Visit to Nigeria a profound experience for US delegation

A small delegation of Church of the Brethren leaders visited Nigeria April 28-May 8. The group included Stan Noffsinger and was the first visit of a Church of the Brethren general secretary to Nigeria in a decade. "It was profound," Noffsinger said of the trip. Merv Keeney, General Board executive for Global Mission Partnerships, emphasized the importance Ekklesiyar Yanuwa a Nigeria (EYN--Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) placed on the visit.

The delegation also included Robert Krouse, who will begin this summer as Nigeria mission coordinator, and board member David Sollenberger, who filmed the trip for this fall's mission offering emphasis. The group met with mission workers, held a consultation with EYN leaders and visited key EYN institutions, visited Hillcrest School, and worshiped with students at the Theological College of Northern Nigeria.

Noffsinger felt a special connection with EYN's new general secretary, Yohana Y. Balami, who like him is the first lay leader to serve as general secretary of the denomination. "We represent a different generation and a different genre of leadership," said Noffsinger.

The US and Nigerian church leaders discussed developing a new level of relationship between the two general secretaries, both to facilitate discussion about how major issues facing the church affect both bodies and to develop respect for the experiences of each nationality. "It's not just about being the church in the US," Noffsinger said. "We're in a church that spans the globe." Keeney reported that, unfortunately, visa requests for EYN leaders to be at this year's Annual Conference were denied by the US government.

Some questions asked of him during the trip came as surprises and highlighted the Nigerian awareness that Christianity is growing much faster in non-western areas of the world--an awareness that Noffsinger shares. When asked, "Why is the world headquarters of the Church of the Brethren in North America?" he was quick to respond that the Church of the Brethren doesn't have a world headquarters. But he took the point of the questions, that the Nigerian church is larger than the US church. Noffsinger said that he had "a great conversation" with those posing the questions.

Noffsinger also preached for two Sunday services--one in English and one in the language of Hausa--at the Yola Jimeta EYN congregation, which has an attendance of 1,000 to 1,800 at each service. The event was filmed by Nigerian television, and Noffsinger was interviewed for a nationwide news broadcast.

Unhappy news greeted the delegation on their return to the US, with the unexpected death of one of their hosts in Nigeria. Gunnar Berndsen, a worker with European-based Mission 21, a longtime partner in Nigeria with the Church of the Brethren, died May 11. Berndsen was working in EYN's Theological Education by Extension (TEE) program, and one of his passions was to develop museums and heritage centers for the Nigerian church, Keeney said. Noffsinger mourned the loss personally, as well as the loss to the church. "What I saw in Gunnar was a man deeply committed to his life and mission as a servant of Jesus," Noffsinger said, "and that commitment was lived out as he shared his gifts and talents through TEE and his interest in bringing improved building structures to the lives of those he served. His death gives a new sense of urgency to the church's mission, to share our talents each and every day with those we serve."