The CIBS DRECTOR'S SPEECH

A SPEECH PRESENTED BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE CAMEROON INSTITUTE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES, BATIBO, NORTH WEST REGION, CAMEROON ON THE FIRST MATRICULATION CEREMONY OF ITS STUDENTS ON THE 22^ND JULY 2011.

Members of the board of trustees of the Church of Christ in Cameroon here present,

His royal majesty, the Fon of Batibo,

The .D.O of Batibo, Momo Division,

The honorable member of parliament of Batibo,

The commissioner of Public security in Batibo,

The Brigade Commandant of Gendarmerie in Batibo,

Elders and ministers of the gospel,

Brothers and Sister in Christ,

Gentlemen of the press,

Distinguish ladies and gentlemen,

All protocol duly observed.

Permit me first and foremost to thank the almighty God who has made it possible for us, not only to be counted among the living, but has given us the privilege to witness this historic event today. I thank you, for honoring our invitation to witness the matriculation ceremony of the CIBS first batch of students. As people created by God, we have two important services to render while on earth; firstly to God and secondly, to our fellow human being. Above all, we owe ultimate services to God our maker to whom we shall all return; to render account of our deeds on earth someday It is my honor to say, “welcome to you all”, as you have found time despite your tight schedule; to be part of this formal reception of these men of God, who have decided to devote themselves to be formally trained as God’s servants in His vineyard.

There is a famous story in the Bible told by Jesus about the Mustard seed. He said,’ The Kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a farmer sows in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds but when it grows up, it becomes the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree such that birds come and make their nests in its branches’ [Mathew 13; 31-32].

The CIBS story like the history of the New Testament Church is a fitting explanation of the parable of the mustard seed told above by Jesus. We started from a humble beginning like a joke, but today it is a reality and with God on our side, our vision and plans when accomplished, CIBS will become a wonder to many and one of the greatest demonstrations of God’s providential activities in contemporary history, we pray and trust God for that.

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST has come to stay in the soil of Cameroon, though there is a great need for the training of gospel preachers /ministers and Church workers. I may be right to submit here that, more than 7.5 percent of the Lord’s church in Cameroon does not have trained preachers. We are in the world where most people are ignorant of the truth in regards to God’s plan of salvation. Considering the fact that Cameroon and world population is growing with need for train Christians to preach the sound doctrine of Christ to ever increasing population. In addition, there is also rapid rise in the educational level in the world.

You will agree with me that every profession in life requires adequate training for proper skills and management, else more harm will be done than good; the preaching of the gospel is not left out. No wonder the Apostle Paul instructed a young preacher Timothy thus, 2Tim 2:15; ‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’ [KJV].

At Cameroon Institute of Biblical Studies, our focus is to train ministers of the gospel with ability to effectively preach the good news of Christ and to serve well in any congregation of the Lord’s Church they may find themselves The CIBS is aim at producing degree holders in Biblical studies in a few years from now. Permit me to announce here that, we are almost completing the formalities of affiliation with an International University in America to run a BA program in Biblical studies. We equally hope to affiliate the CIBS with a Cameroonian recognized University with the incoming of Dr. Sunday O. Akpan from USA who has accepted our offer to be part of the teaching staff by the grace of God. As such, I can boldly say that the CIBS will commence a degree program hopefully by next semester.

CIBS MISSION: It is our mission to educate men and women for the work of God, for effective leadership and ministry in the Lord’s vineyard.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aims and objectives of CIBS are;

1.    To train Christians to a state of maturity in Christ, so as to serve the Lord well in congregations of the Churches of Christ, to train and motivate faithful men and women to teach others, preach the gospel and bring the lost to Christ, to start congregations and bring them to maturity, train church workers.

2.    To provide spiritual and educational training to develop the skills of its trainees.

3.    To provide assistance to the  local congregations through : preachers seminars, servant leadership training workshops/ lectureships and by assigning students and members of staff on week-ends out reach to villages and towns for evangelism, and students will equally be assigned for a one month field work yearly in any congregation of the Lord’s Church willing to host them.

