Oasis International

Report from Evangelical Church of West Africa

Post Election Violence

Thank you for your prayers for Nigeria. We are grateful that it appears to have been peaceful over the last week and indeed since the last election on 26th April. There has been little of the violence we heard about after the presidential election on 16th April. However details continue to emerge of what happened at that time. In Nigeria, as a whole, hundreds of people have been killed. We know of at least 194 churchesthat have been burnt or otherwise destroyed, over 1200 houses destroyed and15,000 people displaced.

As far as ECWA is concerned, to the best of our knowledge so far, 3 ECWA pastors have been killed and at least 32 church members have lost their lives, with 62 members, including pastors, injured. 48 churches, mission stations or pastoriums have been destroyed and 106 private houses have been lost. Just think about what this means for those affected around the country.

In the light of this suffering in the North, we [Serving in Mission] continue to allocate funds in various directions. Early this week SIM Nigeria helped with some aid to many affected people in Southern Kaduna State area. Today we arranged for some funds to go to ECWA Bauchi district. We continue to look for other avenues to channel funds. Once again if you know of any organisation or individual who wants to contribute please ask them to donate to our Nigeria Relief Fund 96038 through the nearest SIM office. Let's keep praying for those who have been affected.

Update from Nigeria in the Time of Election

Well, the Nigerian elections are nearly over. There are still scattered ones here and there to be completed. Tomorrow they will vote in Kaduna and Bauchi States. I presume these were delayed in part to move security forces in from places like Jos before the elections took place. The security forces have done very well, and international election observers say that the voting was fair and well done, with significantly fewer problems. And it rather blunts the protests as the results were overwhelming for the current President. 

Here in Jos, the Governor was reelected. Results were given this morning—Thursday—and were met with large throngs of jubilant followers of Governor Jang. Some of our staff was delayed in getting to work as some of the streets were blocked by the numbers of people celebrating.

We are thankful that Jos was peaceful and that our staff and shop are again unscathed. Our shop was closed several days as required, and on our open days, the sales were reduced. But we are thankful for how peacefully it has turned out in Jos.

Thanks for continuing to pray.
Craig

Craig is our Managining Director of Oasis Distributions Limited - the headquarters of which is located in Jos.

What’s Going on in Nigeria?

As you know, our African headquarters are in Nigeria. The country’s central region experienced episodes of violence over the past few months, with targeted attacks taking place on Christmas Eve.    We receive weekly reports from our team in Nigeria and we follow news reports from the BBC, New York Times, CNN, and the U.S. State Department. The violence comes in waves, leaving our team to deal with a rollercoaster of emotions. The Lord continually provides wisdom and discernment about when to keep shop doors open. Fortunately, this ethnic, religious violence has not brought physical harm to any of our staff. However, each of them has been personally touched, having lost friends or relatives as a result of the growing violence.   These tension and trials challenge all of us to increase our faith in our sovereign God.

We are grateful that so many of you are praying, and we ask that you remain on your knees, asking God for peace in Nigeria. We periodically post updates to our blog from Craig Ewoldt, our Managing Director in Jos.  We specifically ask you to pray for Craig and his wife, Beth. You can find their latest personal report HERE.

Our Nigerian team is in need of your prayer support, and they are also in need some updates to technology. They are looking for gently-used laptops to supply to their support staff. Please keep this need in mind as you or a friend moves to new technology. You can contact our main office with any inquiry or contribution.

McKinsey Report Reinforces Oasis' Work in Africa

Africa’s economic climate has grown more in the last decade than we had ever previously seen. Africa GDP rose 4.9 percent a year in the past decade, twice the pace of the 1980’s and 1990’s. A team from McKinsey Quarterly explains this in a recent article: Click Here. According to the report, Africa’s recent economic growth can be attributed to more than just increased sales in resources. The improvements seen through governmental and social efforts also play a part to impact Africa’s economy. For example, they cite government’s action to end armed conflict, improvements on macroeconomic conditions and microeconomic reforms to create a better business climate all helped this growth surge. From these economic conditions, Africa has seen more urbanization, a growing middle class and a larger work force. These characteristics are pushing this economic growth to become a long-term reality.

 The biggest challenge Africa now faces is educating the next generation in order to continue the growth. Experts believe “if Africa can provide its young people with the education and skills they need, this large workforce could become a significant source of rising global consumption and production.” The continent now experiences higher literacy rates than in previous decades, but it still needs to make substantial improvements within its educational systems.

 With Africa’s promising economic situation, the best time to create sustainable industry is now. We contribute to industry growth by publishing and distributing affordable Christian books and Bibles in Africa. Oasis’ vision is to create a healthy Christian book-selling industry in English-speaking Africa. By providing more literature to areas where education is growing, Oasis comes alongside an optimistic future in Africa’s educational system. Oasis is transforming lives by supplying Christian books and Bibles, but also transforming communities by encouraging literacy and education.

