June-July has been to us (and particularly to me) a time to experience a bit the reality Peter talks about in 1 Peter 1: 3-7. He talks of those (you/us) who by God's power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed ... in which they (we) rejoice though now for a little while, if necessary, they (we) have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of (their/our) their/our faith... may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Nights after nights I have groan in my body and spirit asking God "how long he was going to look on"(Ps. 35:17) (although I knew that he always intervenes at the time he chooses not the one we assign to him). He seemed to be far remote (even though I continued to see evidences of his presence) to the point I was desperate to hear him "say to my soul, 'I am your salvation'"(Psalm 35:3). As it grew dark and the prospect of the future uncertain, I heard some grumbling from colleagues who gradually were becoming impatient with the situation. I wondered how long I was still had before loosing my temper in my turn. Finally one of my closest allies resigned out of anger that I was insincere by not admitting that we have failed and cannot deliver.
His resignation resonated as a bomb among our students. Every eye and ear was now on me to see what I would do and hear what I would say. I was still recounting God's great deeds to us in the past (the big compound we are in, the facilities we now have, the library (nearly 60,000 books!) etc) to those who could still listen (others having chosen to close their ears) when God finally decided to intervene in a decisive way. We got a gift that wrote off all our debts and allowed us stand on our feet and face the future once again.
We now see the light again. The future looks promising once again. This coming weekend the newly appointed school board will be having its statutory meeting. Shelves for the books are being made and professional librarians will be starting cataloguing them in a week time. We are busy preparing for the coming academic year that will start beginning of September.
Thank God for his timely salvation. Thank him for the family he used. Thank him for the new board for the school.
Organizing professionally a library of more than 60,000 books appeared a bit expansive. We have negotiated a very reduced rate of 0.40 USD per book. (i.e. 24,000 USD). Pray that the one who started this wonderful work will bring it to completion.
We hope to hand in our application for state registration of the Bible school this week. Pray that it will be received favorably.
Yours truly,
Emmanuel Ndikumana |
September has been exhausting but pregnant with hope, reason why one could still find some energy to remain standing.
The school application for official recognition by the ministry of higher education was analyzed and the informal feedback was that our application stands! We are still waiting for a physical visit for evaluation that could be for any time now.
A pastor was finally appointed for our community. To my huge relief and joy, everyone in the Fellowship seems to be satisfied with both the process and the choice it led to. Everyone seems excited, expectant and ready to contribute and support the new pastor.
The library work is in progress. It was however slowed down due to an energy crisis that we suffered from this month. We have been with no electricity for 5 weeks due to a problem of theft of electric wire in addition to the general energy crisis in Bujumbura. Thank God the problem was finally resolved yesterday.
Thank God for:
The progress of the school application process.
The appointment of the pastor for our community
The dedication of the team working on the school library.
Pray for:
The forthcoming visit of the validating commission of higher education
Acher, our new pastor,
Provisions for us to meet the expanses for organizing the library (we have a shortfall of about 22,000 USD).
My family and I: being a leader of a growing and demanding organization such as PTI and a father (of 2 teenagers and 2 infants) and a husband is a continual challenge. |
The newly appointed school board met at the end of July as previously announced. The application for registration of Great Lakes School of Theology and Leadership was introduced to the Ministry of Higher Education and is now in the hands of the president of the commission in charge of the registration.
The job description of the forthcoming pastor for Bujumbura International Community Church or BICC, as our community is now called, was drafted and the search committee for the pastor designed. We believe he will be designed within two weeks. Six experienced librarians are busy cataloguing the recently received books. We believe we will soon have one of the biggest and the most important Christian Library in the country.
August has been also the time to look partner with other ministries involved in evangelism and discipleship. I welcomed the Lausanne Ambassador for Global Evangelism to discuss about evangelism strategies to adopt in Francophone Africa. We also joined other churches in Bujumbura to support the Louis Palau Evangelistic Association and thank God for the wonderful festival we had. This was followed with a week in Benin where I participated in a consultation with French speaking theologians on the use of vernaculars in theological education.
This weekend PTI Executive Committee members will be in a retreat to evaluate not PTI programs or activities but us. We want to take time to look back how we did, how we feel about it before projecting ourselves in the future again.
Thank God for his timely financial intervention. It would have been very difficult if not impossible to move towards these delightful conclusions.
Thank God too for the wisdom and strength he granted us in the midst of the storm. People are together, encouraged by what they saw God doing in response to their prayers.
As we move toward new steps (a pastor for BICC, registration for the Bible school etc.) pray for a sustained enthusiasm. I personally feel tired physically, emotionally, intellectually and even spiritually. I however need at least another month of intensive activities before I could take a short break.
Pray for new enrollments. While we normally take 25 students per class and per year, we only have about 15 applications at the moment.
Pray also for the funds to complete the library project. Making enough shelves for about 60,000 books as well as meeting the cost for cataloguing/organizing (both manually and electronically at 0.4 USD/book) will cost no less than 30,000 USD. We had only about 8,000 USD to begin and we began!
Pray especially for the last steps of the recruitment of the pastor for the fellowship: a critical step in the development of PTI.
Again thank you for your remarkable support |
June always tends to be a challenging month for me. We are approaching the end of our academic year and half way from the civil year. I have to look ahead and take the hard decisions I have been hesitant to take for the school: do we accept more students? Can we have not? Do we have resources (both financial and human)? What do we do in case we don't (like now)? Does it mean another long year of commitment to deliver with resources we cannot say where they will come from or even whether they will come? We plan as much as we can and we leave the rest in the hands of our Father who by the way, we believe is the one who called us to this daunting task. This is how we plan to do it even this time.
