Successful Evangelism from School in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

SECOND QUARTER, 2024 REPORT FROM BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE NIGERIA, WEST AFRICA

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE RIVERS STATE NIGERIA HOSTED ONE DAY INTENSIVE LECTURESHIP IN OMOKU, RIVERS STATE NIGERIA ON MARCH 30TH 2024

In our first quarter, 2024 report, we mentioned of our plan to host a day intensive lectureship on 30th March, 2024 at Omoku centre. The theme of the concluded lectureship was: “Churches of Christ in the 21st Century: Challenges and Prospects.”

We are happy to report that the lectureship was successful. Twenty one congregations in the area were represented. Some congregations from Port Harcourt City also attended. One of our teachers by name Michael C. Nwankwo presented the first key note on the topic Majoring in the Minor and one of our graduates by name Gentle Nwamana presented the second key note on the topic Sustaining Church Autonomy and Church Cooperation.  Before the close of the lectureship, we used the occasion to encourage the participants to enroll in the BVBI program. At the end of March 2023 we got some new students in Omoku Center as a result of the concluded lectureship.

WEEKEND LECTURES ARE GOING ON IN OUR TWO CENTERS

It is a pleasure to report that lectures are going on in our two centers. In this year 2024, we had taught and completed the following courses: (1) 1,2 Peter, James and Jude,  (2) Advanced Christian Evidence, (3) 1 Corinthians, (4) 2 Corinthians, (5) Old Testament (Book of the law), (6) Leadership, (7) Acts of the Apostles 2, (8) Bible Geography, (9) Prison Epistles, (10) Denominational Doctrines, (11) 1, 2 Timothy and Titus. We are grateful for the privilege we had to teach two courses in a month and we are making good use of the privilege.

UPDATE ON ANOTHER SET OF OUR STUDENTS WHO WILL BE DUE FOR GRADUATION SOON   

We are still working on the records of another set of our students who had completed the 48 courses. As soon as the transcripts are ready, we shall send them to Chad Wagner for verification and approval. If approved, it will be our second time to graduate students from our two centers which started in 2019. We are grateful to God and to our sponsors for the success of Bear Valley Bible Institute in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

STUDENTS/TEACHERS EVANGELISM OUTREACH TOOK PLACE ON SATURDAY JUNE 29TH, 2024

Students and teachers evangelism outreach took place on Saturday, June 29th, 2024. We worked with two congregations within the locations of our school centers. We went out to the streets, houses and shops and preached the gospel of Christ. We discovered two members of the church who stopped fellowship with the saints with the excuse that they don’t know where the church was located. We talked with them and united them to the brethren within their location. We also met with many prospects who promised to be baptized soon. As the congregations we worked with continue to do the follow-up, we hope to have some converts among the prospects. We are happy for the participation of our students and teachers in the evangelism outreach and for the success of the work done.

REMEMBER OUR STUDENTS IN NIGERIA IN YOUR PRAYERS

Our students and teachers are requesting prayers because of the present hardship in Nigeria caused by the high level of inflation in the country which is affecting everyone who is living in Nigeria right now. The students and the teachers are in distress and in need of prayers to survive the high cost of foods, medicines, transportation and other goods and services in the country. Indeed, we need serious prayers because the adversity in Nigeria is getting to an unbearable level.

However, we are grateful to our sponsors in the United States of America for their financial and moral support. We would like to say that all the efforts and support are getting great results and success in our school in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Anthony Ejike Oluria

(Director BVBI Rivers State Nigeria, West Africa)

Student campaign in Pt. Harcourt

Let me begin this report with a thanksgiving to God for the great progress of BVBI in Rivers State Nigeria. Let me also thank the American brethren for their relentless efforts and their commitment to sending the funds which we are using to run the two schools in Rivers State. Let me assure everyone who is supporting us that their effort is not in vain and that we appreciate all their contributions to us.

COURSES STUDIED FOR THE TWO QUARTERS

I want commend our teachers and students for their commitment, for the first and second quarters of 2021; we have successfully completed teaching, tests and examinations in the following courses at our two centres:

Acts of the Apostles 2

Research Methodology

World Religion

Prison Epistles

Leadership

1 & 2 Peter, Jude and James

Currently, we are teaching Old Testament2 (History books) and Denominational doctrines in our two centres in this month of August 2021.

A FEW NEW ADMISSIONS

We lost a student in one of our centres in year 2020 and a few students dropped out, that created some vacuum in the classes. To fill up the spaces, we did a few new admissions that had brought our total numbers of students at the two centres to 61. Many people are still coming for admission but we don’t have space to accommodate them. We are hoping that the school authority will see the need to approve more centres in Rivers state Nigeria.

