From Nigeria to Northern Ireland: A journey of faith and teaching

After serving in Africa for many years, Debbie and David now teach mission courses at the Irish Baptist College and Belfast School of Theology. Read our Q&A with Debbie below.

Where are you currently serving?

We serve as part-time lecturers at the Irish Baptist College where we teach two Mission courses and part of a Christianity and Culture course to undergraduate students preparing for ministry. The college exists to train pastors and mission workers for service in mostly, but not exclusively, Baptist churches and Baptist Missions. We both teach other church-based Bible studies elsewhere.

I’m also the coordinator of the Women’s Study Fellowship at the Belfast School of Theology (formerly the Belfast Bible College). The goal of this part-time course is to help the women grow in their faith through disciplined study of God’s Word, participating in worship as well as engaging in practical service. The ladies are encouraged to discover and use their gifts to serve the Lord more effectively.

The second year of the programme has a missions’ focus, and it’s so good to see involvement from various mission agencies through this.

Wilma, who’s very active in her local church, shares: “WSF has opened up God’s Word to me in ways I didn’t think possible; not only directly through the teaching of the tutors on a Monday morning, but also giving me the tools and skills to enable me to go deeper into his Word as I study on my own.”

How did you serve in Nigeria?

We were privileged to serve as lecturers at an ECWA Theological Seminary, in Nigeria, for 18 years. David was the registrar of the seminary for twelve of those years and taught Hermeneutics, Systematic Theology and New Testament Books, while I supported the library and taught Old Testament courses.

We were part of a team of 25 teachers with up to six mission workers at any given time. This provided financial relief for the seminary but, more importantly, gave students a different perspective of the Scriptures, while the expats benefited from insights from African believers.

It was so encouraging to see the growth of the church in Nigeria, but when there’s such rapid growth, we need people to support churches, especially in the areas of evangelism and discipleship.

We both still desire to prepare others for ministry and recognise the value of doing so in a community context. As students, we benefited greatly from studies at the Bible colleges we attended and thank the Lord for those whom our Lord used to teach us.

Theological study isn’t only an academic exercise but involves spiritual growth and the development of spiritual gifts in a supportive environment.

Bible college lecturers can’t cover everything, but can teach people how to study, learn from the Scriptures and then, hopefully, pass on what they learn to others.

Working as part of a team and playing a small part in God’s purposes for his church in Nigeria and in Northern Ireland was and is a source of great joy. And to know that former students are now pastors, Bible teachers, mission workers, or serving in ministries alongside churches, is a tremendous blessing.

How have you seen God at work? 

Many graduates are working in challenging places with at least one involved in the SIM Faithful Witness team.

Rev. Dr Yusuf Gajere was a student in the Certificate programme when we first went to Kagoro in 1999. Not only was he a diligent student, but he had the integrity of character to be employed by the seminary where he has served in various roles. Recently, he was the Deputy Provost at the seminary and still retains a place on the seminary management team.

Rev. Nehemiah Maikai, another student who developed both academically and spiritually during his studies, has been a pastor for many years and is part of the regional leadership of ECWA. He’s also gone on mission to other West African countries and has such a heart to share the gospel, which continues to bring us so much joy.

Dorcas was also an impressive student. She has a heart to evangelise and disciple young women. Along with her husband, Victor, who also studied at the seminary, she serves with the Word of Life ministry, which holds children’s clubs and runs youth camps in central Nigeria.

She started a new programme for young girls called ‘Rise Up, Girls’ and one of the most recent events was community cleaning followed by a Christian movie. Another event had the aim of teaching teenage girls how to relate well to their mothers.

We’re so thankful that most former students are faithfully serving the Lord in places of great hardship and persecution. The commitment of those people to Christ is impressive and many are serving Christ in places where it would be difficult for expatriate missionaries to work.

How can we pray for you? 

• for continued health and strength to study and teach our classes;
• for more opportunities to present the needs of mission to our students;
• that God will raise up more labourers for the harvest who will see the need of being prepared for service;
• that we would stay close to Christ every day, because without him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).