Romans 8: Prayer update (Pentecost 2007)

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Romans 8.26

1. We are grateful for Pentecost, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Christian church. During this season of Pentecost, please pray with us for Christian churches with which we are acquainted throughout the world. Pray that they may remain as living witnesses of the ascended Lord who calls us now to bring salvation to the ends of the earth in His name. Pray especially for missionaries who continue that work, often in difficult circumstances.

2. Please continue to pray for peace at the beginning of a new political term in Nigeria. We praise God for relatively peaceful elections, even though there were reports of irregularities and violence. In light of the incredible tensions of the weeks of preparation for elections, we are grateful that the April elections in Nigeria proceeded as well as they did. We are also grateful for the ‘normalcy’ of the installation of Umaru Yar'Adua as president (May 29); the opposition had promised strikes and demonstrations, none of which materialized. Democracy in Plateau State even has a success story of a senator who had a bad reputation, and was voted out in spite of his extraordinary efforts to remain in power.

3. The strike at the university continues. Pray with us that it may end soon so that we may finish our post-graduate courses, and that the new academic year may begin for undergraduates.

4. Please pray with us for our youngest daughter Pauline. For some weeks already she has been battling very serious intestinal bacteria, which did not respond to numerous attempts to get rid of them. Last week she ended up in hospital; there are now signs of improvement in her condition, and she has been discharged. Please pray with us that the type of bacteria has been identified correctly, and that she can begin the road of recovery from this debilitating attack. Pray also for Greg and the children, Gracie and Chris who have experienced the stress of these weeks. We are grateful that Sharon, our oldest, could join Pauline and her family this past week, to help out.

5. We are grateful for your prayers for us as we traveled to South Africa in early May. We enjoyed a very warm reception during the two busy and productive weeks at three universities (North West University, at the Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses, Bloemfontein and Stellenbosch) where we gave lectures, led workshops and held discussions with faculty, administrators and students. It really seemed to us as if the Lord had prepared the way for the message we wanted to convey, to foster cooperation (mainly at the graduate level, in research, and exchange lecturing) between universities in Nigeria and South Africa, especially in the area of philosophy and theology. Please pray that these preparatory talks will result in blessings for our students and respective institutions.

Our South Africa trip: May 1-15

We have just returned from a short trip to South Africa in which we sought to build bridges between universities in Nigeria and South Africa. Since we work primarily with masters and doctoral students, our concern is to enable students to get a good degree in Nigeria, if possible. This is often difficult for a number of reasons. Very few schools offer more than a handful of courses in philosophy. And seminaries do not have the necessary resources to offer a good doctoral degree in theology, since their faculties are limited and their libraries are inadequate.

One of the gates of the University of Potchefstroom

Main library of the University of Potchefstroom

During this two week period we visited three universities, North-West University (NWU, with four campuses, including Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle), the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein (UFS), and University of Stellenbosch (US). There we made presentations, gave lectures and led seminars or workshops. We also talked with deans, faculty members and deans. Everywhere we went we not only received a very warm welcome but also an excellent reception for our request for help.

Seminary of the Reformed Churches of South Africa

Wendy speaking in the Department of Philosophy

We arrived on Tuesday, May 1, a public holiday, and were picked up from the Johannesburg airport by a member of the Department of Philosophy of the Potchefstroom campus of NWU, Prof. Michael Heyns, whom we had met a number of years earlier in Toronto. That evening Prof. Bennie Vander Walt (emeritus professor of philosophy), who is a friend from way back, and Michael and his wife welcomed us with a lovely supper.

Wendy with Prof. Viljoen in front of church that is on the grounds of the seminary of the Reformed Churches

Wednesday May 2 was spent with the Faculty of Theology, NWU, representing the theological school of the Reformed Churches in South Africa, which started Potchefstroom University. We met Prof. Francois Viljoen and the Dean, Prof. Andries du Plooy. Adrian presented the main points of his paper Theological Education in Africa: Exploring Opportunities and Possible Cooperation. He gave an informal explanation of the situation in the universities of Nigeria, and more specifically the nature of work in the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Jos. After lunch Wendy presented her paper, Hellenization Revisited: The Hellenistic Context of Judaism, Gnosticism and Early Christianity.

Adrian with Prof. Hans Van Deventer at Vaal campus of NWU

On Thursday May 3 we visited the School of Philosophy of NWU, where Adrian made a power point presentation, Building Bridges through World Views. In the afternoon Wendy introduced a paper, Developing Christian Philosophy in Nigeria. She presented the need to develop a Christian philosophy which will be responsive to current needs and challenges of Nigerian society.

