December 3, 2010
By Dr. Chris Braun, Alliance Regional Director for Africa
The following is an adapted excerpt from an e-mail Dr. Chris Braun sent December 3, 2010.
I’m writing to you today to ask you to pray for Côte d’Ivoire. Pray also for those living in this troubled nation who are scheduled to soon participate in the Africa Regional Leadership/Church-Planting Conference in Senegal, December 9-16.
Post-Election Challenges
Like Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire has just completed its second round of presidential elections. Yesterday, Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral commission’s director announced that opposition leader Ouatarra had won the election. President Gbagbo’s head of the constitutional court negated this announcement—as well results from seven of the country’s 19 voting districts—and declared Gbagbo the winner. Meanwhile, the Ivoirian government has shut all international borders as well as closed down several radio stations. (See Read More, below.)
The United Nations (UN) is in the process of refusing the Gbagbo claims. “You have probably heard by now that the UN has come out saying that [Ouattara] is the winner,” writes Jeter Livingston, our International Ministries (IM) team leader at West Africa Alliance Theological Seminary (FATEAC), Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. “So far, nothing happening around here . . . [but] we are all holding our breath.”
Having lived for five years in Abidjan, it is emotionally difficult for me to see history being repeated in this nation, now thrown into civil war and divided in half. What is taking place has the potential for much more violent drama.
Please pray for the safety of Ivoirians, our team, and the church during this time when borders are shut and the military proliferate throughout the country. Pray that:
- Leaders will be concerned more for the safety of Ivoirians than for gaining or retaining their positions.
- God would enable immediate, significant movement to keep outbreaks of violence from building in intensity.
- The Church will be a light, showing forth God’s love and ministry of reconciliation.
- The borders will be opened soon, so that our conference participants from Côte d’Ivoire will be able to attend the conference.
That last request is very important to the success of our upcoming conference.
Key Players
Côte d’Ivoire’s delegation is comprised of people who have major ministries in the Alliance movement across Africa. Pray that God will protect them as well as their families and loved ones:
- Isaac and Rachel Keita are the leading Alliance ministry couple in Africa and at FATEAC. Isaac is the president of the Africa region for the Alliance World Fellowship (AWF) and dean of FATEAC. Rachel is dean of the women’s academy at the school. Isaac is scheduled at the conference to preach, lead worship, and share what God is doing in the AWF of Africa.
- Jeter and Laura Livingston are the leadership couple for the Alliance International Ministries FATEAC team and serve as professors at the school.Laura has a growing international seminar ministry on the subject of trauma and member care. Jeter is scheduled at the conference to lead a session on prayer, and Laura is slated to be a key interpreter.
- Noel Nguessan is the director of the department of missions for the Alliance of Côte d’Ivoire.He will be presenting at the conference a summary of what God is doing in this budding missions ministry—one of The Alliance’s largest national bodies.
- Deanna Harrison is one of IM’s two regional educational consultants for Africa. She is also a professor at FATEAC; the primary coordinator for the conference’s translation ministry, she is scheduled to do a great amount of interpreting.
Thank you for praying for our Ivoirian delegation and for the difficult situation in this West African nation.
Do continue to pray for the speakers and worship leaders as they make their final preparations for the conference and begin their travels. All of our conference participants flying from Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ghana, are using Air Ivoire and transiting through Abidjan.
It’s thrilling to realize that it’s only a few days before we begin this event for which we have been praying. May God speak, and may we hear Him clearly-for His glory!
Read More about the challenging post-election situation in Côte d’Ivoire. Note: Clicking on this link will take you off of the C&MA Web site.
One Thing You Can Do
Give to Alliance Great Commission Ministries. In doing so, you partner with overseas workers, like our teams in Africa, to share the good news of Christ’s love with those desperate to know that God cares for them.