We have a problem though. In order to ensure that we run the bible school with the highest efficiency and integrity we can and meet the criteria for registration it with the government, we've just set up a consultative board made of some highly profiled pastors, academics and professionals we could find. We expect them to put in checks and balances that will balance our 'faith approach' to ministry with the 'realistic approach' to management. How that will work I am yet to learn.
As we are all waiting to see how God will carry us through, I am learning that when we lose in the process our sense of security in God we can no longer 'walk by faith' and prefer to 'walk by sight'. Walking by faith is always a real challenge for any individual. When it has to be a team task, however, it is even more difficult especially for the team leader. That is where I find myself today: called to be accountable to the God who calls me to the walk of faith while remaining under the accountability of those he appointed over me to require of me a 'minimum' of 'managerial' realism for the best management of PTI. One hopes to graduate in such God-given school with a PhD in management of Non-Profit Organization!
Thank you for all the support you continue to show to us students. We also thank God for the growth we continue to witness. (1) The Fellowship has reached the size where it calls for a full time pastor. I rejoice to say that, at the same time, it has reached the maturity when it can take care of him or her. The next step will be for the fellowship to be able to contribute significantly in the financial support of the School. Pray God to give us a pastor with cross-cultural experience, bi-lingual (French and English or English and Kirundi) or, if it pleases him tri-lingual (Kirundi, French and English).
(2) Praise God we are nearly at the end of the academic year. Our students are our real source of joy. They are very enthusiastic, hard working and eager to apply what they are learning into their varied mission context (churches, market place, etc.). It is time we take more (for the 3rd year) but frankly we have no resources. For the school to have a state registration and thus be allowed to deliver state accredited certificates and degrees, we need at least one teacher with a PhD among the faculty. To have another intake we need at least another fulltime teacher with at least an MA degree. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send us these desperately needed laborers.
(3) Thank God for his gracious provision of a library of more than 60,000 books!!! Ask him to be overflowing in generosity (that what he is anyway) in providing for a capable librarian to help us organize it quickly. Our students cannot wait to have it run.
Again thank you for being there with listening ears. It is therapeutic you know? |
PTI
The highlight for this period has been the visit of David Guillebaud with the intention to explore the possibility for adding coaching to the services GLO is giving to its local partners. We had some refreshing hours as we explored the concept of coaching followed with some hours of individual coaching. As for me personally, this was a timely God given opportunity that was offered to me to see the ministry for an even more aggrandized perspective with possibilities to serve even a wider audience.
The week was followed by a rather different experience. I accompanied a sick boy to India who needed surgery hoping to be there for two weeks. I ended up staying for four weeks as a ward attendant! I had been praying and longing for a personal retreat for reading and reflection. I did not expect God to answer my prayer this way. As I look back how much I have been able to read and the notes I took, I am thankful to the God whose ways are unfathomable.
Thank God for:
David Guillebaud's timely visit to us late last month,
My unexpected 'retreat' in India
Pray that David's wise observations and peaces of advice will translate into a sustainable long term partnership project that would extend PTI services to an even wider circle of beneficiaries.
Emmanuel Ndikumana |
PTI April
April 2011 will be remembered in PTI as the month when our dear and beloved brother Gerard went to be with the Lord. His chariot came in the form of a sudden accident on April 6 and, in about 5 hours later he was with the Lord leaving behind a widow (PTI accountant) and 4 orphans aged between 11 and 4. This was the first death we encountered as a community since it was launched in January 2008. It was encouraging to see hundreds of people from different churches and denomination attending the thanksgiving service and the funeral afterward. As in his life, his death was a unifying factor, a demonstration that unity among believers can be achieved if we tirelessly and purposefully work for it as Gerard did.
The very day Gerard died I was in the middle of another management crisis. One of our teachers, a brother who had been in our prayers and plans as a potential full time teacher had been previously diagnosed with a heart problem. After treatment in India, everything seemed to indicate that he was fit to teach. Unfortunately, only two days after he started his lecture, it became clear to everyone (except to himself) that it would take longer before he could teach appropriately. Having no one around available at the moment, I had no choice but to jump in and try to fill the gap although my diary seemed already completely full. I am nearly at the end of these lectures and already I can hear the body saying 'stop'!
Besides these sad notes, however, our board concluded our organizational mini-review with a document on the identity of our Fellowship which gave to many the joy of a better understanding of who we are. People seem to be more energized and determined because of an increased sense of direction. It gives me much hope for a better future for PTI.
Thank God for the life of Gerard, for his huge contribution in PTI since its very beginning. Thank God for the increasing sense of a shared identity, and the clear determination to keep moving toward our vision.
Pray for Radegonde (Gerard's widow) and the children as they learn the hard reality of being fatherless. Pray that they may know God as the father to the fatherless.
Pray for Jerome, our sick potential teacher, very much loved and appreciated and thus greatly missed because of his illness.
Pray finally for me, as I fight on so many front lines at the same time (human and financial resources, team building, strategic plan, etc). Pray that I remain focused, with my heart and mind constantly fixed upon Jesus, to be always prepared to trust and obey him. Pray for wisdom in leading and managing people starting with my own family (one wife, two teenagers and two infants). |
We continue with the organizational review. We made some significant progress but still have a way to go. It is a very long and tiring process but surely very rewarding. We are willing to go the extra mile to honor God and the contribution so many people make to support us in various ways.
We had the privilege to welcome Dr Creed from UK as a visiting lecturer for a week. His lectures on "Making sense of the Old Testament" were very much appreciated not to mention anything about his expository preaching on Deuteronomy 7.
Pray that:
The conclusions, decisions and recommendations that will emerge from this hard work will be God honoring and nation transforming.
Especially for Emmanuel as he coordinates many working groups (think tanks) to be able to remain focused and to bring about a harmonized activity plan that is strategic and faithful to the vision. |
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