Happy New Year! I hope all of you had great Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. The Christiansen family definitely had a fun time, and we are grateful for the cards and well wishes we received from many of you.
We had an exciting time recently with the graduation ceremony for our Bible college. There were 19 graduates, the largest graduating class in the college’s history! We hold our college graduations every two years, and the last college graduation took place just a month after we first arrived in Nigeria. It was a reminder to me of so much that God has done in these past two years. We have worked with and taught these students, and seeing those Bible college graduates receive their degrees was truly encouraging to me. Please pray for these servants of God, as some are already pastoring, and several are seeking areas where they can plant a church.
This time of year, people are often thinking of goals for the new year and what they hope to see God accomplish. We are no exception. One of our biggest projects in the early part of 2024 will be helping with a church plant in Southern Nigeria. We will be working with a Nigerian pastor, one of our college graduates, to start a church. We are praying that the church will be planted before May. Please pray with us, as I will be traveling to help scout the location for the church, and pray also for all the expense and work that will go into this new church.
One thing we wanted to announce to everyone is that we will be having our first furlough this summer. We are planning on being in the United States from the end of May to October. We pray that this will be both a refreshing and productive time for our family. We are praying that we can raise additional support while on furlough. This would help to increase the number of new churches we can help start in Nigeria, as well as counteract inflation. Almost everything here has doubled or tripled in price in the past year. Right now, we are planning on spending most of our furlough in New England and the Midwest. If any of our supporting churches in those areas would like us to come by while we are around, please let me know. We’d be so glad to see you, report to you, and spend some time with our partners in serving Christ.
That all the world may know,
Caleb Christiansen
With two of our Bible college graduates