Understanding that the Christian life is about listening to God rather than following high profile leaders was eye-opening for people attending leadership workshops in Plateau State.

During the day-long workshops they were introduced to Grace & Light’s four focuses – work and corruption, wealth and poverty, sexual and gender-based violence, politics of righteousness.

For many these were topics they had not heard teaching on before and didn’t realise they were areas they should be challenging their congregations on.

One pastor said: “Your teaching has cleared my thinking about the Christian life. It is not about following people, but about listening to God and what he says in his word.”

Another said: “Christianity at this time seems difficult. I usually feel lost, heartbroken anxious. Now I see Christianity should be a way of life, therefore I will live my life in righteousness”

The first workshop was in May for 55 pastors and wives in COCIN RCC Hwol which is north west of Jos. The second was for 185 men’s fellowship leaders and their wives in COCIN RCC Panyam, east of Jos. The third was for 80 pastors, wives and church leaders in COCIN RCC Wokkos, south east of Jos.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Church leaders who recommitted to listening to God during the workshops, that they will remain motivated to seek God’s will for their lives and lead their congregations in righteous living
• These churches will open their doors to Grace & Light volunteer teams for Sunday service visits, counselling and establishing Voluntary Savings and Accountability Groups.

Aiming for excellence for their nation in life and at school is a commitment hundreds of secondary school students made during two rallies in Jos and Yola.

The Fellowship of Christian Students organised the rallies during June and invited students from all secondary schools in the two areas. More than 100 accepted the invite.

Grace & Light was the guest speaker at each rally. International coordinator Tassie Ghata shared our message of social righteousness in Jos and Yola.

She focused on two of our themes - work and corruption, plus sexual and gender-based violence, with the local volunteering teams then providing counselling for all students who wanted to talk.

“Most said they had never had an adult listen to them before, or one-to-one counselling. They were able to tell their stories, talk about issues in their lives and their ambitions for the future,” said Tassie.

“We encouraged them to aim for excellence in life and not copy the attitudes of adults who are poor role models. We encouraged them to work out what they can do differently to honour God and be positive role models themselves.”

Of the 135 students at both rallies, 66 chose to be tested for HIV, none was positive. Seventy rededicated their lives to Christ and 26 made a first commitment.

One School Visit

The Yola volunteer team also visited a secondary school during May, speaking with 282 pupils and testing 45 for HIV. Sixty students rededicated their lives to Christ and one made a first commitment.

Nigerian secondary schools were closed for several months earlier in the year by the government to stop kidnapping of pupils that had occurred at multiple schools. Subsequently, teachers were focused on catching up on lost learning time and not accepting from our volunteer teams.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• There will be no kidnappings at the start of the school year in September, pupils will feel safe in their schools and there will be time in the school day for Grace & Light teams to visit and share the gospel with students and teachers
• Students who rededicated their lives or made first commitments will receive support to grow in their relationships with God and remain faithful in righteous living that honours him

Volunteer teams are successfully countering the insidious mindset that says it is okay to ignore scripture because everyone else is doing so.

During Sunday services thousands of people are hearing our call to righteousness: that cheating, lying, deceiving, bullying, extra-marital affairs, killing, brutality, are not okay. God does notice.

Afterwards, in counselling, they say they have never heard this message before and they now want to change their lives.

One such person is an 80 year old woman who was convicted by the need to forgive others. She’d built up lots of resentment against her in-laws, other family members and neighbours over the years. In counselling her resentments fell away and she was able to forgive them and also rededicate her life.

Six volunteer teams were active between May and July. They visited 29 churches, sharing the gospel of righteousness with 9,941 people and testing 860 for HIV/AIDS. Of those who tested, none were positive.

The majority (96%) chose to be open about their status; many joined voluntary savings and accountability groups when these are available in their churches. Significant numbers rededicated their lives to Christ (1,159 people) or made a first commitment (141 people).

The active teams between January and April were Bauchi, Baruwa, Jos, Lafia, Mangu and Yola. The Mangu team is continuing to be active despite insurgency in their area.

Grace & Light now has a You Tube channel – Grace and Light International Ministries where you can watch talks in churches. Do subscribe to our channel.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Members of a youth group who had killed their friend because he stole a mobile phone
• Husbands and wives committing to end extra-marital affairs
• The 80 year old woman rebuilding relationships with family and neighbours
• Safety and confidence for Mangu team members so they continue to visit local churches on Sundays.

Refresher training turned into a revival of faith for many participants, as well as reactivation for volunteer teams that have been quiet so far this year.

Seventy-two experienced volunteers joined the three day training in May at our Jos training centre. All recommitted to their teams for another three years.

They represent all the volunteer teams currently active – Bauchi, Gombe, Jos, Jalingo, Lafia, Mangu, Yola and Zing – and are now encouraging their team members who weren’t able to join the refresher training.

