Congregations are continuing to embrace what it means to be followers of Christ in the marketplace of their lives outside Sunday services, despite what is happening in the Nigerian economy.

They are heeding Grace & Light’s call to live as Christians every day when our volunteer teams visit their churches to share the gospel, counsel and test for HIV.

“This is in churches new to us and those we have visited before,” explains international coordinator Tassie Ghata. “During repeat visits we speak with people who say they are continuing to live changed lives and are not returning to their old ways.”

Tassie adds that, because of the dire economic situation in Nigeria, many people are turning back to traditional religion in the hope their ancestors can protect them, as well as continuing church attendance.

But those who have recommitted their lives to Christ during our visits are not doing so as they realise they can trust in God and he meets their needs.

Seven volunteer teams were active between July and December, visiting 39 churches in total, sharing the gospel of righteousness with 11,191 people and testing 1,162 for HIV. Of those who tested, five were positive. 

The majority (81%) chose to be open about their status and join voluntary savings and accountability groups. Significant numbers rededicated their lives to Christ (2,148 people) or made a first commitment (173 people).

The active teams between July and December were Jalingo, Jos, Lafia, Mangu, Obudu, Yola and Zing.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• People who have recommitted their lives to Christ, or made a first commitment; that they will grow in relationship with God
• Church leaders as they support congregation members who are losing jobs and struggling to feed their families
• People living with HIV/AIDS who depend on antiretroviral drugs that are no longer funded by USAid
• Wisdom for Nigeria’s leaders as they make decisions that impact the economy and peoples’ lives

Volunteer teams in Jos and Yola are being invited back into secondary schools by teachers impressed with changes they are seeing in their students.

They say girls and boys are arriving at school on time, they are respecting rather than bullying each other and their teachers, studying hard rather than stealing answers and no longer lying.

“When we return we can also see the difference the teachers see,” said international coordinator Tassie Ghata. “Their clothes are clean and they are caring about their appearance. They tell us about how they have changed at home, they’ve remembered our words and taken them into hearts and lives.”

In some of the schools members have dissolved their gangs and are now talking to members of rival gangs.

“This makes our volunteer teams feel so good that they are on the right track in sharing the gospel in schools and showing the consequences of cheating.”

Volunteers have also visited two tertiary colleges in Jos to share the same message and challenge students to return to moral behaviours.

One of the HIV positive students, who was ill, did not know his parents were giving him antiretroviral drugs so had stopped taking them. Now he knows he is positive he is taking care of himself.

Between July and December the Jos and Yola teams visited eight secondary schools, sharing the gospel of social righteousness with 4,121 students and testing 616 for HIV/AIDS. Seven students were positive.

In total, 729 students rededicated their lives to God and another 100 made first commitments to him.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Teachers to continually encourage students to maintain their new morality and relationships with God
• Students to remember the message they heard, see the change in their own and their friends lives and remain faithful to God
• HIV positive students will continue to have access to antiretroviral drugs despite USAid withdrawing funding for Africa

Eighteen people have formed a new volunteer team in Baruwa, Taraba State following volunteer training last November.

Team members are faithfully visiting churches during Sunday services, counselling then testing people for HIV and setting up voluntary savings and accountability groups.

Sixty people registered to join this latest training, but only 18 were accepted for the five day programme.

“When we interviewed the other 42 we discovered that they were volunteering because they wanted a second or third job. They were all facing financial hardship because of the dire economic situation in Nigeria and wanted us to pay them,” explained international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

“We are finding fewer and fewer people able to accept our unpaid volunteer roles since the end of Covid. Thus, we are grateful to have enough people to form this new team.”

During the training, the 18 volunteers 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.

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

Baruwa is also called Serti and Gashaka and is a local government area about 100 miles from Jalingo, the state capital.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Confidence and ongoing commitment in our new Baruwa team as members visit churches on Sunday mornings
• Local church leaders will welcome this volunteer team 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

Revival in local churches and secondary schools is evident in changed lives, renewed focus on the Gospel  and sound teaching that meets spiritual and physical needs of people.

Twenty years on Grace & Light ministry is breaking through spiritual, physical and psychological barriers in Nigerian churches, schools, workplaces and prisons. This is the conclusion of an external evaluation of our ministry in five states - Adamawa, Gombe, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba.

Souls are being saved and the gospel is bringing revival and spiritual growth in multiple church congregations. People are encouraged in their faith, changing their attitudes to work and deepening their commitment to their church families and communities.

Families are experiencing reconciliation and relationships are being healed. Voluntary Savings and Accountability Groups (VSAG) are helping members share their lives and talk about their problems with people who care. They support each other to save and work their way out of poverty.

Volunteers and staff are faithful and effective in supporting people who are living positively with HIV, some of whom have made the commitment to become volunteer team members and are supporting others.

“Again and again interviewees were sharing they have been brought out of darkness into living good lives and serving God. This affirms our own experiences when visiting churches that our preaching helps people better understand and apply the Gospel to their lives,” said international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

“One veteran church leader described Grace & Light as a gift to the church and to the nation.”

The interviews revealed VSAG groups are highly effective with members very enthusiastic and committed to supporting each other and saving part of their incomes each month.

Members’ lives are transformed financially; they have access to affordable loans that have funded new homes, school fees, farms, businesses and church projects. Here are just a few for the previous year:

• Faith group with 23 members saved N3,410,200
• Unity group with 30 members saved N4,107,600
• Alheri group with 30 members saved N1,223,500
• Grace of God group with 30 members saved N1,437,000.

One hundred and eighty pastors and other church leaders, school leaders, donors, Grace & Light members, volunteer team members, staff and trustees were interviewed individually and in groups about their experiences of our ministry for the evaluation in early December.

Representatives from 11 denominations in the five states participated in the interviews: Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN), Ecclesia Yanuwa a Nigeria (EYN), Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), United Methodist Church in Nigeria (UMCN), Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM), Chapel of Redemption, Living Faith, Baptist and Catholic.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Funding to allow us to expand ministry in Nigeria and reach more communities, schools and churches
• Resources to increase support to more VSAG groups in churches and wisdom about how to strengthen these groups
• Wisdom about how to improve support to our volunteer teams so they have the confidence and commitment to visit churches and schools more regularly

Our annual conference for leaders is becoming an essential time of refreshing and recovery that church, community and business leaders look forward to, especially in these times of economic challenges.

Grace & Light has been hosting, each September, a conference for church, school, business, community and local government leaders in Jos. Last year we considered cancelling the conference because of the security situation. 

“Given the economic hardships and ethno-religious violence around Jos we were expecting 60 leaders, but two months out no one had registered, so we were going to skip a year,” said international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

“Our Nigerian board members and key supporters said no, they wanted to keep coming. They suggested inviting Dr Illiya Majam, who had just written a book on integrity in leadership, as our guest speaker.”

Their advice was vindicated as 120 leaders came to the conference, for a day of talking practically about how to put integrity back into their work and organisations.

Dr Majam spoke about building trust, overcoming corruption, dealing with frustration and disillusionment as leaders, and challenged delegates to lead with integrity.

He said: “I want leaders to change and move from where they are to know about integrity, maintain it, talk about it, model it and be propagators of good news.”

Dr Majam founded the Harvest Leadership Community in Africa, is an ordained minister with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and taught at ECWA Theological Seminary in Jos before retiring.

His book, Pursuit of Integrity in Leadership is available from the Grace & Light book shop.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• Dr Marjam as he shares his call to integrity with leaders across Nigeria
• The many leaders who responded to Dr Majam’s message during our leaders' conference; that they will pursue, maintain, talk about and model integrity in the communities in which they work and live