The two of us with Profs. Rabali and Van Deventer

We spent Friday May 4 at the Vaal Triangle campus of NWU, about an hour’s drive from Potchefstroom. Our hosts were Prof. Hans Van Deventer and Prof. T.C. Rabali, both of who attended the NABIS in Ekpoma, Nigeria, last July. The campus is more modern than that in Potchefstroom, and the proportion of black students is also much higher. Here we made our main presentations on "Building Bridges" and "Hellenization."

Wendy with Prof. Strauss and his wife

On Saturday, May 7, Prof. Pieter Potgieter drove us to Bloemfontein. We got some sense of how big a country South Africa really is. On Sunday Prof. Danie Strauss, a friend from our time in Amsterdam and our host here, picked us up for the Sunday morning service (in Afrikaans) at the local Dutch Reformed Church and took us around Bloemfontein after the service.

One of the many Dutch Reformed churches in Bloemfontein

Entrance to the University of the Free State

Monday May 7 was spent at the University of the Free State, in Bloemfontein. Wendy started by presenting the theme, Developing Christian Philosophy in Nigeria. In the question period concerns were expressed about ‘imposing’ our views, as Christians, on the students. We responded by explaining that we are not imposing views, but there is a need for Christian insight on issues, such as politics, family and corruption. Adrian then gave an abbreviated presentation of the topic, Theological Education in Africa: Exploring Opportunities and Possible Cooperation. In the afternoon we visited the Anglo-Boer war museum.

Memorial to the women who died in the Anglo-Boer war

The next day we left for the airport and took a flight to Cape Town. We spent one day in the centre of Cape Town, much of it at the waterfront. This city was founded by the Dutch East India Company. By noon of Wednesday, May 9, we got on the train for Stellenbosch, a trip of a little over an hour.

Theological Faculty of the University of Stellenbosch

Emblem of the Theological Faculty of the University of Stellenbosch

At the University of Stellenbosch (US) we had accommodation on campus at a guest house of the faculty of theology. Our stay there was quite different from that in Potchefstroom and Bloemfontein. We met with Johan Botha, who is director of missions for the Uniting Reformed Churches (which includes the Dutch Reformed Church and its ‘daughter’ churches), and who had recently visited Nigeria. His grandfather was the first missionary among the Tiv in Nigeria. We also met Prof. Hendrik Bosman, whom we first met as well at the NABIS conference in Ekpoma. We also made contact with a student from Nigeria, a Tiv, Jonathan Weor, who is enrolled in doctoral studies at US. Bosman is his supervisor.

This Dutch Reformed church is located just outside the campus of the Theological Faculty

It is called the "Mother Church." It was founded in 1686 and is the second oldest church in South Africa

We attended Prof. Xolile Simon’s class in missiology on Thursday morning, May 10. We enjoyed interacting with his presentation on African religion. After that we joined Johan Botha for a brief lunch at a student drop-in center connected with one of the oldest churches in Stellenbosch. Johan expressed appreciation for our efforts in building bridges. We spent much of the rest of the afternoon in conversation with Jonathan Weor.

Wendy with Jonathan Weor, a Tiv doctoral student from Nigeria

We started the next day, Friday, May 11, with a brief conversation with the Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Prof. Elna Mouton. We had lunch with Prof. Hendrik Bosman at a lovely spot some distance outside of Stellenbosch. We took Jonathan out for supper that evening – he enjoys pizza! – and had a final discussion yet with Johan Botha on Saturday morning, before Hendrik Bosman took us to the airport, and we headed back to Johannesburg.

Adrian with Prof. Bosman at lunch in a restaurant outside of Stellenbosch

We spent what we thought would be our last evening in Johannesburg with a former colleague at Unijos, Dr. Rosie McNeil, who is at present working on her doctorate in anatomy at the University of Witwatersrand. On Sunday morning she had barely dropped us off at the airport before we discovered that the flight to Lagos had been cancelled. We had to wait for the next flight before we could get out. The airline put us in a nearby hotel for two days. On Tuesday, May 15, we made the trip back to Lagos and Abuja, and were grateful to get back to Jos by car on Wednesday morning.

Wendy with Dr. Rosie McNeil, our neighbor and colleague at Unijos

If there is one impression that remains with us from this two-week visit it is that of good timing for the reception of our message about building bridges between Nigeria and South Africa, and more specifically, our request for cooperation on the future of Christian education, especially in theology and philosophy.

Isaiah 56: Prayer update

".... for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." Isaiah 56.7

1. Praise God for the victory we enjoy in Jesus Christ when he rose from the dead. Hallelujah! Pray that God may comfort all those who have lost loved ones during these last weeks. Christ is risen, and all who believe in him will also rise with him.

