Nyikpier

Check back here often to read stories of the Nyikpier church and fellowship with them in the name of Christ.

Nyikpier has been a lesson to us all that God will bring about growth as He wants and in His timing. After about 9 months of preaching in Nyikpier with the aid of Alois one of the leaders from Mebar, there was just one disciple gained. After weeks of continuing to look for the upsurge in growth we have seen in many other villages we began to wonder if that was going to be it, then in April 2006 (a couple of months after Zier was baptized) God brought over 15 more and the church of Nyikpier was born.

20 April 2008
There was a large crowd of folks out at Nyikpier this Sunday. There were about 5 adult men, and about 20 adult women, and about 10 teenagers and about 70 kids. They had a good time of singing and praising God on this lord\'s day.

Aaron
Posted: 04/26/2008 10:11 am - GMT

14 March 2008
Another great visit! Despite the absence of Kpe-Zuo, their primary male leader (he was gone to the funeral of a relative), it was a wonderful time of praise and teaching. People continue to come from other villages to join them in their worship, as Christians and seekers came from Bavule, Wa-jele, and Na-mare to join the Christians in Nyi-Kpier during this time of teaching. There are few things more enjoyable than praising the Lord under a big tree with 50+ Christians...particularly when for so long this church remained small! Praise the Lord for resurrections!

Andy
Posted: 03/16/2008 9:31 pm - GMT

29 February 2008
Today was my first day of teaching out here in a long time. I arrived a little late, around 5:00. There were already quite a few people waiting on things to get started. It was a wonderful time of praise and teaching -- a joyful reunion after quite some time of not being together on a regular basis. The most encouraging part of it all was how many new faces I saw. There were a number of people (particularly women, both old and young) that have evidently been meeting with the church for some time now, as well as a few first-timers. The most amazing visitors, though, were four women from a village up the road. That village has asked several times if Nyi-Kpier would come and teach out there (they\'ve already chosen to go elsewhere, however). Four women came today to hear the first in a new series of lessons for themselves...only thing is, they arrived at 8:00 am for the 4:00 pm lesson -- and stayed all day waiting! I\'ve been praying for the guidance about where to start another preaching point -- I think I may have just found the place (a feeling that was reinforced the next day when I ran into one of these women at a wedding in Faafo, who then introduced me to her children, all of whom also asked us to come and teach). What a great problem to have -- too many places wanting to be evangelized!

Andy
Posted: 03/05/2008 10:44 am - GMT

14-15 February - Small Group Leadership Seminar
This week we picked up Eric and So-tieru and her 15 month old baby all of whom got in the car in Nyinyime and went with me to the small group leadership seminar that they were going to co teach with me in Nyikpier. We got there and Kpe-zuo, his recently baptized nephew, Zu-kpiera, and the older first baptized Christian Ziera, and a couple of older ladies. Eric did a surprisingly good job teaching after having just been presented with the material one time and not really being trained to read Dagara (he is literate in french but doesn\'t know the pronunciation of letters in his own language!). Eric basically focused on teaching literate leaders how to study the Bible in order to prepare a lesson. I worked with the illiterates on how to take a story from their own lives about how God helped them and turn it into a lesson that could apply to others. This is still the hardest step for both the literates and illiterates. They can retell a story (either from the Bible or their lives) and tease out some meanings, but to then make the statement, Knowing this truth, we should . . . is still a bit of a stretch for them. But they are getting better and better at it. After the first day of teaching Ziera wanted to visit his brother at the hospital in Dano, so we all went in to see him and pray for him. I suggested that Kpe-zuo and Ziera lay their hands on him and pray. They are the closest thing Nyikpier has to Elders. He looked pretty bad. Eric had his doubts that the prayers would do him any good. The next day, as I was taking Eric and Sotieru home, we passed by to pray for him again. By the time I got back from taking them back to Nyinyime, he had died. I helped the family transport the body back to Nyikpier. Seeing Ziera, a sweet quiet old man, lay his hands on his head and cry, I also cried for the second time in as many months at Dagara funerals. Pray for Ziera and his family. Pray also for those watching all of this. It is hard to tell how folks will react. They live in a culture and mindset where religion is supposed to work. Also praise God - this is the first time we have asked one of our leaders to help teach a small group leadership seminar and they did great.