Over three days they were reminded of best practices for testing, counselling, care and support; vision sharing; the change from life sharing to voluntary saving advocacy groups; building relationships with church leaders; and social righteousness.

Each person recommitted to Grace & Light for another two years. International coordinator Tassie Ghata, who led the training, said “We are looking forward to seeing vibrancy in their lives and teams.

“Many had their initial training quite some time ago. Some things they had forgotten, other things they didn’t understand. Over the days it became clear to them how to show respect to the people they are counselling and how to ensure they are treated with respect when counselling.

“They said they feel better equipped to serve and also clearer in their faith, who God is, how to listen to him and live according to scripture.”

Our aim is to have all volunteers attend refresher training every two years as this strengthens motivation and commitment not only to Grace & Light, but also to the churches in their local areas.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Participants now they are back with their teams that they will remain committed to volunteering each month
• Team members who weren’t able to join the training, that they will be encouraged by their colleagues to remain committed
• Finances to run refresher training every year so all volunteers can have refresher training at least every three years.

Women and men as equals before God is the opposite of traditional culture which considers men to be superior, women and children inferior. Changing this attitude starts with church leaders.

During April and May volunteer teams led social righteousness workshops for pastors and wives in RCC Ampang-West and RCC Hwol, focusing on sexual and gender-based violence, wealth and poverty, work and corruption, and the politics of righteousness.

“All the pastors accepted our challenge to relate better as Christian leaders and role models for how to live well. They said they will now work with their wives as partners in Christ and treat their children with love,” said international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

Politics of righteousness also stood out for the pastors and their wives at both workshops. “They all said that they had believed nothing will change in Nigeria, that we are all doomed and it therefore doesn’t matter who they vote for in next year’s elections.

“Now they believe they can make a difference with their votes and committed to support good candidates.”

Many of the church leaders have subsequently invited their local Grace & Light teams to minister to their congregations during Sunday services.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Pastors now back in their own congregations and introducing social righteousness during sermons and teaching, that their members will be open to changing their lives
• Grace & Light volunteer teams organising Sunday visits, preaching, counselling and testing for HIV.

Future pastors at COCIN Bible College in Daffo are now comfortable tackling controversial issues following Grace & Light’s social righteousness workshop in their college.

During the day-long workshop in March the 56 students and eight tutors uncovered  the issues they see in their rural village congregations and developed solutions together.

These issues included men dominating their partners, viewing women as inferior, not respecting children, cheating, hording and stealing.

“Most of the students are not yet married, but already the men are mimicking village hierarchies by bullying their girlfriends. During the workshop they realised they should be more respectful,” says international coordinator Tassie Ghata

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• These future pastors that they will continue to have courage and wisdom to tackle sexual and gender issues in their congregations, as well as work and poverty issues
• Bible college tutors and management will continue to share social righteousness with new cohorts of students.

Thank you to everyone who joined our UK fundraising walks in May and June, as well as everyone who supported them.

Our southern walk, on the May Bank Holiday Saturday, took us through historic Wimbledon Park, Wimbledon Common, Richmond Park, Syon Park and along the Thames to Brentford for afternoon tea.

Then two weeks later our northern walk was a very scenic riverside and woodland circular from Bolton Abbey that blended natural beauty and cultural heritage with woodland and rural landscapes. And of course afternoon tea in the abbey grounds afterwards.

If you haven’t yet done so, please do support our walkers.

You can support our southern walkers at  www.justgiving.com/campaign/solar-energy-for-training-centre

And our northern walkers at www.justgiving.com/campaign/solar-energy-for-training-centre-north

Money we raise will help fund a solar electric system for Grace & Light’s training centre in Jos.

This will give us a reliable and high quality energy and avoid the frequent and unpredictable cuts in grid electricity that Nigerians experience. Plus we will no longer need a polluting petrol generator for backup power.

We estimate this system will cost 22m Naira (£12,000). Being in the tropics with lots of sunshine, Nigeria has high solar generating capacity, reducing considerably the time it will take to recoup installation costs.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Further donations and grants so we can begin installation of the solar system.

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 this April, meeting supporters and raising new friends for Grace & Light.

Her tour started in London with a supporters tea and trustees meeting, followed by speaking at churches in Upper Beeding, Worthing, West Norwood, Chiswick, Orpington, Crofton park, Kirby Stephen, Sheffield and Birmingham.

Two weeks in London was followed by a week in France and time with churches in Steinseltz.

“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 21 years ago and enjoy meeting people each time I visit.

“More people now identify with Grace & Light, have become supporters and want to be involved in our ministry, for which we thank God and look forward to what he is doing through us in Nigeria, France and the UK over the next 12 months.”

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• New supporters and volunteers in the UK and France, that they will remain committed and active in ministry with us
• Leaders of the congregations Tassie visited, that they will continue to encourage their members to support our work.

