A SPEECH PRESENTED BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE CAMEROON
INSTITUTE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES, BATIBO, NORTH WEST REGION , CAMEROON
Members
of the board of trustees of the Church
of Christ in Cameroon
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
THE CHURCH
OF CHRIST has come to stay in the soil
of Cameroon Cameroon Cameroon
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
CIBS MISSION
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.
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