We live on a multi-faceted compound here in our city.

This compound contains:

• missionary families,
• university students from all over Africa,
• a church,
• and a Bible school – including housing for the students and their families.

Now that is a lot of moving parts in a small space!

 

 

I haven’t shared much about the Bible school, because until this fall we haven’t been personally involved there. However, now we have three married couples from the school meeting with us regularly for marriage discipleship training, so we thought it was time to give a glimpse into this important ministry.

The school is called ESPriT – which stands for “École Supérieure Privée de Théologie”, or in English, “Superior Private School of Theology”. All instruction is in French and then translated into either Hausa or Zarma if needed.

There are currently 12 students in the three-year pastoral training program. They come from all parts of West Africa.

 

 

 

Niger is a primarily muslim country (98%) with just .92% evangelical Christians.

 

 

“We cannot underestimate the importance of forming leaders for the church. We need servants of God who can correctly teach the Word of God and who know how to apply the truth accurately in this world.” – Dr. John DeValve, missionary and professor at ESPriT.

 

 

 

“In our region, ESPriT has an important role to play since it is the only university-level evangelical training institution of theology,” says Roger Stoll, director of SIM. The school is perfectly located to train leaders of the church in French-speaking West Africa. ESPriT prepares these men – and their wives if they are married – to lead and teach with wisdom in the African context.

Please pray for this school, for the Director, for the professors and for the students. Pray that God would bless the work here and bring hope to many people in this country.

[As you probably noticed, I did not give specifics names, country origins, or locations. This is intentional, for security reasons.]