Thousands of COCIN women have deeper understanding of their roles as Christian wives and mothers and renewed desire to share responsibilities in their homes as partners with their husbands.

They are committed to be lights shining as Christian women who are working unto the Lord and working in businesses so poverty can leave their homes.

“Poverty is overwhelming the church in Nigeria and undermining families,” says international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

“We encouraged the women to be partners with their husbands, supporting them practically and sharing the decision making, as well as teaching their daughters and sons to respect each other.”

With Nigerian elections in 2027, the team also spoke on the politics of righteousness, reminding their audiences to vote for people with credibility and not to sell their votes.

In January the Jos volunteer team spoke at three COCIN conferences for women in Panshin, Dawaki and Kabwir; and one for youth in Dawaki, sharing our social righteousness message with 11,243 people.

Of these, 151 rededicated their lives to Christ and one person made a first commitment. Two hundred and 12 chose to be tested for HIV and one person tested positive.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• The person who tested positive, that drugs will enable them to live well and they will receive the support they need from their family and pastor
• Women will remember the message they heard and live as Christian partners to their husbands and role models to their children, both female and male.

A new team formed in Bokkos following our latest volunteer training and new members have been added to teams in Panshin, Mangu, Bauchi and Jos.

Bokkos is a rural local government area south east of Jos, and consists of many dispersed farming villages surrounding the small administrative town of Bokkos.

The team was formed following new volunteer training at the end of January and early February. Twently-three participants took part in the training and all joined either the Bokkos team, or the existing teams afterwards.

During the training, they 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,  and 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.

Volunteers were able to put what they learnt into practice on the final day during vision sharing, counselling and testing in a Jos church.

Teams in Mangu, Bauchi and Jos now have new members and the Mangu team has reactivated following a five month hiatus.

In Panshin the team has also been reactivated, after being inactive for a few years. It is a small team and is being supported by Jos volunteers as they rebuild relationships with local church leaders and congregations.

This was our 49^th volunteer training in Nigeria and the first time we have used our new Jos training centre to deliver training.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• More people in Panshin and Bauchi to volunteer for training and strengthen these teams so they can continue to visit and minister to local churches
• The Bokkos team as they establish themselves and build relationships with churches in their local area; that members will remain committed to God and to Grace & Light as well as the congregations they visit
• Local church leaders will welcome volunteer teams into their churches to share the gospel with congregations, as well as counselling and testing for HIV and setting up voluntary savings and accountability groups.

Church congregations continue to be surprised when they hear our message that Sunday attendance is not enough. God expects living out of faith in their homes and work places.

Again and again our volunteer teams hear the refrain, ‘we never knew what it means to be a Christian, living according to gospel teaching and serving God from our hearts’.

Men have greater understanding of their responsibilities to their wives and children, what being head of the house in Christ means, and loving rather than bullying.

Wives have greater understanding of how to nurture their husbands and children and become equal partners in serving God in their families.

“After hearing us speak people have a change of heart. What we share impacts their lives. They want to please God and so rededicate their lives,” says international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

“Church leaders are happy we are speaking to their congregations because we are able to talk about challenges that directly affect people. Our sharing gives pastors permission to cover these sensitive topics in the future.”

Six volunteer teams were active in the first four months of 2026. They visited 34 churches, sharing the gospel of righteousness with 10,487 people and testing 997 for HIV/AIDS. Of those who tested, just four were positive.

The majority (95.5%) chose to be open about their status; many joined voluntary savings and accountability groups when these are available in their churches. Significant numbers rededicated their lives to Christ (1,078 people) or made a first commitment (110 people).

The active teams between January and April were Jalingo, Jos, Lafia, Mangu, Yola and Zing. Jalingo and Mangu teams are active despite insurgency in their areas.

Grace & Light now has a You Tube channel – Grace and Light International Ministries where you can watch talks in churches. Do subscribe to our channel.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Members of the Jalingo and Mangu teams, that God will keep them and their families safe and they will be able to continue ministering to churches in their areas.

Students are looking forward to their futures, they have discovered purpose and want to serve God rather than being swept around by the winds of social media.

Nigeria’s schools are full of talented young people who have no faith in their political leaders, church elders, or parents. They see no point in working hard and studying, and every advantage in cheating and stealing their way to worldly success.

 But when they hear our volunteer teams explain how God sees them and his expectations, their attitudes turn around 360 degrees.

“God awakens them and they give their lives to him. They say they are looking forward to graduating, living well and serving our nation when they graduate,” says international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

“When we revisit schools we find they are continuing to live by Gospel teaching and what they heard from us.”

The Yola volunteer team visited two schools during February and March, speaking with 224 pupils and testing 64 for HIV. Of these 179 students rededicated their lives to Christ and two made a first commitment.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Students to remain faithful to Christ in their school and home lives, to be supported by their teachers and families
• Teachers at these schools to also be faithful to Christ and to support and encourage pupils in their faith and lifestyles.