Greetings from Tamale!
It is campaign week here at the Tamale Institute of Biblical Studies (TIBS). Two of our students are returning to Cinkasse, Togo to follow up on the work that was done there during our September campaign, while the other ten students are headed to Bimbila to begin a new work. TIBS director, Baah Joseph Okyere, and assistant, Jacob Yaboah, will be joining the students and I for the campaign. Plans are for the work there to take place both during the day and then into the evening. Students and staff will be conducting house to house Bible studies during the day in order to inform residents about the church and God’s plan of salvation. During the evenings of Thursday through Saturday we will also be showing Biblical movies at the town center along with preaching by our students. Finally, on Sunday October 28th, it is our prayer that the students will lead the first service of the Bimbila church of Christ before heading home to their villages for a two week break. Three of our current students who live in the Bimbila area will be heading up the new church and making sure that visiting preachers will be able to help the congregation continue once they return for their remaining classes at TIBS.
School Update
Students have just completed the seventh of ten terms here at TIBS. The final class of this term was Marriage and the Home, taught by visiting instructor Daniel Ampadu Asiamah, Director of the West Coast School of Preaching (WCSOP) in Takoradi, Ghana. Brother Daniel is one of the best known preachers and teachers in the Ghanaian brotherhood. In addition to his current work at WCSOP, brother Daniel was instrumental in starting the first church in Accra (the nation’s capital and largest city) and has taught at the Accra School of Preaching, Ghana Bible College, and was the founding director of the National Bible Institute in Accra. It is a great benefit for our students to learn at the feet of men like brother Daniel, who not only teaches the truth of the Bible, but who have lived by those truths in the same environment that the students are coming from and returning to.
As mentioned above, once the campaign week ends the students will be returning home for a two week break before classes resume on November 13. It is our prayer that the students will have a safe and profitable time at home as many will be harvesting their crops, and that all will arrive safely back for the next term.
Evangelism Update
TIBS graduate Moakel Isaac visited the school this past month to report on the work he is involved with in the Salaga area. He is working with four different congregations there, his home congregation in Kulpi, plus three congregations that were started by short term missionary workers at Kpajai, Wajado and Kpabikando. It is especially difficult for Brother Isaac to travel to these different villages, the farthest being 43 km from his home, as he has no motor vehicle and must find one to borrow each Sunday. Despite the difficulties, the churches in this area continue to grow with four baptisms during the past few months and a number of restorations of people who had stopped attending after the mission workers left.
Current TIBS student Lot Nlakidi also reported on the work he was involved with during his recent trip to his home to the village of Nakpa. A total of eight precious souls were added to the church through their obedience to the gospel in baptism! Nakpa is a village outside of Bimbila and their congregation will be assisting in the upcoming campaign. We look forward to greeting our new brothers and sisters there!
Closing Thoughts
This is just some of the work being done by the students and graduates of TIBS. Once the current campaign is completed it will be time for me to leave the country and re-enter in order to renew my visa, so I will be traveling the following week. Once I re-enter the country I will be headed to Takoradi to take part in the West Coast School of Preaching’s graduation ceremony before heading back to Tamale for the beginning of the next term. Please keep us all, both students and staff, in your prayers as we continue working and traveling.
In His service,
Tony Johnson