4.    To provide on campus lectures, workshop/seminars, extension leadership programs and literature to provide education opportunity etc.

5.     To encourage students / our graduates to preach in rural areas and start new congregations of the Lord’s church.

6.    To train students on self reliance and efficiency through vocational and agricultural skills during their educational years and / or post-graduate years of preaching /teaching ministry, pastorship, etc. Trades such as computer maintenance / programming, graphic arts, electrical installation etc; could give a preacher a strong standing upon graduation to serve as a tent making minister.

FACULTY: CIBS is blessed with staff strength of seven veteran lecturers who are rendering selfless services to the school with no fix salary, but just a token for their transport allowance. Among them are four for biblical courses and three for secular courses respectively.

Our needs are enormous. We exist as a school today at a borrowed apartment and a plot of land as a temporal site, but we need a sizeable plot to build our permanent site and enough space for the school demonstration garden. We need some computers to set up our lab. We need to obtain a 19 sitters bus to ease our regular evangelistic trips. We need funds to regularly meet up with the school bills.

The CIBS being an indigenous Bible Institution in Cameroon, which is not solely dependent on foreign support and also a tuition free institution, is seeking for your prayers and regular monetary assistance for the effective running of the School. I assure you that your partnership in this God business will be a rewarding venture as investments in God’s kingdom are never a waste.

Today in the presence of God and these great witnesses, the CIBS has formerly accepted these proposed students for training and equipping them for services to God and mankind. To whom much is given, much is expected also.  You are expected to be of good behavior during your three years of staying with the CIBS.  Borrowing words from Apostle Paul in

2 Tim. 2:1-4, I charge you also with these words, you then my students be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And the things that you shall learn from us in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.  Endure hardship with us like a good solder of Christ Jesus.  No one saving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer.   May God help you.

This speech will be incomplete without my special thanks firstly to the almighty God for making our dream a reality and standing by us so far and to my beloved wife who has been a great source of encouragement to me in this mission. Equally, I owe a big thank you to our American brethren who have sacrifice a lot in support of this mission in Cameroon and Africa in general , my friend and brother Ji Mathias Ofon who is serving tirelessly as the CIBS Dean of studies, the entire staff of the CIBS who have sacrifice a lot to move the school forward to a higher height, our able Land lord; bro. Ejob Peter Ejob who stood by us all this while, and to all of you who by one way or the other stood by us also these while.  The good Lord will surely bless you as you keep on with the good work.

Long live the CIBS

Long live the Churches of Christ

Long live the Republic of Cameroon.

Prince Otobong Ituen

CIBS Director,

For and on behalf of the school.

Seminar / CIBS Matriculation News

Dear brethren and friends,

 It was a gathering of the saints at Batibo community hall, North West Region where Christians from 27 congregations of the Lord’s Church respectively gathered to participate in a first of its kind three days Bible seminar hosted by the Church of Christ, incollabration with the Cameroon Institute of Biblical Studies, Batibo, from the 20^th to 23^rd of July 2011. Some brethren who arrived the seminar venue as early as 5:00am on Wednesday 20^th July, 2011exchanged greetings and travelling experiences  However, there was great expectation as many had promised to come on Thursday which marked the official start of the seminar which commence with lectures.

                            

The welcome speech from the CIBS Dean of studies Brother Ji Mathias gave all participants the opportunity to have a feel of the expectations awaiting them in the course of this seminar.

Next on the program was an introductory talk on the book of 1 Corinthians, presented by the administrator of the Kumbo Christian Bible College at Nso; Brother Paul Kee. He acknowledged the scholastic level of the seminar and that it will serve as a proper orientation to some of the problems faced by the church today. Focus here is to demonstrate that the book has relevance to the contemporary Church. Its applicability should not be based on any bias intentions. This book can only be properly understood if imagine that Paul was writing to the Church of Christ in Cameroon.

