35 YEARS OF LABORING IN THE DARK PLACES

Grace Foundation Inland Missions has existed for 35 years, and we are grateful to God for helping us

Kamberi work in the early 90s

navigate and work in some of the darkest regions of the world. The ministry started without a defined form but with the singular focus of ensuring that those who sit in this region would see great light and that light would dawn on those who are resident in the shadows of death, as captured in Matthew 4:16.

The labor began with consolidating the result of the earlier work carried out in Benue and Niger State by the team and others. The Aiona work in Benue state came under very severe persecution and the only way out was to formally hand it over to Christian Life Evangelical Ministry (CLEM). Pastor Freedman Akor took over and did excellent work. Pastor Mike Agada who was directly leading the work in several villages at Owukpa took over the leadership of the work in that axis and named it Christian Fellowship Center. 

The Kamberi work in Kwara State came under Niger State when the Ibrahim Babangida administration carved out that section of the state and merged it into Niger State making it difficult for the Kwara State Christian Corpers Fellowship(KCCF) under which the work started to have jurisdiction whereby all efforts to get other mission agencies to continue with the work failed.

After much prayers, the passion and burden received many years earlier at Irim, to dispel darkness began to see the light of the day as the need to continue with some of the pre-GFIM labor became inevitable. The ministry today operates under five departments. They are Media and Mobilization, Missions Training, Field Operations, Home of Grace and Relief, and Homefront/Research.

Media Broadcast

Media and Mobilization

GFIM recognizes the need for laborers who would serve as agents of light to dispel darkness from all the places where the prince of darkness still dominates. To recruit these laborers, we engaged in praying that God would supply them. In addition to prayers, we mobilize the body of Christ not to be passive but to actively get involved.

The department travels extensively both locally and
internationally to conduct mission awareness teachings in churches, fellowships, conferences, and other platforms.

GFIM also used national televisions such as the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) to mobilize the church as well as our YouTube channels.

The department is also involved in print media mobilization efforts where the department publishes a magazine quarterly: God’s Heartbeat and has published over 20 books which include: Agony of Unreached People, Toiling in Dark Places, My Journey into the Dark Nations, Nursing Your Missionary Vision, Understanding African Missions, etc.

Missions Training

Advanced Missions leadership Candidates

GFIM has been very much committed to training and retraining missionaries bearing in mind the mission work requires intense preparation and failure to prepare is preparation for woeful failure. This department has for over two decades run one-year pre-field intensive missions training under her School of Cross-Cultural Missions(SOCM) and has graduated hundreds of missionaries laboring in different countries around the world under various mission organizations. The School had a campus in Cameroon which serviced the Francophone countries but has to be suspended for now because of inadequate funding.

Missions & Exposures and Training, Pretoria

The department is also involved in retraining missionaries with pre-field training under the Advanced Missions Leadership Institutes (AMLI) who have labored for over 10 years and would be required to upgrade their capacities. This was held bi-annually and had graduated four sets of key leaders already. The graduates cut across various mission agencies and denominations including national leaders, founders/chief Executives of ministries.

In collaboration with other ministries like the
Kingdom Bride in the Cross-River State of Nigeria, we have conducted mobile short-term mission training and we have provided leadership for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada’s Missions Exposures and Training(MET), Pretoria to train pastors from across Africa for missions for close to two decades now.

Field Operations

Pioneering effort via River Niger

The core of our work is centered on this department and off-shoot of our work among the Kamberis. The Kamberi work cut across Niger and Kebbi State as well as Benin Republic. It has also given birth to work among other tribes such as Achipawa, Boko, Gungawa, Fulani, and Dukawa.

We have four mission Stations in Kebbi Statesnamely, Woruworu, Samadobi, Tugan-Gboka, and Bayan Dutse.

In Niger State, the work has spread to Samunaka, Tugan Haske, Tugan Ali, Ishi, Igbeshi, Kubule, Angwan Borgu, Rama, Angwaru and Lambu.

