ACTIVITIES

We would be happy if we were able to give all our books away free. Maybe in the past, missions gave that idea that Christian literature could be entirely free. But we in ACTS have been impressed by the readiness of Nigerians to buy books and at the same time to say a big thank you to ACTS for making the books available and affordable. The more books we bring, the more books people buy, people from all corners of Nigeria. Sales are increasing steadily. This is a credit to those who have sacrificed to buy the books and also to our hard-working staff who have often sacrificed their own comforts to serve the customers. We are happy today that ACTS has become widely known in Nigeria and beyond for its good books and discount prices.

Donating Books

While we offer no apology for selling books, ACTS nevertheless is delighted to be able to donate books from time to time. Over recent years ACTS have given free book sets to libraries in more than 200 colleges. We also give free books to staff and graduating students of certain colleges; recently we donated 1200 books to the Nigeria Evangelical Missions Association to assist field missionaries and pastors. We are working very closely with Langham Literature (incorporating Evangelical Literature Trust), and through their assistance we hope to do much more for the libraries, staff and students of the various theological colleges who qualify for assistance.

Branches and Book Van

It has been our aim for some time to make the books and other resources we have more easily available where they are needed across Nigeria, and even beyond. With the assistance of Mission Africa (formerly Qua Iboe Fellowship), ACTS branch in Samuel Bill Theological College, Akwa Ibom State, has been moved into a brand-new library building and has its first full-time manager. Another branch is in Lagos at the premises of West Africa Theological Seminary. We have, just this month, opened another branch at Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomosho. To help us supply these branches and take books to colleges and conferences where books are needed we are grateful to overseas friends for funds to purchase a Toyota Hiace bus.

Publishing

As our name suggests, it has been the clearly stated objective of ACTS to see that textbooks and other serious theological works are written and published. Over the last few years ACTS has completed the publication of over 30 titles amounting to over 50,000 copies. To help equip the church to fight the AIDS epidemic, ACTS has also recently been publishing AIDS awareness literature. Many other new books are in the pipeline.

Literature-related Ministries

2. Library Development

It is one of the objectives of ACTS "to assist in the development of theological libraries". An essential key to any good library must be the library staff. During 2001 we were able to run two workshops for Library Staff training. Two librarians from the UK were able to join us as well as Dr Mrs Victoria Ladele. By Dr Ladele joining our staff, ACTS has been enabled to further develop this ministry. Library staff made many positive comments at the end of contact sessions for our ACTS Library School. For example, some who held the title Librarian felt that now they were worthy to use the title, while before they were just book-dusters. ACTS is continuing to offer such training schools and fellowship conferences for Christian librarians. We can also offer library consultancy and hope to be able to offer other library services as soon as time and resources are available.

3. Writers and Editors Training

It has always been one of our objectives to be involved in "encouraging and sponsoring the writing of serious theological works." We regularly do this on a one-to-one basis, but we are also very pleased that our first Writers and Editors Workshop has recently been successfully held in Jos and Ibadan. This workshop was held in partnership with NEMA and benefited from the participation of former Tyndale House editor, Wightman Weese.