There after, each speaker took turn one after another to present their lessons on the various chapters of the book of first Corinthians .It was an expository seminar on this book with special emphasis on the problems and solutions found in the Corinthian church’s, which is similar to the problems we are facing in the Cameroon congregations today. It was an opportunity of addressing such problems with possible biblical solutions to it. All the speakers did a good job by linking their lessons with the theme of the seminar which was tagged, “God’s solution to problems in the Church”.

                             The Director of the Cameroon Institute of Biblical Studies giving his speech .

In between the seminar was the matriculation ceremony of the Cameroon Institute of Biblical Studies first batch of students on Friday the 22^nd of July 2011 from 11.00am till 1.00pm. Present at  the occasion were some invited dignitaries such as , the Paramount ruler of Batibo community, the Divisional  officer of Batibo and a host of others to mention but a few. Amidst the event which took place during the matriculation was the presentation of the proposed student of the CIBS by the Dean of studies to the CIBS Director for acceptance, the Director’s speech, a pledge of loyalty by the students, a speech from secretary of the board of Trustees of the Church of Christ in Cameroon, a word of advise to the students by the administrator of Kumbo Christian Bible College at Nso, a word of advise to the students by the director of Cameroon Bible Institute of Wotutu, a speech by the Paramount ruler of Batibo community, and  a brief speech by the Divisional officer of Batibo,etc.

A total of 12 students who successfully pass the entrance exams were matriculated, thou one of them serves as both student and staff and teaches Computer studies. We regret that four of our proposed students could not matriculate due to one personal problem or the other.

CIBS STUDENTS TAKING THEIR  PLEDGE OF LOYALTY

The seminar continued immediately after the matriculation ceremony and eventually came to an end on Saturday the 23^rd of July 2011 at about 1.00pm. From the lessons presented, we were able to come to compromise on certain issues that were almost tearing the Church in Cameroon apart due to opinions, for instance; issue of Lord’s Supper time, head covering and women silence in the congregation’s. To many, the seminar was an eye opener, though we regret the poor attendance, 87 persons attended the seminar from 27 congregations. We have high hopes that more brethren will benefit from this seminar next year by the grace of God since the program has come to stay as a yearly event.

We highly appreciate all those who supported for the successful hosting of this seminar in one way or the other, you have sacrifice a lot for us despite hard times, once again we say thank you.

I struggled all through the program with sickness and I returned home on Saturday the 23^rd after the program in a more serious health condition. I was immediately placed on drips since I was diagnosed of typhoid fever and malaria, and was not able to get up from the bed for about three days. I was not able to attend worship on Sunday the 24^th and brethren were sent to visit and pray with me after worship. I am getting better, though still on medication, thanks be to God. My wife Margaret and kids are equally in His care. We solicit for your continual prayers for good health and our mission in Cameroon. God bless you and your undertaking.

His humble servant,

Prince O. Ituen

CIBS Director

P.O.Box 73

Batibo, North West Region

Cameroon.

Tel; +237-75-19-0238, +237-98-01-4010

CAMEROON INSTITUTE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES MISSION NEWS JUNE 2011

Dear brethren and CIBS well wishers,
It’s our earnest hope that the good Lord is caring for you and His fold over there. My family, staff and students of the Cameroon Institute of Biblical Studies, Batibo are equally enjoying God’s love and care daily by His grace. We are not loosing focus on what we started at the CIBS as far as the great commission is concerned; we are doing what we know best to do for the Lord and master Jesus Christ in training servants determined to reach the perishing world and bringing the lost in obedience to His will. Pray for us.

         Picture above shows the CIBS Director exchanging a hand shakes with a new convert at Batibo.

