West Africa
Theological Seminary

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Testimonial

“Jesus believed in wholistic ministry. He taught, he preached, he healed, he fed multitudes, and he challenged the status quo. He delivered captives in distress. He cured human need . . . So, this event is a symbolic act which proclaims the Lord's jubilee to a continent so very deeply in need of what God can do.»

Dr. William Sillings

Africa Center for Wholistic Ministries

Rev. Julius Olanrewaju Adegbola
BTh, MA, BS, PhD (Honorary)
Assistant Director
Urban and Wholistic Ministries

The Africa Center for Wholistic Ministries is WATS Department of Urban and Wholistic Ministries is steadily moving forward. The primary foci of our efforts are prevention and care. To use a familiar analogy, we are focusing much more on the building of a fence at the top of the cliff, and relatively less on the running of the hospital at the base of the cliff. We are aware that the running of the hospital is more dramatic and perhaps appeals more to donors, yet we are keenly aware that HIV / AIDS is a highly preventable problem and that we therefore choose to focus major attention in that direction. However, we are also focusing strong attention on helping churches to learn to overcome the stigmatization of those with AIDS, and to learn how to come alongside those who are suffering with AIDS without rejecting them or entertaining irrational fears. Lagos alone has 1 million HIV-positive people, so our task is enormous!

HIV / AIDS Initiative Report

On Friday, June 7, 2007, we conducted our first HIV / AIDS all-day conference for area pastors. There were 165 pastors registered. Lectures were given by our own staff on HIV / AIDS, and outside experts included a representative from the Lagos state government, and Dada Alamutu, a federal employee who is an HIV / AIDS consultant. In addition we heard from an HIV-positive spokesperson advocating for more reasonable acceptance of those suffering with HIV / AIDS.

 

Launching HIV / AIDS Awareness

The first six months of 2006 were used to launch a pilot project designed to train fifteen seminarians to take HIV / AIDS education, prevention, care and impact mitigation into as many Lagos-area churches as possible. This involved the development of a highly replicable model for conducting seven weeks of training in each church, at four hours every weekend. The curriculum was expertly put together by the staff and supplemented with visual aids that could be easily transported around the city on public transportation.

Intensive training of the fifteen seminarians took place throughout this six-month start-up period. Deanna Cathcart, of OMS International, spent one month giving special training in the teaching of sexual abstinence, especially to vulnerable youth. The department staff members, including Dr. Sunday Komolafe, Dorothy Njoku, Jennifer Glass Harris, David Akobundu and Sunday Oloyede, then took the students through several weeks of training to become thoroughly conversant with the materials to be presented church-by-church.

In the month of September WATS received news that a mega-church in Kansas, USA, has made a decision to come alongside the seminary to help build a new multi-story Center for Urban and Wholistic Ministries building on our new campus. The center will contain a sizeable clinic, allowing us to expand the two-room clinic that has already been started on campus under the expert direction of nurse practitioner Florence Osume. In addition the new building will house offices, conference rooms and classrooms. The future of our Wholistic ministries focus is bright!