Coming home

“It’s so hard to summarise my time here – so many stories kept coming to my mind; which to pick? When I came here in 2005, I had no idea of what God would use me to do: I was just a teacher coming to work with children,” says Nicky Brand, who’s set to finish 20 years of faithful service on the field in Nigeria. 

For many years, Nicky, who’s supported by Gateway Baptist Church, Sussex, served as part of the City Ministries project that works in cities across Nigeria, offering the hope and love of Christ to the marginalised. 

She first worked with boys who were orphaned, or had been thrown out of home and were living on the streets, or run away from an abusive situation, and they were looked after at our Gidan Bege care home, which means House of Hope in the Hausa language.

“It’s a place where children can escape from a harsh life of begging on the streets and an endless struggle to survive. They’re provided with food, shelter, an education, and most importantly, are shown the love of Christ,” explains Nicky. 

“It was a privilege to be involved in this work and to see first-hand how God can rescue hopeless situations; restoring children, who are sometimes damaged, sometimes unloved, turning them around so they can be reconciled with their families and impact their communities for good.” 

Nicky helped set up more care centres throughout Nigeria, where vulnerable children are given shelter, education, and nurtured spiritually. In 2007, God worked through Nicky to start a girls ministry to equip disadvantaged girls and educate them in life skills, as well as academically and vocationally.  

“God has blessed this ministry to grow from nowhere and we now have our teenage girl centre in Bassa, complete with its own secondary school,” she says. “Four of our girls have graduated with degrees from university and more are following behind them. Quite a few are now married and are mothers; others are making a difference in the communities where they live.  

“Pictured here are our five graduate girls Prisca, Grace, Happiness, Jennifer and Janet, who are back from serving for five months in our other centres, giving something back to the ministry they grew up in. Two of them have been with the ministry for 13 years!  

“Two are leaving to go to extended family, one has a scholarship to university, and the other two will move to our half way home to begin skills training. All their lives have been transformed because of being in our ministry and they now have hope and a future.  

“It’s been a joy to train them to be Nigerian women ready to impact their societies for good. Please pray for them as they step into the world and make their way.” 

Over the years, God gave Nicky new visions and the passion to carry them as she took on leadership roles, including coordinating education initiatives, training staff, and running a trauma-healing group and writing a life-skills programme. 

“As I look back, I can see how God prepared me in my ‘previous life’ for the variety of ministries I’ve been involved in, and I’m amazed at what God has done in me and through me. He’s grown my faith and shown me miracle after miracle in the way he’s provided. I can only marvel at God’s faithfulness to me and how much he’s shown his love to me in so many ways.

“I’ve learnt such a lot living and working cross-culturally and for several reasons, it would be much easier to stay in Nigeria! But I know my time here is coming to an end and the ministry will continue as the structures and staff are now in place for others to be Christ’s vessels – helping those they can and shaping the next generation to shine as lights to their communities across Nigeria. 

“Being in transition is never easy; there are many emotional goodbyes to come and things to think about, like how will I live back in the UK that’s changed a lot in the past 20 years? But I know that God goes before me and he’s behind me; he’s taught me that his timing is right and often differs from my own and I trust him to guide me in the days ahead.” 

Please pray:

• Join us in celebrating what God has done through Nicky’s faithful service in Nigeria and for a smooth transition as she returns to the UK. 
• That God would comfort all Nicky’s girls and the City Ministries family she’s leaving behind. 
• For the girls who’ve graduated and left the ministry to make good choices and stay strong in their faith.
• For God to equip at least one of the new mission workers recently arrived, or soon to come, with the passion to disciple teenage girls.
• For God to send an experienced teacher to be a consultant and help train teachers to maintain a high level of children’s education.