastoral care-trained teachers will continue to feel confident supporting students in their schools
• Volunteer teams will continue to be invited into schools to share the gospel of righteousness, counsel and test for HIV/AIDS
• More schools across Nigeria will open their doors to visits from Grace & Light volunteer teams.