May 2023 was a busy month for the Western Sahel, Northern Nigeria, Western Nigeria, and Eastern Nigeria unions. They welcomed the team from the General Conference (GC) secretariat and the West-Central Africa Division (WAD).
Gerson P. Santos, GC associate secretary and liaison to the WAD, and Elbert Kuhn, GC associate secretary and director of Adventist Volunteer Service, traveled for a focused assessment of the selected unions and to engage the entities in discipleship and member retention. They also came to encourage volunteering as a means of engaging church members in the discipleship process.
The CG team and WAD executive secretary Selom Kwasi Sessou began their visit to Cabo Verde to meet with Portuguese-speaking brethren on May 19–20. Church secretaries, leaders, pastors, and elders were trained in Praia, Cabo Verde. The focus was on using the Adventist Church Management System (ACMS) to better track and care for church members.
WAD associate secretaries Frederick Falayi and Nathan Teye Odonkor joined the team at the Western Sahel Mission Union (WSUM) in Dakar, Senegal, for the secretariat evaluation from May 22–24. In the end, the CG team was positively impressed by the way the administration was run, and awarded it the rating “Approved with Distinction.”
The CG and the WAD secretariat team continued the working visit to Abuja in the Northern Nigeria Union Conference (NNUC) for the secretariat’s interview and evaluation on May 25. The NNUC also received an “Approved with Distinction” rating. The main setback to this similar score is the failure of these two unions, WSUM and NNUC, to store documents on the Cloud.
Other professional recommendations from the secretariat, such as training in human resource management and counseling skills, were made in anticipation of achieving the highest score of “Approved with Excellence.”
The team also visited Babcock University on Sabbath, May 27, to promote Adventist volunteering and discuss volunteer training for missions at Babcock. Kuhn preached the Sabbath sermon, and in the afternoon, the team gave presentations on refocusing missions through volunteering.
In attendance were faculty, students, and Jongimpi Papu, vice president of the South Africa-Indian Ocean Division (SID) and director of Adventist Family Ministries, as well as SID staff members who were at Babcock on a study tour. Prof. Ademola Tayo, Babcock’s president, embraced the mission-focusing spirit of volunteerism and pledged to support and provide job security for faculty and staff going on volunteer missions in WAD territories and beyond.
The CG team returned to its base on Sunday, May 27, while the WAD team, led by Sessou, continued secretariat and CASI training at the headquarters of the Western Nigeria Union Federation (WNUC) in Maryland, Lagos.
The last working visit of the WAD team for the secretariat training started in Aba on Wednesday May 24, in the auditorium of the headquarters of the Eastern Nigeria Union Conference. In attendance were the union secretariat team, led by Okpara Onyebuchi, ENUC entity secretaries, associates, assistants, and institutional officers.
The culmination of the training and worship experience took place on Sabbath, June 3. Participants were encouraged to achieve a 100-percent member download rate on CASI. Please continue to pray that the executive secretaries, associates, assistants, and institutional leaders who attended will achieve their goal.
Source: ANN English