In the Benin Republic, the work spread to Libante, Tugan-Yakubu, Morou, Maidaji, Magaji, Shagiya,

Indigenous Believers Campmeeting

Badelu, Kwalaye, Segbana, Kawuya and Morou II.

From the axis of the Northeast of Nigeria, the GFIM is working among the Beru, Dir, Bolu, Bum, Zull, and Sangawa people in Bauchi state. Before we began our pioneering efforts, all these places and people groups either had no believers or a negligible number of believers.

In Benue State, GFIM works at Oma among the Aiona people of the Idoma tribe. We attempted to extend the work to a diasporan community at Ade-Igwu but had to suspend it because of increased tension and insecurity.

At the Niger Republic, the GFIM labors among the Gobirawa people, the Bankoula people, Tibiri, Ahole and Salkam people.

Kamberi convert

In Plateau State, we work among the Furaka and Zarazong people.  Our work among these people groups includes evangelism, discipleship with scores of Discovery Bible Study (DBS) groups, and pioneer church planting where none exists.

At Chad, we had fruitful work in Bonghor where Samuel Benuoji and his team labored for many years before his demise. The work is suspended pending when God provides a replacement.

In Zambia, GFIM registration certificate was Business Name and not Incorporated Trustees as agreed and paid for so the work has to be suspended to avoid future challenges.

In Brazil, GFIM recalled her missionary because he hesitated to allow his family to join him after serving for over one year.

Home of Grace(HOG) and Relief/Helping Hands

This department is a byproduct of the field operations department. The GFIM encounters several needs

Receiving New Kids from IDP Camp

on the mission fields that cannot be ignored. This includes victims of cultural practices and intense persecutions as well as banditries and Jihads. A young girl lost her mother when she was six months old. In the process of burying the mother, they placed her by the mother’s corpse to bury both of them together.

Our missionary plucked her from untimely death from the grave. She is 24 years old now and an undergraduate at the University of Jos. The Jihadist visited a home and slaughtered a man and his wife in the presence of his son. Thank God they did not kill the boy. He is today in his final year in High school and several others in that category. The HOG has scores of orphans and vulnerable kids across three mission bases as well as missionary kids whose parents are laboring in very dangerous mission fields without access to education.

Benin Republic

We also have Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs), widows, and other orphans who are not in the HOG and whose needs cannot be ignored. Through the Helping Hands, Soteria Ministries, Tabitha Arise Foundation, and several of our partners, God has helped us to put eternal smiles on faces beyond the four walls of Grace Foundations.

We have drilled boreholes to provide water for various communities such as Sanga, Bum, Samunaka, Zarazong, Furaka, etc. We provided foodstuffs to many displaced communities at Taraba, Benue, Kaduna and Plateau States.

Homefront/Research

Dukawa Convert

This department is sometimes ignored but is one of the most important departments. It is the pillar
carrying the weight of the first four departments. The department handles all the logistics needs of the missionaries. It comprises the finance and administration departments and coordinates the work nationally and internationally. It carries out research and planning as well as enforcement and over the years has provided prayer cover through mission prayer squads for all the missionaries, and member care/pastoral oversight for the missionaries.

Collaboration/Networking

GFIM has been able to survive and make such a huge impact because of friends and partners that have over the years collaborated with us.  We are ever grateful to God for blessing us with one of our earliest corporate partners, the Missions Supporters League (MSL). You believed in us so early. We can never forget those bundles of zinc for our second church on

Oma Field

Kamberi field. The memory of the grinding machine you bought for Dir field and the huge difference it made and many other supports. God bless you richly.

For Gospel Bankers and Anude Family Legacy Endowment Fund, Grace  Fatii Omalli Fellowship, Engineer David Okpanachi, Late Apostle Livinus Ofem, and Mrs. Ebele Okojie the devil would have grounded our missions training effort if not for the scholarship you provided at different points which kept the school running. May the Lord bless you richly.