2. At Unijos examinations for undergraduate students are finished and most students have already returned to their homes and villages. But examinations were hardly over when the association for university faculty announced a Nigeria-wide strike. Colleges of Education are also all on strike at the moment. Although there are some legitimate grievances, it may well be in the interest of the federal government to have students off campus during an election period, to prevent violence on, or originating from university campuses. We are grateful that our undergraduate students at least were able to finish exams before the strike. Pray with us that this matter may be resolved quickly, and that universities may resume work in due time with the new academic year. We would like to be able to finish lectures in the graduate courses, so that our students can start writing their theses.

3. As you know, we are in the middle of an election period. Elections here proceed in three stages, on three separate Saturdays of this month, on each of which no movement of vehicles is allowed. Last Saturday elections were held for state governors. Although this exercise was rather peaceful for most of Nigeria (there were some problems in Kano and Port Harcourt), we are now hearing of troubles in places where results are contested as they are announced. Please pray that the elections of this coming Saturday for the presidency may proceed peacefully, and that the result may indeed be one that the country can accept. Pray for Nigeria, that God-fearing leaders may come to power, and that justice will be done for all Nigerians. After that there will be one more Saturday with elections at the local level.

4. At the moment we are at a critical level in receiving both electricity and water. For some time the water board was on strike; but even after the strike was resolved it was days before any water came through the pipes. Many in Jos are in a far more precarious situation than we, since we do have holding tanks. There are reports of people lining up hours just for a few pails of water. We did have some rain about two weeks ago, but it is not yet steady enough to alleviate the situation. For quite some time now electricity has been reduced to a few hours during the night, and we hardly receive enough to recharge the batteries on which we depend to keep our computers active when we have no light. Sporadically we receive some relief, but it is by no means consistent. Please pray with us for a solution to these problems.

5. Please pray also for our children Sharon in Toronto, David in Istanbul, and Greg and Pauline with the little ones, Gracie and Christopher (who hopes to celebrate his second birthday next week, April 27), and especially now during a time of tension and violence in Nigeria. They are concerned for us, as are many of you, no doubt.

6. Praise God with us for safety in traveling over the past weeks. Last week we took a trip to Donga, to lecture at Veenstra Theological Seminary, the theological institution of the Christian Reformed Church in Nigeria. We traveled back and forth without incident, though we realize that at a time of elections one can expect some irregularities. Thank God with us for a warm reception and fruitful interaction with students there.

7. Pray for us as we plan to lecture in various universities in South Africa early in May (North West University, at the Potchefstroom and Vaal Triangle campuses, Bloemfontein and Stellenbosch). Our intention is to build bridges between universities in Nigeria and South Africa, especially in the area of philosophy and theology, and network with faculty and schools which may be able to help our Nigerian students. Please pray for the lectures, seminars and workshops that we have been asked to lead. Pray also for safety as we travel there and within South Africa.

Visit to Veenstra Seminary (April 10 –13)

While Unijos is on strike, we have opportunities to give lectures elsewhere. This past week we took the opportunity to visit the Veenstra Theological Seminary (VTS) in Donga (Taraba State), about 8 hours by car from Jos. VTS is the main institution for training pastors for the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria. It is affiliated with the University of Jos. So alongside our desire to fulfill a long-standing invitation, there was a double reason for this visit.

Final arrangements for this visit were made only a week before we were to travel. Our trip down coincided with a meeting to be attended by CRWM colleague Mike VanderDyke, who goes for monthly meetings of the missionary board of the CRCN. We were happy that we did not have to take our own car on this journey.

We had arranged with the rector Isaiah Hinkon (seen above with one of the senior teachers of English) and finalized topics for lecturing only a week earlier: three special lectures on the Synoptic Problem (Wendy), on the Interpretation of Revelation (a combined effort: Wendy dealt with the structure and history of interpretation of the book, while Adrian with the three main millennial views). He also lectured on a Reformed Perspective on Politics. We agreed to do this, but it did entail intensive study on our part, to prepare ourselves adequately in such a short time period.

We arrived late Tuesday afternoon, and got settled into the guest house. We were royally welcomed by the children--there are lots of them on the campus!

Wendy presented the first lecture on the Synoptic issue in the chapel at 3pm, Wednesday afternoon.

It was pretty hot, but the students were obviously used to it; they listened attentively and asked lots of good questions afterwards.

The combined programs at the diploma and degree level have about 70 students, with a number of women among them. Alongside these programs the seminary runs a school for the wives of seminary students, teaaching literacy and other basic subjects, as well as a small program for children at the nursery and primary levels.

The original plan was for us to present three lectures on three successive afternoons, from Wednesday through Friday. However, because Saturday, April 14, was to be an election day, on which no vehicle movement would be allowed, we needed to be on our way back to Jos on Friday already. So the last two lectures were given during the schedule for regular classes on Thursday, from 8-10am, and from 11-1pm. The first lecture, on Revelation, was given in the chapel. It was not quite so hot as the evening before.