The month of June 2011 was a busy and active month; we were able to accomplished most of the planned activities for the school and the church. At Bamenda, our weekly 30 minutes radio evangelism went on successfully and we had a lot of response from our regular listeners who are seeking for the truth. Most are still dragging their feet and we pray they will obey the gospel of Christ before it shall be eternally too late. The Church of Christ, Batibo and some other congregations around the North West Region enjoyed the brief mission trip visit of Brother Jim Corner and his team from America. Their visit was a source of encouragement to the brethren. Our CIBS proposed Campaign for Christ at Ashong Village around Batibo could not hold due to lack of funds but we did not fail to embark on our traditional door to door preaching/teaching in Batibo town. The CIBS closed its first semester for the year on the 30th of June 2011 after their semester exams. On the 1st of July 2011 both staff and students of the CIBS accompanied the Dean of Studies; Brother Ji Mathias Ofon to his village, Buegeh, Menchum Division, North West Region and attended his mother’s funeral service. After the burial, Ji Mathias and I were out on mission visit to some of our students’ homes and congregations namely; Buegeh, Modelle, Benakuma and Batomo respectively. On Sunday the 3rd of July 2011, I was equally opportune to preach in Ji Mathias village home congregation at Buegeh and left from there to Bamenda to see my family before leaving the next day to Benakuma where we stayed with the brethren there for four day and we taught a good number of people from the word of God. It was very necessary for us to move from Benakuma to Batomo to visit one of the CIBS students place and congregation. Our journey from Benakuma to Batomo was tedious because we made most of the trip on foot. We left Benakuma on Friday the 8th of July at exactly 8.00am on a motor bike to a village called Mbamba , where motor able road ended and from there we started trekking at 10.30am and arrived Batomo village at exactly 5.45pm. Our student who is the paramount chief of Batomo community warmly received us in his palace where we spend our night. The church at Batomo was started by Fonguh Stephen sometime in 1999. Brother Stephen heard the gospel of Christ and became a Christian while serving a prison term in the Bafussam central Prison; he was converted by late Paul Kudi [Evangelist] when he was doing his evangelistic work at Bafussam. When Brother Fonguh Stephen regained his freedom, he returned to his birth place at Batomo with the joy of now being Christian and started immediately to plant the seed of the kingdom there at his village and his efforts yielded much fruits to the glory of God. This ancient community called Batomo is made up of about 3,500 inhabitants and it is an enclave area. There were three congregations established in Batomo, but the sad news is that only one of these congregations is still a bit strong, this is Brother Stephen’s congregation at Bucheng. The paramount community head of Batomo who equally is our CIBS student, Brother Anyi Johannes became a Christian few years ago and until he left for the Bible school remains a member of the Church of Christ, Ketundeuck, Batomo. He was moved by the poor leadership state of the Church in his area and determined to come to the CIBS for training, we are very proud of his courage and interest for the church. There is need for continuous evangelistic effort in this community to counteract with the sound doctrine of Christ these growing denominations. Before Mathias and I left the Chief’s palace at Ketundeuck, Batomo , the next day of our arrival on the 9th of July 2011 , we had a privilege to share the gospel of Christ with John Eki whom we met at the Palace and the Lord opened his heart to received the truth after about 45 minutes studies from the Bible, he accepted to follow Christ and was baptized that same morning . After his Baptism , we agreed to separate ourselves , Mathias was escorted to Njitom , a congregation found up the mountain by a sister in Christ and our new brother in Christ ,John escorted me to brother Fonguh Stephen’s residence at Bucheng village . It took me and John, 2 hours 30 minutes trekking to arrive Bucheng ; while Mathias and the sister trekked for 3hours 10 minutes to reach Njitom village . We ascended and descended a lot of mountains to arrive Batomo, while going around the areas to encouraged brethren. Upon our arrival at Bucheng, Brother Stephen was so glad seeing me in his area. He stopped the work he was doing at his rice farm to keep me company at his house. He gave me water to drink, later brought me food which his wife hurriedly prepared for me by the time I arrived. I introduced Brother John as my son in the faith at Batomo to Stephen and we offered brief prayer of thanks to God. John later left me with Stephen and returned to Ketundeuck on foot again alone, and then Stephen took me to Bucheng 2 to visit some Christians there and to see the proposed site for the church meeting hall. They started work for their meeting hall, but later stopped the work half way due to lack of funds and materials. It took us 1 hour 45 minutes to arrive Bucheng 2. We met with the Church at Bucheng 1 for worship on Sunday the 10th of July. Brother Ji Mathias taught during the Bible class and equally officiated during giving period. I preached a sermon and officiated on the Lord’s Supper. A total of 25 Christians were in attendance excluding children. We left Bucheng and slept at the Chief palace at Ketundeuck village and left early on the next day at exactly 7.00am trekking to Okoro where a Catholic priest assisted us to where we could get a motor home at 12.06 noon.
Photo below shows Brother Ji Mathias struggling to descend a mountain on our way back from Batomo.