We are extremely grateful to Our Daily Need Ministries, Eternity Ministries, Soteria Church, Tabitha Arise Foundation, Assembly of Redeemed Church, Sao Paulo Assemblies of God church, The Mighty Cry Missions, White Camp Mission, Purpose Driven Life, Day Spring International, Redemption Missionary Church, Gospel Bankers, Final Command Ministry, Dream Center, Chapel of Goodnews, ATBU Chapel of Victory, Forgotten Ones Foundation,  Christ Impact World Mission, Mission Challenge Network, all the Network of African Missions Leaders(NAMIL)family and many more too numerous to mention. Thank you for not just partnering but taking ownership of the ministry. Most of the testimonies we publish are jointly owned. You sponsored them. We are very sure that the only way forward is collaboration.

We cannot list all our partners but our earliest friends/partners and fellow 1988 Corp members, Dr.

Malobi Ogboli, Bisi Fanimo, Kemi Bamgbala, Lola Abrahams, Daniel Ayidu. Joke/Gboyega Eyitayo, Yinka Laoye, Kunle Adeyemo, Emmanuel Abuh, etc. You have been there since the inception.

Some of our dearest partners have gone to be with the Lord, Mama Esther Anaja, Engr. Livinus Ofem, Mama Gbenle, Barrister Tubosun Oyelade, Peter Okoh. Douglas Martins Junior, Agnes Okpe, Abraham Abah, Joy Sanni, Tope Madamori, Papa Aderinto, Clement Anegbe, Papa Merwe, etc. Enjoy your rest and your reward. Your impact remains indelible. 

For many others whom God has brought our way as destiny helpers, Yemisi Madamori, Ron Meyers (Prof. & Dr. Mrs.), Chinelo Ohanyere, Bernet Madgwulike(Mr. & Mrs), Adindu Ezeocha, Chichi Okonjo (Mr. & Mrs.). Mummy Bolanle Olabisi,  Ikechukwu Ugwuanyi (Elder & Mrs.), Mike Adegbile, Ndidi and Chuka Anude, Mrs. Sanyaola, Elizabeth Edime,  Mummy Abigail Aderinto, Peter Akinyemi,  Oridota Ezekiel, Engr., & Mrs. Yele

Akinsipe, Sister Moni Olopade, Patience Amajor, Elizabeth Edime, Idowu Osaghie-Bello, Adeyemi, Awosika,  Dr. & Prof. Isaac Amuta, Elder Samson Abah, Elsie Govender, Barrister Pius Akubo (SAN), Amina Ochai, Oladayo Samuel, Adebowale Kuforiji, Abada Mathias, Eunice Ojobo, Samson AbahShitu Bolaji, Godson Abraham, Danjuma Yahaya, Ugochukwu Obi, Barnabas Omali, Renee and Paul Frangoulis,  and family.

For every member of our Board of Trustees, Prof. Joel Onu, Rev. Dr. Samson Amedu, Mrs. Lucy Abah, and Rev. Yinka Laoye, thank you so much for your selfless sacrifices.  

October-December 2024 Edition of God's Heartbeat

 

Status of the Great Commission

 

Remembering Clement Anegbe: 22 Years After

May 4, 2002, will continue to be remembered in the history of missions in Africa and by all those who knew and worked with Rev. Clement Anegbe. That was the day he took off for Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire, for a mission consultation to deliberate on finishing the unfinished task.  Little did he know that he had finished his aspect of the task.  On his way to Bassam via Lagos, he boarded the ill-fated EAS airline, which crashed in Kano.

