Dear Saints and Prayer Partners,
We thank God regarding the fact that Christianity is not a religion and that missionary service is not a human activity. "We can't get too much of God, can't get too much faith and obedience, can't get too much love and worship. But religion -- the well-intentioned efforts we make to get it all together for God -- can very well get in the way of what God is doing. The main and central action is everywhere and always what God has done, is doing, and will do for us. Jesus is the revelation of that action. Our main and central task is to live in responsive obedience to God's action revealed in Jesus. Our part in the action is the act of faith" (Eugene Peterson, 1995).
We are expecting Jim Gillett to join Cyprian in Nigeria in April for another round of special emphasis on the Emmaus Project in Nigeria. This will be followed by 17 days in Ghana for the same purpose. Two brothers from the German assemblies will accompany Jim and Cyprian as training workshops and seminars are conducted in the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions. Later in the year, Cyprian willseek to expand the project to other regions of Ghana.
Mike and Elaine, both in fellowship at the 16th Avenue Gospel Chapel in Vancouver, are living in Kumasi, Ghana, where Mike is a mining engineer with a firm from British Colombia. They have a Bible study in their home where some of the Emmaus students attend. Mike and Elaine were at last year's seminar that we held in Kumasi, shortly after they arrived in Ghana, after which their Bible study began. Today they have led some to Christ and have baptized four in obedience to the Word. We hope that this year's emphasis will lead to the gathering of local believers unto His name.
Later in the year, Cyprian will be joined by Joseph Frimpong and any others who can come for two weeks of Gospel Outreach and tract distribution. Team members will be taught to use Emmaus courses for evangelism and discipleship for effective follow-up of the Outreach.
The Emmaus Project expanded greatly last year in Nigeria. This year's attention will focus on expanding the Aba Center in Abia State to Uyo in Akwa Ibom, Port Harcourt in Rivers, Calabar in Cross Rivers, Benin in Edo and Warri in Delta. Pray for the safety of the team and the coordinator at Aba, John Chukwu and his family of five. John is an Ibo by tribe who runs his own company.
Along with this thrust will be the expansion of the use of the Emmaus courses among the exclusive Assemblies in Nigeria. Please pray for Abraham Ewetumo, an electrical engineer who coordinates the Emmaus Center, Ikeja. He is a Yoruba by tribe who works as a senior engineer with the Federal government. He is married with four children.
Pray for us all as we go with a sense of His presence. We believe that when we gather for worship and work, God is present and sovereign, really present and absolutely sovereign. God creates and guides. God saves and heals. God corrects and blesses. God calls and judges. With such comprehensive and personal leadership from God, what is the place of human leadership? Quite obviously it has to be second place. It must not elbow it's way to the front. It must not bossily take over. Ego-centered, ego-prominent leadership betrays the Master. The best leadership in spiritual communities formed in the name of Jesus, the Messiah, is inconspicuous, not calling attention to self, but not sacrificing anything in the way of conviction and firmness either.
We remain grateful in Immanuel,
Cyprian and Joy Kia
