How to Participate
Your participation in the ministry of Banyam Theological Seminary, on any level, is greatly appreciated. BTS can use your prayers, your financial contributions, and even your presence if you're up for a little travel. A work team from Iowa typically travels to Nigeria each June, and other groups may go at other times, as well: medical teams, organizational teams, goodwill teams, and those going to work on specific infrastructure projects. A pastor from Iowa will, in fact, be spending the 2013-14 academic year teaching at BTS.
Involve Your Mission Team
First, understand that all of Banyam Friends' efforts at BTS trickle down to a very personal level. Real students receive the Bibles we send. They drink the water from the wells projects, worship in the chapel that we help to construct. It was a moment of exceptional clarity for Chris Congdon from Cedar Falls, Iowa, who visited the BTS campus in 2012, when the first thing he saw arriving on campus was a satellite dish outside the library. One purpose of Chris's visit was to see the Communication and Research Lab that his Iowa church had helped to fund. "It wasn't until I saw that dish that I really understood that this Iowa-Nigeria Partnership was more than just Americans writing checks".
You and your church are capable of having a huge impact on the students of Banyam Theological Seminary. We encourage you to download and print one of our Action Cards, which briefly lists the current projects of the BTS Advisory Committee. Choose a project. Set a goal. You're welcome take on a portion, or an entire project.
BTSAC Can Help
If your mission committee would like more information regarding a specific BTS project, or would like a presentation from someone who has been to BTS, please use the form on the Request Information page of this website. We'd love to have a conversation with your mission committee about the ways that we can work together.
Action Card
A convenient Action Card is available that briefly lists the areas in which the BTS Advisory Committee is working. You may view and download that card <here>. You're welcome to print as many copies as you wish, and distribute them to your church's mission committee, or anyone else who has a heart for the African church.
Contributions
If you feel led to contribute to any of the seminary's needs, in any amount, you may do so through your local Iowa United Methodist Church. Simply make the the check payable to the Iowa Conference Treasurer with this notation: Banyam Seminary __________ (your designation).
Contributions may also be mailed to the headquarters of the Iowa United Methodist Church at:
Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
2301 Rittenhouse St
Des Moines, IA USA 50321