     The CIBS director brother Prince Otobong Ituen  struggling to cross river Batomo to Agbal on their way from  Bucheng village, we crossed river Batomo to Agbal.

CIBS evangelistic report of 16th May to July 14th 2011.
1. Numbers of studies conducted   -98.
2. Numbers of person studied with  - 234.
3. Numbers of hours for studies  - 103
4. Numbers of Baptism  - 3
5. Number of congregations encouraged   - 6

Presently, our students are helping their congregations during this holiday period in preaching, teaching and other evangelistic activities. We solicit your earnest prayers for our up coming Bible Seminar based on the book of 1st Corinthians with the theme ‘GOD’S SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS IN THE CHURCH’. The spirit lifting event will take place from the 20th through 23rd of July 2011 at Batibo. Our Bible student’s matriculation ceremony is scheduled on the 22nd of July 2011 and will be at the same venue of the seminar.

Pray equally for our new poultry farm on campus, we trust this will be another means of support for the CIBS.

Without your prayers and support, we would not have been able to achieve  much success we have so far accomplished.

Thanks.

In His service,

Prince Ituen,

CIBS Director

Dear brethren and CIBS well wishers, It’s our earnest hope that the good Lord is caring for you and His fold over there. My family, staff and students of the Cameroon Institute of Biblical Studies, Batibo are equally enjoying God’s love and care daily by His grace. We are not loosing focus on what we started at the CIBS as far as the great commission is concerned; we are doing what we know best to do for the Lord and master Jesus Christ in training servants determined to reach the perishing world and bringing the lost in obedience to His will. Pray for us. The month of June 2011 was a busy and active month; we were able to accomplished most of the planned activities for the school and the church. At Bamenda, our weekly 30 minutes radio evangelism went on successfully and we had a lot of response from our regular listeners who are seeking for the truth. Most are still dragging their feet and we pray they will obey the gospel of Christ before it shall be eternally too late. The Church of Christ, Batibo and some other congregations around the North West Region enjoyed the brief mission trip visit of Brother Jim Corner and his team from America. Their visit was a source of encouragement to the brethren. Our CIBS proposed Campaign for Christ at Ashong Village around Batibo could not hold due to lack of funds but we did not fail to embark on our traditional door to door preaching/teaching in Batibo town. The CIBS closed its first semester for the year on the 30th of June 2011 after their semester exams. On the 1st of July 2011 both staff and students of the CIBS accompanied the Dean of Studies; Brother Ji Mathias Ofon to his village, Buegeh, Menchum Division, North West Region and attended his mother’s funeral service. After the burial, Ji Mathias and I were out on mission visit to some of our students’ homes and congregations namely; Buegeh, Modelle, Benakuma and Batomo respectively. On Sunday the 3rd of July 2011, I was equally opportune to preach in Ji Mathias village home congregation at Buegeh and left from there to Bamenda to see my family before leaving the next day to Benakuma where we stayed with the brethren there for four day and we taught a good number of people from the word of God. It was very necessary for us to move from Benakuma to Batomo to visit one of the CIBS students place and congregation. Our journey from Benakuma to Batomo was tedious because we made most of the trip on foot. We left Benakuma on Friday the 8th of July at exactly 8.00am on a motor bike to a village called Mbamba , where motor able road ended and from there we started trekking at 10.30am and arrived Batomo village at exactly 5.45pm. Our student who is the paramount chief of Batomo community warmly received us in his palace where we spend our night. The church at Batomo was started by Fonguh Stephen sometime in 1999. Brother Stephen heard the gospel of Christ and became a Christian while serving a prison term in the Bafussam central Prison; he was converted by late Paul Kudi [Evangelist] when he was doing his