EVANGELISM OUT-REACH

Our students and teachers have been committed to evangelism and soul winning in Rivers State Nigeria. On July 2021, our teachers and students went out for an intensive evangelism at a community known as Omachi, Rumuodomaya Port Harcourt. We conducted an intensive house to house evangelism, open air and tracts distributions. At the end of the out-reach program, we distributed over one thousand tracts, fliers and gospel booklets. We also discovered some Christians who are living in the community without knowing where to worship and we directed them to the church of Christ in the community. We also brought back names and phone contacts of many prospects which the local congregation in the community promised to follow up. On Sunday the 1st day of August, 2021 one of the prospects was baptized. We hope and pray that many other prospects will be baptised as soon as possible.

In conclusion, Bear Valley Bible Institute in Rivers State is doing very well. We thank our sponsors for their relentless financial and moral supports. We appreciate the prayers and goodwill of our well wishers. We are asking for more of your supports and prayers.

Anthony Ejike Oluria

A great first year in Port Harcourt

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE

RIVERS STATE NIGERIA WEST AFRICA

END OF THE FIRST YEAR PROGRESS REPORT

Bear Valley Bible Institute, Rivers State, Nigeria West Africa is a dream that came true to become a success story. Our two centres started lectures on Saturday November 2nd 2019, but we ended the first year on January 2021 due to Corona virus outbreak in 2020.

The first year ended on a good note. The activities that ended the first year are – the special lectureship on January 16th 2021and the two-week students’ field work which started on January 17th to 31st January 2021.

SPECIAL ONE DAY LECTURSHIP

Our first special one day lectureship was held on January 16th 2021 at the meeting hall of church of Christ, Rumuokwuta, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, West Africa. The theme of the lectureship was CRITICAL BIBLE REFLECTIONS.  The two critical topics discussed were:

1.     THE FIVE CRITICAL PERIODS OF CHURCH HISTORY: this topic was handled by OBINNA JOE, the Provost of the Nigerian Christian Bible College (NCBC) Ukpom- Abak, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

 2.     UNDERSTANDING BIBLE LANGUAGES: This topic was handled by MIKE UDAM, the Director of WBS Fellow up Workers Workshop in Nigeria.

The International Director of Bear Valley Bible Institute, Keith Kasarjian was present at the lectureship. His presence added colour and glamour to the great lectureship. The lectureship attracted and gathered “who is who” in Churches of Christ in Rivers State, Nigeria, West Africa.

Dignitaries who attended the lectureship include, professors in various fields, lawyers, medical doctors and people from all walks of life. At the last count, 60 congregations of Churches of Christ in Rivers State were represented; the total number of people who attended the lectureship was 370.

STUDENTS PRACTICAL TWO WEEKS FIELD WORK

Another great event that ended the first year activities of Bear Valley Bible Institute, Rivers State, Nigeria was the students two weeks of practical field work. The two weeks field work started on January 17th and ended on January 31st 2021.

Fifty three students participated in the program and 53 congregations in four states in Nigeria were visited by the students. They conducted open air and house-to-house evangelism. They also worshipped with the congregations for two Sundays and conducted Bible classes, prayer meetings and visitations.

The students came back with good result. They had a total of 15 baptisms 21 restorations and were able to revive many weak congregations and encourage many members.

60+ students in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

PROGRESS REPORT FROM BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE PORT HARCOURT  AND AHOADA IN RIVERS STATE NIGERIA WEST AFRICA 

PREAMBLE  

Permit me to begin this report with a profound appreciation to Bear Valley Bible Institute founders and management for their foresight and efforts made to sustain the institution over the years.

The idea of the part - time extension program is a great idea. The extension program had made preachers training possible in the areas like Port Harcourt Rivers state Nigeria. In our area, men and women had been desiring to be trained and equipped to preach the gospel for a long time, due to the absent of a Bible college, congregations in our area resulted to appointing people among them to become preachers without any form of training. This method brought some men and young men who are not properly trained into the pulpit. Untrained preachers had caused a lot of problems to many local congregations in the state due to ignorance of the scriptures and ignorance of preaching ethics.  

A DREAM THAT CAME TRUE

Our dream of having a Bible college came true when we met Bro. Chad Wagner and Bro. Keith Kasarjian. The connection to these men came to us through Brother Mike Udam. Our discussion with the mention people led to the approval of our centre on the month of October 2019. When we wanted to start, we had a large number of applicants who wanted to be trained, due to the large number of applicants we were advised to have two centres in Rivers State which we did. And on November 2019, we started at the two centres. One of the centres is located at the Port Harcourt metropolis and the Rumuokwuta Church of Christ in Port Harcourt is our host. The other centre is located in Ahoada which is about 65km from Port Harcourt town. The church of Christ Ahoada is our host in the Ahoada centre.