Prayer Request from Friend of Oasis--Earle Senn

May 28, 2010
Jos, Plateau State , Nigeria
 
Hi or Sannu abokinmu, Lafiya?
 
Have you ever cried in a library? Perhaps it was a sad story or article you were reading, or maybe as a child you got lost in such a huge place!? Imagine this completely different scene. We are approaching an old appearing building badly in need of a paint job, entering into a large room, also begging for new paint, with the bright, hot, tropical sunshine streaming in through broken, dirty louver windows. There are several long wooden tables with wooden chairs around them and along the walls are wooden bookshelves, with few books on them. “This is our seminary library,” the provost, Rev. Mathias K., was saying sadly, “It is in shambles.” He introduced us to the Librarian, and to the Academic Dean, Rev. Sunday Congo, and started taking us on a tour of the library at ECWA Theological Seminary, Kufai, Biliri.  
 
We had been talking with our long time friend, Rev. Dr. Siman Ibrahim, and our host, Danladi Bako, the evening before, and the subject of the Seminary at Kufai came up. They told us that the new provost at the seminary is such a humble, Godly man, and he has been given an impossible job of improving and updating the school within three years. It fell into disrepair over the last 8 years with poor management of funds and staff. The library is only one item in a six page “to do” list that the staff and board have crafted. There is little to work with, except the beautiful hills, valleys, and wooded areas where the school is located, the present staff houses, student housing, many of which need extensive repair– and that incredible sunshine!
 
Back to the tour of the library…The “Periodicals” section, the librarian was saying, has only one updated magazine there and that was a “Decision” magazine from Billy Graham Assoc. dated July 2009! The rest were ragged, various magazines and papers as far back as 1972! The “Reference” section, where instructors had chosen books for their students to read was very sparsely populated with ragged, tattered and torn pieces of paper that perhaps once were books. Most of the bookshelves in the “library” were empty, with a few antique theology books and some interesting thesis books on various topics written by long ago students. The encyclopedia set was from 1972, I believe, and there were a few good old classic theology books. Upstairs in the gallery, the same story, dusty, old, tattered books in the fiction, history, and biography shelves.
 
I cry tears of sadness for what others have lost because of lack of resources, I cry tears of apprehension, that the present students may never have the opportunity of expanding their knowledge beyond a few outdated, worn out scraps of paper still respectably called books, I cry for joy, when I see the possibilities of how much it would mean for them to receive books, many books, railroad containers full of books to stock their library with Bibles, commentaries, Bible study books, books on Christian living, Biographies of great men and women of God, Geography, Theology books, World History, dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and the list could go on, including a regular supply of current, relevant periodicals.
 
Rev. Mathias was so grateful when we said we would see what we could do to get books to him for the library. We told him that many of our friends would give books, give money for books, and look for churches, schools, libraries, publishers, etc. that throw away books because they are a few years outdated, but still perfectly good to use.
 
We are overwhelmed with the opportunities, needs, and the desire of so many Christian leaders to promote a culture of reading in this great country facing so many challenges.
 
OUR REQUESTS FOR PRAYER:

• For the Billiri, Kufai Theological Seminary Book Drive .
• Improvement in the shaky “peace” in Jos area. We were stopped in a long traffic line Saturday evening as soldiers were checking all cars for missing weapons. People are fearful, and incidents are still reported frequently. The 9 pm curfew has been lifted.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PRAYING!  
            
LOVE FROM SENN’S  

Bringing Books and Bibles to the Bush

President, Matthew Elliott wrote the following on April 16 while in Nigeria.

Today I am to JETS, Jos ECWA Theological Seminary, to speak with a number of professors about a Bible project we are working on to meet some specific needs in Africa.   Meetings went well, and people were enthusiastic.  Yesterday, I was out in the bush at a small Bible School.  It seems they have over 200 students with another 200+ part-time students. About 100% will be pastors or are currently pastors.  There is no electricity on campus, but they do run a generator for a couple hours at night to keep lights on in the library. Speaking of the library, the bookshelves cover perhaps an area 14 by 4 and are up to my chest. Most volumes are worn and out of date.  

Before our trip, our team was in contact with the administration to plan the day we should come—which allows the students to prepare, bring money, and even order for friends or other local schools. When we arrived and classes let out, there were five tables full of books—a mini bookstore—waiting under a mango tree.  Students rushed to the tables, and soon we had a very active crowd looking and buying.  For the next two hours this continued, with a steady stream of students coming as their classes let out.  We had an entire section of product that is $.30 to $.80 – 50 to 100 Naira. Many can only afford a booklet or two in this price range.  But, many buy books and Bibles for $3, $5, or even more. We even sell some $30 reference books, including two copies of the Africa Bible Commentary.  

