Godwin & Gail Ekanem serve with Mission Africa at the

Peter Achimugu College of Theology (PACT) in Ankpa, Nigeria

Gail

I come from Co. Wexford in the Republic of Ireland.  I have four sisters and two brothers.  I was brought up on a farm, but Mum and Dad have now moved to the town of Enniscorthy.  I was a primary school teacher for many years in St. Iberius National School in Wexford Town.  In 1989 I became disillusioned with life and the teaching profession and as I read a book by Joyce Huggett entitled “Approaching Easter”, God became real to me.  As I read about Christ dying on the cross I realised how much God loved me and I knew he was real as He had answered the cry of my heart.  I continued teaching with a new sense of life, but soon I began to desire to serve God more fully.  I took a career break for one year.  One year became two and then four and I graduated from Belfast Bible College and Queens University with a Masters of Theology.  By this stage I had resigned from teaching and wondered what to do next.  Initially I wanted to stay at home, but despite the many positions I applied for, nothing opened up.  God has his ways of getting us where he wants us.  Hence after a talk with Graham Cheeseman, principal of the Bible College at that time (but previously a missionary with Mission Africa/Qua Iboe), plans started moving towards working in Nigeria.

In February 1999 I left for Nigeria to teach at Samuel Bill Theological College.  In Nigeria I met Godwin and two years later, in April 2001, Godwin and I married.  In August 2007 we moved to Ankpa, Nigeria to teach at PACT.  Though we have had our very real difficulties (health problems, church division and armed robberies), I have never regretted accepting the call of God to teach God’s word in Nigeria.

 

Godwin

I come from Ikot Ekpang in the South of Nigeria.  I have two sisters and two brothers though my mother lost five children as infants. In 1989 (the very same year that my wife became a Christian) I became a Christian at a Scripture union camp.  As I listened to the preacher his message affected me and I committed my life to Christ.  My call to the ministry became clear when I had the same dream for a few consecutive nights.  In this dream I was preaching to a mixed congregation of people from different nations, both black and white.  I was a preacher for a couple of years before attending Samuel Bill Theological College.  There I completed the four year Degree course.  On completion of my Degree and shortly after my marriage to Gail, I took up the position of Bookshop Manager at the Samuel Bill branch of the ACTS (Africa Christian Textbooks) Bookshop.  I was responsible for the Bookshop on the campus and also for the distribution of good Christian literature at affordable prices to other colleges and ministers in the south of Nigeria.  However, we felt God calling us from there and have now taken up positions as lecturers at Peter Achimugu College of Theology, Ankpa.  I am happy having the opportunity to teach God’s Word and am enjoying the interaction with the students there.