evangelistic work at Bafussam. When Brother Fonguh Stephen regained his freedom, he returned to his birth place at Batomo with the joy of now being Christian and started immediately to plant the seed of the kingdom there at his village and his efforts yielded much fruits to the glory of God. This ancient community called Batomo is made up of about 3,500 inhabitants and it is an enclave area. There were three congregations established in Batomo, but the sad news is that only one of these congregations is still a bit strong, this is Brother Stephen’s congregation at Bucheng. The paramount community head of Batomo who equally is our CIBS student, Brother Anyi Johannes became a Christian few years ago and until he left for the Bible school remains a member of the Church of Christ, Ketundeuck, Batomo. He was moved by the poor leadership state of the Church in his area and determined to come to the CIBS for training, we are very proud of his courage and interest for the church. There is need for continuous evangelistic effort in this community to counteract with the sound doctrine of Christ these growing denominations. Before Mathias and I left the Chief’s palace at Ketundeuck, Batomo , the next day of our arrival on the 9th of July 2011 , we had a privilege to share the gospel of Christ with John Eki whom we met at the Palace and the Lord opened his heart to received the truth after about 45 minutes studies from the Bible, he accepted to follow Christ and was baptized that same morning . After his Baptism , we agreed to separate ourselves , Mathias was escorted to Njitom , a congregation found up the mountain by a sister in Christ and our new brother in Christ ,John escorted me to brother Fonguh Stephen’s residence at Bucheng village . It took me and John, 2 hours 30 minutes trekking to arrive Bucheng ; while Mathias and the sister trekked for 3hours 10 minutes to reach Njitom village . We ascended and descended a lot of mountains to arrive Batomo, while going around the areas to encouraged brethren. Upon our arrival at Bucheng, Brother Stephen was so glad seeing me in his area. He stopped the work he was doing at his rice farm to keep me company at his house. He gave me water to drink, later brought me food which his wife hurriedly prepared for me by the time I arrived. I introduced Brother John as my son in the faith at Batomo to Stephen and we offered brief prayer of thanks to God. John later left me with Stephen and returned to Ketundeuck on foot again alone, and then Stephen took me to Bucheng 2 to visit some Christians there and to see the proposed site for the church meeting hall. They started work for their meeting hall, but later stopped the work half way due to lack of funds and materials. It took us 1 hour 45 minutes to arrive Bucheng 2. We met with the Church at Bucheng 1 for worship on Sunday the 10th of July. Brother Ji Mathias taught during the Bible class and equally officiated during giving period. I preached a sermon and officiated on the Lord’s Supper. A total of 25 Christians were in attendance excluding children. We left Bucheng and slept at the Chief palace at Ketundeuck village and left early on the next day at exactly 7.00am trekking to Okoro where a Catholic priest assisted us to where we could get a motor home at 12.06 noon. Photo below shows Brother Ji Mathias struggling to descend a mountain on our way back from Batomo. CIBS evangelistic report of 16th May to July 14th 2011. 1. Numbers of studies conducted 98. 2. Numbers of person studied with 234. 3. Numbers of hours for studies 103 4. Numbers of Baptism 3 5. Number of congregations encouraged 6 Presently, our students are helping their congregations during this holiday period in preaching, teaching and other evangelistic activities. We solicit your earnest prayers for our up coming Bible Seminar based on the book of 1st Corinthians with the theme ‘GOD’S SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS IN THE CHURCH’. The spirit lifting event will take place from the 20th through 23rd of July 2011 at Batibo. Our Bible student’s matriculation ceremony is scheduled on the 22nd of July 2011 and will be at the same venue of the seminar. Pray equally for our new poultry farm on campus, we trust this will be another means of support for the CIBS.