January 2016 Update: Growth and Vision

Praise God for Ministry Growth

I wanted to begin 2016 by giving thanks for what God has done through your participation with APT Ministries in training pastors and leaders in Africa in 2015!

The ministry grows each year. At the end of 2015 our “ministry to date” number of pastors trained reached 5,804. The principle of “multiplication” is kicking in resulting in an ever increasing number of pastors being trained.

This year there will be two new (American) trainers available to help expand the training in both French and English speaking countries. We also hope to complete the training of two teams in the Congo’s in March as well. Because we are multiplying our training teams we have seen the training grow 84% over the last three years, a 28% a year growth rate.

These additional trainers will continue to multiply God’s impact in Africa by providing encouragement to and resourcing of pastors.  We praise the Lord for His work through your prayers and support for those who are faithfully training pastors in Africa.

Difficult Decisions

The requests for training continue to come and humanly speaking I feel sometimes overwhelmed. BUT I do believe that the Lord will lead and provide in His time! In anticipation of 2016 we will have to make decisions on which requests we respond to and to what extent we can respond, that is, how many pastors we can commit to provide training for. As always this has to be determined on available advance finances.

In 2016 we will need to determine how many of the approximate 2,800 pastors (current estimate) we can actually provide for financially. It is hard to say “No” but at this time it has to be done. Pray for wisdom in prioritizing what countries and numbers we commit to. In 2015 APT Ministries provided training for 1,465 pastors. I hope we can increase to 1,800 – 1,900 in 2016.

Urgent Need for French Training

We are planning French workshops in the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, and Senegal and for the first time in Cameroon. However, we have received an urgent request from Niger to train 350 pastors. The Church is under very great persecution in Niger. Believers have been killed, churches burned and Bibles and Christian study materials destroyed. Pray for wisdom in discerning how we should respond to these opportunities.

English Workshops

English workshops for 2016 will be in Nigeria (different than Niger), Liberia, Uganda, Kenya and Cameroon (Cameroon has both English and French speaking pastors).

Please Pray

Please pray for 2016!  I am excited to anticipate how the Lord will lead and provide!  Thank you again for all you have done!