Consulting on a Nigerian Missions Manual

One of the joys we have in our role as pastoral care consultants is to help national practitioners in the developing world to flesh out their mission training manuals in the area of pastoral care. Our new friend, Jamal (not his real name), who we met in an online training we did to Nigeria inquired if we could help him update some of their policies in pastoral care for missionaries. I was interested to look it over and found that they were very thorough in the topics covered but also saw some issues that we could bring input to. 

This was a good example  of what we call "network care" in our member care model in Bethany. By collaborating with other mission groups we can bring insights gained through experience which will augment the work already being done. Pray for our brother, Jamal, as he examines my editorial comments and integrates those ideas into the cultural context of Nigeria. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. Pray for our trip to Scotland to visit Heather and her boyfriend Spencer. We are looking forward to being toured around by our favorite Scottish transplant tour guide. 

2. Pray for Alberta's brother Peter, diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She was able to visit him a week ago and was encouraged by his upbeat spirit. 

3. Pray for our final plans for our next trip to the Philippines to be settled. The prices right now are about half of what we had to pay in our recent trip. Our tentative time frame is May 2025. 

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta 

ps. I wrote up a short fictional story on the biblical "death bed conversion" of the thief on the cross. Here's a link if you are interested to read it. 'Jamal' packed a lot of life into those last couple of hours. it. https://docs.google.com/document/d/10PavrXx_vt2WmRNZ1HQS6Vs26bgKkjgF/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=101847034265841338570&rtpof=true&sd=true