After the break we moved to a different venue, a ‘hall’ designed and built by Gil Suh. Gil and Joyce Suh, the last of the CRWM missionaries to serve on staff here, left about two years ago, but not without leaving a remarkable legacy, including this wonderful ‘lecture hall’. And indeed it was very comfortable, allowing the breezes to blow through as Adrian lectured on a Reformed Perspective on Politics.

As might be expected this presentation was followed by lively discussion. Politics is a very real topic in this election month. Even some of the children of women attended the lecture.

To finish up this visit the school arranged to entertain us with a football match between students of the seminary playing against youth from the churches in Donga. Because the President of the CRCN (and former principal of VTS), Istifanus Bahago, was conducting seminars in Donga at the time, he joined us for the games that afternoon. We spent the evening with the faculty over a lovely meal with good discussion of current issues faced by the school.

The rector, Isaiah Hinkon, concluded the sessions by thanking us for our contribution.

Unijos March update

At Unijos graduate classes finally resumed mid-December, 2006. This year the new group of students enrolled in the Master’s program in Ethics and Philosophy is not quite as large as the last--that one had no less than 35 students!

Adrian has this group for a course on 'Morality and Human Rights,' while Wendy lectures on ‘Science and Awareness of God’ to the same group.

The group (of 18) is big enough, and it does get a little crowded, but we prefer teaching them in our office, since this is far less noisy compared to regular classrooms.

We started teaching these courses mid-January, but last week all lectures came to halt as a strike was announced. We do not know how long this one could last. The courses are by no means finished. Wendy was able to finish most of her lectures only because she taught extra hours while Adrian was in Canada in connection with the funeral of his father.

At times like these, the representative of the class, Ojo, has a key role in communicating with the rest of the students, passing on instructions and handouts which help the students to keep working, especially on their course presentations.

Unijos Convocation 2007

At the University of Jos Friday March 30 and Saturday March 31 were set aside for Convocation cermonies. Since the main hall of the university can not accommodate all participants, the ceremonies are held at the stadium, in the open field some distance beyond the Library building where we do most of our teaching. Convocation is not an annual celebration here. In fact, it has been three years since the last convocation.

Academic processions are a colourful event! Danny McCain, our colleague (and founder of the IICS) became full professor last year, and joined the procession in full academic garb this time. His gown has two deep blue panels down the front.

Most academics were seated under a canopy close to the main dais. There were many representatives from other Nigerian universities, as well as public figures from various walks of life. Three honorary degrees were to be awarded; notable among these was that for the President of Liberia. It was a pity that she was unable to attend.

Our Religious Studies department was well represented by the Head of the Department Umar Danfulani, with Danny seated as his side.

Among the PhDs awarded, the Religious Studies department was well represented. Two students with whom we have worked closely: on the left, Magdalyn Aboh, whose thesis Wendy supervised; and at the centre of this group, our colleague Dogara Gwamna, supervised by Danny McCain, for whose thesis Wendy served as internal examiner.

We were pleasantly surprised to meet several students with whom we worked some years ago; they had completed their Masters degrees already in 2004, but were officially awarded the degree this year.

Retreat at Miango (March 22-25)

As ‘partners’ with Christian Reformed World Missions, we enjoy a time of fellowship when we join them for their annual Spiritual Retreat. This is usually held at Miango Rest Home, a missionary centre established years ago, a number of kilometers outside Jos. This year the theme for the retreat, “Heroes of Faith” was well presented by our main speaker, Rev. Joseph Ajaver of the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria, who introduced us to figures like Moses, Paul and Mary Magdalene.

This year Wendy served on the music committee, which meant choosing songs for the hymnsing, organizing the ‘Prayer and Praise’ session, and times of devotions. It also meant asking others to lead various sessions. This is certainly not a difficult task. It is clear that our missionaries love to sing, and are not shy in leading these parts of the program.

Here Dick Seinen, veteran missionary of some 35 years in Nigeria, leads the singing, while accompaniment is given by Jan Dykgraaf on the piano/keyboard, and Kathy VanderKloet with her recorder.

Retreats mean listening to inspirational talks, but there also time for sports, walks, and just sitting around, socializing. It’s a good occasion to catch up with one another.

On Saturday evening the Family Fun night ended with a skit (put together on the spot), a re-enactment of the resurrection when Mary Magdalene met her risen Lord.

The retreat ended with the Sunday morning time of worship; as in the last few years, Adrian served with Gerald Hogeterp on the committee to plan the service. Rev. Ajaver gave his final message on ‘Unnamed Heroes’.

As we concluded the service, as well as our retreat, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, with Adrian officiating, provided a fitting conclusion to a wonderful time of fellowship.