In The World Today
Pray for IFES Students in Gabon
Groupes Bibliques du Gabon (GBG - GABON)
BP 1133
LIBREVILLE
GABON
Phone: +241 68 38 12
Fax: +241 73 86 72
Email: paretpour@yahoo.com
Hervé Boukamba
General Secretary
Prayer Needs
Breaking new Ground
Gabon, with its small population and abundant natural resources, is considered one of Africa’s more prosperous countries. Years of political stability mean it is relatively unknown in the world.Although Gabonese Christians love to meet and sing and listen to preachers, Bible study and friendship evangelism are unfamiliar concepts. Evangelism, though practised with zeal, almost exclusively follows the style of mass campaigns, which do not appeal to non-Christian students or other intellectuals.
Groupes Bibliques du Gabon (GBG) is a small group of students at Omar Bongo University who encourage each other to love God, his Word, his people and his world through Bible study, prayer and studying books on evangelism and personal relationships. We also have contacts at a major national high school and want to plant groups in other high schools and professional schools.
Scott Harris, IFES staff worker
Thanks:
Serious leadership from students like Roseline Kouna and Lothaire Mounzebi;
Last July's very fruitful visit from IFES Regional Secretary, Daniel Bourdanné, which included a weekend retreat on IFES priorities;
The partnership IFES staff Scott and Michelle Harris share with Gabonese Christians.
Petition:
A growing love for true Bible study among Christian and non-Christian students;
Growing GBG involvement in true friendship evangelism that draws students to faith;
The development of a Gabonese leadership structure and the appointment of a Gabonese staff worker.
Stories
Scott and Michelle Harris work with the IFES movement in Gabon. Here Scott describes a recent Bible study he led with the students.
As students entered the meeting, I handed each of them some money and asked them to hold on to it for a moment. There were a few perplexed looks, but each did as they were asked. We then studied Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents. It is a striking story of a master entrusting money to three of his servants. The students discussed the nature of investments and the fact that risk is always involved, whether the investment was financial or investing oneself in God’s service.I invited the students to invest the money I had given them for a few weeks; all the profit would go to the national movement. All six students accepted and agreed to give account of how they had used the money.
When we met again a few weeks later, I was surprised to find that each one had chosen a different investment and each had made significant profit, most of them more than doubling the money. Some had bought Bible reading guides or perfume samples and sold them at a higher price. One had given the money to two girls in his church who made and sold toffee. (These girls were able to continue the business after returning some of the profits to the students.)
The activity prompted many more discussion on how to invest oneself in the development of the church and the national student movements and how to finance its growth creatively. Please pray with us that God would call more Gabonese students and graduates to invest themselves in serving him through the national student movement.
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