Aaron
Posted: 03/01/2008 9:58 am - GMT

February 3, 2008
This morning I heard true sounds of praise. In this village there is a severely mentally handicapped man that is part of the church and he loves to sing! It was such a joy to sit next to him in church and hear what the angels hear... pure praise. This church is already using their attendance book to help them follow up with members. Out of over 35 baptized people only 10 have not been within the last month. During the lesson, we focused more on how to follow up with members and being diligent in prayer.

Chad
Posted: 02/16/2008 1:39 pm - GMT

10 February 2008
Sunday worship was uplifting. They were already meeting when we go there for church which, unfortunately, is not always the case in all our churches. Kpe-zuo encouraged the church during roll call to visit those who were on the roll but didin\'t come.

Aaron
Posted: 02/13/2008 9:50 am - GMT

9 November 2007
Today was a fun time of reunion with this church. It took folks awhile to show up (it is harvest, after all), but once they did, it was a lot of fun. There were about 10-15 adults there (depending upon what you call an adult). I\'ve missed that church, and, even though they say they missed me, they didn\'t show it with their actions! They planted one church while I was gone and have made plans to start in a new place next week (Wa-jele). They\'ve even made it very clear that they don\'t want me anywhere near their new church plant -- they want to see if a church can be planted entirely without any missionary involvement (I didn\'t want to tell them that it\'s already been done...we found out long ago how dispensable we are to this work!). Praise the Lord for their independence! I pray He blesses them with wonderful success.

Andy
Posted: 11/13/2007 9:34 pm - GMT

Sunday, August 19, 2007
We were blessed to worship with 16 Christians in Nyikpier this morning. The service was combination praise, funeral, and exhortation. The church treasurer had died during the week and they took several moments to remember her, praying for her and her family. Also, they read an epistle recently received from Andy Johnson. I was specifically encouraging them as they continue to establish biblical leaderships. This church has at least 5 deacons in place and they are considering confirming two elders. Praise God that they have made this steps. Pray for the growth of these leaders. Pray that God will give them wisdom and grow them each day.

Chad
Posted: 08/21/2007 8:58 am - GMT

20 June 2007
Today, when I went to Nyi-kpier and met with Kpe-zuo. I realized that, last week, I may have been asking his wives questions that would dishonor thier husband if they answered them (e.g., Has Kpe-zuo been teaching you the evangelism curriculum?). This is why they were so silent. Instead I started asking them questions about Jesus, like, Who was Jesus mother?, etc. When his wives couldn\'t answer these questions, Kpe-zuo piped in with, well, we haven\'t gotten to that yet. So I learned that we hadn\'t communicated well that I wanted him to be teaching the evangelism curriculum with his wives. So I showed him the 5 lessons on Jesus from that curriculum and encouraged him to go over these with his wives. They said they are going to be baptized next Wednesday. So I encouraged him to try and go over those lessons with his wives before then so that they have a better understanding of he in whom they are putting their faith. We also talked quite a bit about a husbands responsibilities to his family and a wives reagara families.

Aaron
Posted: 06/20/2007 10:57 am - GMT

3 June 2007
It is always encouraging to see a church meeting when you arrive at the scheduled meeting time. They sang and had me pray for communion and then they read all chapter 2 of the Gospel of Mark. I took a second to explain thatct, at least so far, I found my advice to be about all the same things that one would think about talking to a simple one husband one wife couple. Our discussion was all about mutual respect and communication. This communication is difficult among the Dagara, because they do not traditionally keep in real close contact with their wives who may be off to visit their parents for months at a time without giving their husbands notice as to when they will come back. Anyway, we are hoping that this man who originally asked me to help him plan a Christan wedding will get more than just that. First of all, although his wives sometimes come to church, neither has been baptized but the one who was there seemed to express interest. So, hopefully, we wille. I have high hopes for them.

Andy
Posted: 03/22/2007 11:41 am - GMT

Tuor-taa Kpaaro III
This was the third cluster worship time for the Northern group. Nyikpier is the furthest church out in this group and it was also their first time to host. Muturi sent seven women and three men to the meeting and Mebar sent two women and a man as their representatives. The Nyikpier folks were a bit nervous about hosting. We were impressed though with how they used a local school building for the meeting. Despite their anxiety the meeting went well with visitors stepping in to help lead services. At the end the Nyikpier folks showed some hospitality to their guests with some dolo. The next meeting has not yet been set but will most likely be sometime in December.

Chad
Posted: 11/19/2006 12:07 pm - GMT