The news shocked many of us who had a last-minute chat with Clement before he embarked on the journey.  Though he preached prophetically, announcing that there was a vacancy to be filled in his local assembly, little did anyone know then that the vacancy was his office, which he would soon leave. Before his exit, we extensively discussed the project at hand, which we both coordinated. The MissionAfricjournal where he served as the Managing Editor; the Agape Network, where he served as the Chairman, Accountability & Disciplinary unit; his mission field at Zaranda Anseli, where he wanted us to second to him as an interim missionary, his work at the Evangelism and Mission Commission of AEA, his plan to finish the Jubilee Ministries office complex, etc.  Indeed, a giant vacuum has been created.  This is beyond a vacancy. 

Clement was a multi-dimensional minister of the Gospel.  His selfless service and lifestyle will make it difficult to get a replacement for him quickly.  He has affected so many lives in so many ways.  This was quite glaring in the wake-keeping night and the funeral service, which was attended by hundreds of persons from different spectrums of ministries.  Most of them, including the bishops present, attested to how he raised and trained them in their spiritual infancy and stood with them until they became what they are today.  They referred to him as a father in the ministry.

For us in Grace Foundations, this temporary parting is quite shocking.  We are familiar with all the consoling theology of death.  We know Clement has gone to a better place, but it seems too soon.  It is physically painful, and we cannot pretend about it.  God's judgment is, however, not subject to debate.  He is always right.  There are many questions we cannot get answers to in this world.  When the trumpet sounds, we will understand it better by and by.  It will be a pretense to say we can stop shedding tears so soon, but we know God took Clement away.  It is not the devil.  Not at all!  If God chose to save him in the crash, it would have been a light thing.  We have no grudge against God at all.  His decision is the best.  We thank Him for all that He has done.  After all, it is not how long a man lives that matters but how well.  Jesus lived for just over 30 years.  Clement was over 40 years old.

The last minute of Clement's life on earth has remained an encouragement and a challenge to us all. One of the survivors of the air crash testified of how Clement removed his seat belt and announced to his fellow passengers that he prayed when the plane started misbehaving, and God told him that they would not survive the crash. Instead of sitting down to think of his family and the various cares and challenges that would emanate from the crash, he preached a brief but compelling message urging the people to get ready to meet their Maker.  After that, he offered them the opportunity to pray, and as if he was not satisfied with how they were praying, he led them to pray for salvation. Just after they said Amen, the plane crashed. What a glorious exit! He went to his Maker with bundles of harvest in his hands. Most of those who died in the crash, whether Muslim or pagan, are today in heaven courtesy of Clement's last-minute ministry effort. To God be the glory.

Who exactly is this man called Rev. Clement Anegbe? Born on December 1, in the year of our Lord, 1955,  Clement Anegbe hails from Iriukwe – Agenebode, Etsako Local Government Area in Edo State.  He was, however, born and brought up in Lagos, Nigeria. Clement attended St. Finbarrs College, Akoka, Lagos, between 1969 and 1973.  He was a beneficiary of a Private Scholarship given by a prominent business tycoon, which he enjoyed throughout his studies at St. Finbarrs.  He graduated with a Division One at the West African School Certificate Examination in June 1973. He had a stint working with Union Bank as a Counter Clerk before proceeding to The Polytechnic in Ibadan.  He was a distinguished scholar, winning many awards, and his final year project was rated as the best in the department.

While at The Polytechnic, he encountered the Lord Jesus Christ as Redeemer and Saviour through a special revelation in December 1976.  Since that experience and decision, he has consistently followed the Lord and was fully committed to the course of the Kingdom. After he graduated from The Polytechnic, he was posted to Gombe (then a local Government in Bauchi State) for his National Youth Service.  He served with Nasara Motors – an automobile engineering company.  After the service year (NYSC), he secured immediate employment with the Federal College of Education (Technical), Gombe, as a lecturer in the Department of Metal Work and Technical Drawing.  Within a short time, he rose to become the Head of the Department.

