Fellowship & Teaching in Nigeria

Two Weeks in Nigeria at Christian Faith Institute

By Peter and Lois Russell

In May, Peter Russell and his wife Lois travelled to Jos in northern Nigeria to a Bible school called Christian Faith Institute (CFI). The college was founded by Dr Kent Hodge and his wife Ruth, to train pastors from around the sub-Saharan region. Peter and Lois Russell were asked by the staff at CFI to take some lectures and also to interview and record the testimonies of various students and workers at the college.

Travelling to Jos

Jos is in Plateau State, which is in central Nigeria and fairly high up, so the climate is cooler than in the south – much like a warm English summer. We flew over with Kent Hodge, and landed early on Saturday morning in Abuja where we were met by Emmanuel Razak, the provost at the college. From there it was a three hour car drive to Jos, where we settled into the college guest house.

Moving Testimonies

The next two weeks were a joy and an education. Kent had asked us to interview a number of staff and students at CFI, so for an hour or two each weekday we heard their testimonies, which Lois filmed in order that we could transcribe and collate them once back in England. These testimonies were very moving – many of them had suffered much hardship for the Gospel, particularly the ones who had been converted from a Muslim background. One pastor had been attacked and suffered severe burns, all because he was sharing the Christian Gospel – he continues to do the work of spreading the Gospel despite this.

The teaching at CFI had given the students a sound grounding in the Christian faith and now many want to go back to their home towns, preach the Gospel and establish churches there. This one of the aims of Christian Faith Institute – to equip people to go and share the Gospel with their own people. We were impressed by Kent’s vision to reach right to the north of Africa with the Gospel, and some of the student and staff are making in-roads into countries such as Egypt.

Teaching John’s Gospel

Each weekday morning Peter spent two hours teaching the students from John’s Gospel. They were a wonderful body of students – so eager to learn about the Word of God. Many of them had arrived at Christian Faith Institute with nothing except the clothes they wore. Yet their joy and commitment to Christ were a great blessing to us, and we particularly enjoyed their times of worship which were very free and spontaneous!

God is doing great things through CFI. One day we went with Kent and Razak to see the plot of land that the Bible school hopes to buy. The present buildings are rented, but they need their own land in order to be allowed to teach at Masters Degree level. Kent and the other CFI staff were also busy organising a pastors’ conference, the first of its kind in Nigeria. We met the Governor and Deputy Governor of Plateau State, and both are committed Christians and preachers – this is a rare thing for Nigerian Governors! Later we learnt that they preached to the 2000 or so pastors who attended the conference and the governors were a great blessing to all the pastors.

At the Cutting Edge of the Kingdom

We came home feeling greatly blessed and enriched ourselves. We have wonderful memories of all the students and staff, who welcomed us so warmly and lovingly – nothing was too much trouble for them. We are so pleased to be able to support and encourage the work at Christian Faith Institute, which we can only describe as being at the cutting edge of the kingdom of God. Please pray for the work in Nigeria, and that God will keep Kent, Ruth and all the students safe.