As we prepared to leave, a woman came who had been hanging around a lot, to buy one last $2.50 Bible that we had to get out of the van...  But that is not all. A few miles down the road, we received a phone call. Another student from a smaller Bible school was following behind us on a motorcycle.  They asked us to pull over into the parking lot of a local church.  In a few minutes, we had a customer that needed six Life Application Study Bibles as part of our pastors Bible program with Tyndale, where students and pastors receive a Bible, paying only manufacturing and shipping costs.  In all we had sold 15 of these this day. Sales are somewhere over $500.  We requested the number from this student of his school so they can now have a book fair of their own someday as well.

We have been able to distribute hundreds of books and about 100 Study Bibles at this Bible school over the past year or so. The Study Bibles, for most, will be the only major reference book they own as they enter full time ministry.   The team will visit two schools next week, one being an overnight trip after a full day’s drive. The administrators gave us a final testimony about how the work of Oasis has so greatly increased their students’ access to the particular books they need to become future pastors and leaders.  I thank God that we can be a part of filling these great needs.

Enjoy some pictures of our Jos Bookshop and Staff

 

 

 

Jos Violence Erupts Again

Dear Friends,

 

   We recently received the following update from Craig Ewoldt, Managing Director for Oasis in Nigeria, regarding the latest uprising in Jos. We know you share our concern so we are asking you to join us in urgent prayer for them and the nation of Nigeria.

 

    Please continue to pray with us for Jos. We are thankful for you and for your continued prayer for Beth and me, and for our Oasis staff, and for the ministries of Oasis and Hillcrest School. Throughout the period of crisis in Jos, God has sustained and encouraged us, and allowed us to continue ministering. The bookshop and school have remained physically untouched, although all of us have been severely distressed by the magnitude of the destruction and bloodshed around us.

 

Please pray:

• God would be glorified and the light of the Gospel would shine through clearly
• For wisdom and strength during this difficult time for Governor Jonah Jang, a fellow Christian and a pastor
• Consolation and healing for those who have lost loved ones and homes
• Stability of the Nigerian government. President Yar ‘Adua, a Muslim, is very ill, and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, has tentatively assumed power under significant opposition
• Pray for Hillcrest School, as this has been particularly disruptive for the teachers, students and families
• Please pray specifically for the security of the staff and ministry of Oasis in Jos--the renewed violence has been particularly unsettling to everyone

Bibles and Christian literature continue to go out
    Despite this, or perhaps because of this, several thousand books and Bibles were distributed throughout northern Nigeria from our Jos location last week. Throughout the crisis, truckloads of military men have come to our shop to purchase Bibles. Pray that these will have an impact in the lives of people throughout Nigeria.
 
You can help our Christian brothers and sisters in Jos
    The Christians in Jos and surrounding area have been severely affected. For example, our good friend, David Laje, pastors the ECWA Church here in Rayfield. Twenty-three homes of believers were destroyed, and 67 of them lost their businesses in nearby Bukuru. This can be repeated from church to church. From earlier gifts you have given, we have been able to help the families at ECWA Rayfield Church replace their Bibles, hymnals and daily devotionals. We have also assisted Lydia Baleri, the widow of our late manager, who lost everything, and two other families closely related to our ministry and staff. The needs are tremendous, and who will help our brothers and sisters in Christ in Jos if we do not?

    If you can help, you may send gifts through Oasis International. Indicate that your gifts are for the ministry account of Craig and Beth Ewoldt, and are to aid the victims of the crisis in Jos. 100% of every gift will reach those affected. We will channel the gifts through the local assemblies, churches, and pastors that we know to help those that need it most.
 
Thank you for your continued prayers for all of us and for Jos.
 
Serving together,
 
Craig and Beth Ewoldt
 

 

We also want to share this beautiful prayer from our staff meeting in Jos soon after the crisis began:

 

 Lord, where are you?

If you do not protect us, who can we turn to?

Our thoughts are unworthy of you. Your ways are not our ways.

But we do not understand why you have allowed this.

Ultimately, we know the source. It is the Prince of Darkness.

He desires death, destruction, despair, deception and bondage.

Fear is a potent weapon in his arsenal.

As we read, when he lies—and those abound—he is speaking his native language.

It matters not if you are a child of the light or of the darkness.

He will destroy both without regard to his victim’s loyalty.

We appeal to the creator of all, Lord of life, love, liberty and truth.

Perfect love overcomes fear.

Light overcomes the darkness. Truth overpowers lies.

Come and protect us.

Who do we have besides you in heaven and on earth?

Where else can we go to find life and strength?

By your power, honor and glorify your name in Jos and in our lives.

Help us to love good and hate evil, even as you do.

Strengthen men and women of good will.

Confuse and frustrate the plans of the wicked.

Amen.

Why Jos is Different

Click here to read an article from Vanguard News on an analysis of the Jos crisis.

Jos Violence

Dear Friends,

Please be praying for the people in Jos, Nigeria as more violence broke out this weekend. We are thankful that our staff is well.  

To read about the violence please visit the following:

Yahoo News

Reuters

Thank you,

Oasis International Ltd. Staff