His sojourn at Gombe brought remarkable dynamism to the spiritual life of the Campus Fellowship and the Christian Community.  In those days when Charismatic and Pentecostal manifestations were viewed with some suspicion, Clement and his little band of zealots were used as instruments by God to teach practical Christian living and uncompromising dedication to the Gospel. Clement married Julia I. Anegbe (Nee Imoesiri) on November 28, 1982.  With Julia, they labored together to pioneer the Evangel Chapel, Gombe, and Jubilee Family Church, Jos. God blessed their union with three children: Michael, David, and Abigail.

Due to his dedication to duty, in 1985, Clement was awarded a scholarship by the Federal Ministry of Education to do his Master's degree program abroad.  That took him to Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, USA.  Because of his scholarly performance, he was able to complete the program within a short time.  His passion for souls and desire to reach his father's land with the Gospel made him return home immediately, though he had the opportunity to stay back and pursue his studies to the doctorate level.

By 1992, divine leading made Clement resign from his work with the Federal College of Education (Technical) – FCE(T), Gombe.  He left the Evangel Chapel to work in able hands he had trained and moved to Jos to pioneer the Jubilee Family Church and expand the scope of God's mandate upon his life to take the Gospel to the nations. His movement to Jos proved to be God ordained, as it opened up many opportunities nationally and internationally.  The spiritual leadership and mentoring task started in earnest with frequent travels and preaching engagements coupled with the pioneering of the Jubilee Family Church.  With aggression, he and Julia labored fervently in the work of the Lord until Julia went home to be with the Lord on June 10, 1994.

Undaunted, Clement (God's General) continued to press forward.  Due to his involvement in leadership training and discipleship, he was recommended to attend the Haggai Institute for Advanced Leadership Training in Singapore in 1996. God favored his servant by providing help in the person of Sister Catherine Ameh-Anegbe (a professor of Science Education, University of Jos) in the year 1996 to continue the work of preaching, teaching the Gospel, and raising leaders for the work of the Lord, together.  Clement was an indefatigable man of God, a man of many talents, and a gifted and inspired teacher of the word of God.  He not only distinguished himself in spiritual things but also in the secular and academic world.  He won the Young Managers' Award in 1987, organized by the Nigerian Institute of Management under the auspices of First Bank Plc.

Testimonies and commendations abound to attest to the above fact; here are samples from Ball State University:

"It is a pleasure to write a letter of recommendation for Mr. Clement Anegbe.  Mr. Anegbe has demonstrated several characteristics that label him as a leader who will continue to grow and develop as the challenges change…" 

Thelbert L. Dake,

Professor, Department of Educational Admin and Supervision

September 4, 1986.

"I have found Mr. Anegbe to be one of the best students I have ever taught… a hardworking individual…"

Dr.  William H. Middleton

Professor and Graduate

Advisor Dept. of Industry and Technology.

"…My perception of him is that he is brilliant and able to communicate effectively in a manner… his classmates were very impressed with his insights and commentaries during the class."

Richard  A. Brosio

Professor of Secondary and Foundations of Education.

"Mr. Anegbe is bright, hardworking, and eager to do the very best that he can on anything he undertakes… I have found him to be extremely adept and conscientious in carrying out his work assignments at the highest level of proficiency."

Dr. Robert C. South

Professor – College of Applied Sciences and Technology.

He was an uncompromising, upright, ardent teacher of the undiluted word of God.  He was a mentor and role model to many young ministers and to many whom he came across during ministry. Until his call to glory, he was also the Council for Mission Training in Africa (COMITA) Co-ordinator under the Association in Africa (AEA).  In pursuit of this missionary commission, he set out for a meeting in Abidjan en route to Lagos.  This made him take the EAS flight, which crashed in Kano on May 4, 2002.  Thus,  Clement left this life to be with his Lord and Master, whom he loved so much and had given up everything for.

We have missed a General, a Mentor, a Coach, a Teacher, a Motivator, an Educator, an Erudite Scholar, and a resource person whose vacuum will take a long time to fill.

For Clement, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  We shall meet at the Master's feet.

Adieu, God's General

Rest on !