NUMBER OF THE STUDENTS AND COURSES TAUGHT IN EACH OF THE CENTRES

In Port Harcourt centre, we started with 33 students but after the Corona Virus 3 month’s lockdown some of our students dropped. Currently, we are having 30 active students in this centre. We had successfully taught and written exams on the following courses:

1.    Life of Christ

2.    How we got our Bible

3.    Christian Evidences

4.    Acts of the Apostles

5.    Homiletics

6.    Personal Evangelism

7.    Hermeneutics

8.    Old Testament (Book of the law)

9.    New Testament Church

In Ahoada centre, we started with 28 students but after the corona virus lock down, we lost one of our students and few others dropped. Presently, we are having 24 active students in Ahoada centre. We had successfully taught and written exams on the following courses

1.    Life of Christ

2.    Acts of the Apostles

3.    Christian Evidences

4.    How we got our bible

5.    Hermeneutics

6.    Homiletics

7.    Old Testament (Book of the law)

8.    New Testament Church

EVANGELISM OUTREACH

Our students are very active in Evangelism in Rivers State. We have participated in various Evangelism programs organized by the local congregations. On the month of March 2020, we located a large community where there is no existing congregation; we mobilized all our students from the two centres and went to the community for two days Evangelism outreach. After the intensive house to house and open air Evangelism, we discovered some members of the church who are living in the community without any congregation to attend and so we started a congregation in the community which is presently growing. After establishing the new congregation, we encouraged one of our students who is living in the community to work as a minister of the new congregation. The young man is doing his best to sustain the congregation. We are appealing to anyone who cares or group of brethren to take up the support of the student preacher who has been working hard without any support. The new congregation need a support also.

On the month of October 2020, our attention was drawn to a large community known as Ogbogu in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area in Rivers State Nigeria. We were informed that the community is very large and have a new congregation which was planted late last year. We were also informed that one of our students in Ahoada centre is struggling to keep the congregation going. On Saturday 31st October 2020 we mobilized all our students from the two centres and some members of nearby congregations in the area to the community for a mega Evangelism outreach. The mandate given to our students by the director before sending them to house to house Evangelism was “go and come back with souls for Christ”. The students went out to houses, streets and market squares, fishing for Christ. After an intensive Evangelism in the community, our students came back with 3 souls, 2 male and 1 female who gave their lives to Christ and they were baptized and added to the church.

As at the time of this report, our students are still rejoicing and celebrating the success of this Evangelism outreach on 31st October 2020.

Bear valley bible institute in Rivers State is marching on unto greatness. We thank all the supporters of the institute for all their support.

This Report is from Anthony Ejike Oluria (Director of studies -  BVBI Port Harcourt and Ahoada centres)    

Evangelism leads to a new church in Port Harcourt

BEAR VALLEY BIBLE INSTITUTE PORT HARCOURT RIVERS STATE NIGERIA

PROGRESS REPORT

Bear Valley Bible Institute Port Harcourt Rivers State started on the first week of November 2019 with two centres and has a total of 61 students. The centre in Port Harcourt Metropolis is located at the meeting hall of church of Christ Rumuokwuta - Port Harcourt and has 33 students among them are:2 sisters, 7 pulpit preachers and 1 senior citizen of Nigeria. 

The second centre is located at the meeting hall of church of Christ Ahoada Town in Ahoada local Government Area of Rivers State Nigeria. Ahoada is about 1 hour 30 minutes drive from Port Harcourt town. This centre has a total of 28 students including: -2 sisters, 6 pulpit preachers and 1 elderly brother in Christ.

From the month of November 2019 to February 2020, the students have studied and written exams on 4 courses which are: Life of Christ, Acts of the Apostles, Christian Evidences and how we got our Bible. For the two centres, we have 5 regular committed teachers.

EVANGELSIM - OUTREACH

On Friday 28th and Saturday 29th February 2020, the students of the two centres and their teachers went to a community known as Edeoha in Ahoada - East for evangelism outreach which featured:

·      Open air evangelism

·      House to house evangelism

·      Tracts distributions

·      Street rally

Before we went to the community we visited the traditional ruler and all leaders of the community and obtained their permission to preach the gospel in their community. During the two day evangelism program, we used public address systems for the open air preaching, while a few students took turns to speak publicly on the street and the village square, many of the students and teachers went into the shops and the homes of the dwellers for house to house preaching.

At the end of the two day intensive evangelism, we got many prospects that were willing to study more with us; we discovered 3 sisters and 2 brothers who were living in the community but had nowhere to worship. We also discovered two families who were members of the church but backslide because they could not found a congregation to worship.  So, we saw the need to establish a congregation in the community. On Sunday being the 1st of March 2020, the director of Bear Valley Bible Institute in Rivers State and a few students who stayed back in the community worshiped with some of the prospects and those brethren who were restored. The worship took place in the community hall and that was how a new congregation was established in the community. A total of 22 worshippers were in attendance.

After the worship, a student of Bear Valley Bible Institute known as Victor Udo who is living in the community but worshiping in Ahoada town was asked to become the preacher of the newly established congregation.

We are therefore, appealing for support for the new congregation and for the young man who is now working as the preacher there.

Report submitted by:

Anthony E. Oluria

Director of Studies