NIFES is all about students. We believe they hold the key to godly transformation of the nation and hence should be properly prepared for a God-honoring lifestyle and service.
NIFES is bless with a passionate student followership and was rated at a point as the largest student movement in the IFES Student world.
With a ministry philosophy of students reaching student with the gospel NIFES equips students to reach out to their campus with the gospel of Jesus Christ through the guided leadership of the Staff.
NIFES Presently have a student membership of Over 30000 spread across 321 campuses in eight(8) Area and thirty two(32) zones.
Student Leadership: National Student Executive
The National Executive consists of three National Leaders and presidents of the 32 zones of NIFES. They discuss strategies for the execution of Fellowship policies and programmes towards the achievement of national goals. They also initiate projects/programmes in line with our overall goals as a Fellowship. They contribute to the goal of adequate funding for the Fellowship particularly from students. They serve as a forum to mobilize Students towards the general goals and vision of the Fellowship by ensuring maximum participation of students in national, zonal and sub-zonal programmes. They make recommendations to Council on matters affecting students. They meet three times in a year with the National President as chairman.
Its membership consist of the National Student Officials, Zonal Presidents, National Prayer Secretary, National Director and Management Staff. Area Directors are ex-officio
The National President
He is the leader of the student arm of the Fellowship. He chairs the National EXCO/General Committee meetings and he’s a member of the Governing Council. Broadly speaking, he manages the students’ response to the challenges of achieving the vision of NIFES.
The National Vice President
He is the second national student leader, the Vice Chairman to the National EXCO and General Committee, as well as a member of the Governing Council. He assists the National President in the discharge of his official functions. He is for coordinating Task Committees of the National EXCO.
The National Secretary
He is the Secretary to the National EXCO, General Committee, and Congress meetings and a member of the Governing Council. He, in consultation with the National President and the National Director, calls meetings of the National EXCO as well as draw up agenda for same. He is responsible to communicate in writing National EXCO decisions to Zones, Sub-zones and groups.
General Committee
It is a forum for discussing and appraising the student ministry of NIFES Campus groups. It is a platform to deliberate and take decisions on common problems and challenges facing NIFES as a Fellowship. It is a forum for the determination of venue of National Conferences and the Leadership Training Conference. It is a forum to receive recommendations from National EXCO and Governing Council and a forum for the election of national student officials.
Membership
- National Student Officials
- Zonal Student Officials
- Sub-Zonal Student Officials
- Presidents
- General Secretaries
- Prayer Secretaries
- Treasurers
- Sisters Leaders
- Staff and Council members as ex-officio
Staff
NIFES is blessed with a vibrant and passionate staff team that is committed to building a movement of Christ-like Students in Nigeria tertiary Institution.
The NIFES Staff team is saddled with the responsibility of driving the vision. These they do by equipping students and Associates through training and ensuring to the day to day running of the fellowship operations at different level.
NIFES currently has 60 graduate staff from various disciplines, and a vast number of junior and intermediate level staff nationwide. For effectiveness and excellence in the ministry of NIFES, all staff, in addition to their dependence on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, abide by clearly stated standards and guidelines for operations.
Personnel in NIFES are broadly categorized into Field and Support. Field staff are the Training Secretaries, Area Directors, Director of Campus Ministries, Director of Missions and Director of Associates. Support staff are those who perform administrative and professional functions in various departments at NIFES.
Staff consist of any of Volunteer and Career Staff. A career staff is on a permanent appointment with NIFES. He or she is entitled to all benefits and entitlements, such as training opportunities, gratuity, etc. The Career Staff is made up of the following:
- Senior Staff: a graduate staff who has been duly interviewed and appointed according to NIFES Staff Recruitment Policy. He or she shall enjoy all the benefits of a NIFES senior staff.
- Intermediate Staff: These are staff with recognized post-secondary school certificate qualifications.
The Associates
NIFES Associates are men and women who are products of our ministry in the past years. They are stakeholders to the vision and mission of NIFES. The Nigerian church is emblazoned with ex – NIFES students (Associates) serving as elders, pastors and lay workers. Others are Christ’s ambassadors in their secular workplaces, contributing their own quota to the growth and development of the Church and society as a whole.
It is in the light of this that the Department of Associates ministry over the years has continued to mobilize our Associates to demonstrate their commitment to NIFES by partnering in praying, giving and discipling students in the campuses because these students are without doubt the future leaders of the church and society. Failure to support the cause of the gospel in reaching them today, means preparing for a woeful tomorrow.
NACF Centers
The popularly known Associates Forum was designated as NIFES Community Fellowship (NACF) during the 43rd Governing Council meeting held on Saturday, 4th August 2001, so as to achieve a sense of family and community amongst NIFES graduates. NACF is to be designed in such a way as to make it easier for people who may not be graduates of NIFES, but are interested in the Ministry to still be part of what the Lord is doing in and through NIFES. This is not meant to be another denominational set up and we as a Fellowship will ensure it does not become one.
Aims and Objectives:
- To deliberately remind NIFES Graduates of their root.
- To continually sustain the interests of NIFES Graduates in the Fellowship.
- To recapture the excitement in the campus fellowships among the Associates.
- To raise regular and consistent financial supporters for the ministry.
- To raise regular and consistent intercessor for NIFES.
- To raise Resource persons for the Fellowship.
- To provide forms of social, emotional and spiritual care for Associates.
- To equip Associates to cope with the challenges of lie and for effective ministry in the workplace as ‘salt and light’.
Ministry Structure Structures are the basic building blocks upon which organizations stand and are propelled for the pursuit of its vision. The interplay of the vision and the structures, give birth to the organization. NIFES as every other organization stands on two pillars – the vision and the structure. The assumption here is that structures are basic (i.e. fundamental) to the sustenance of the vision, but beyond that, they propel the members to act in consonance with the vision. In other words, structures arrange the members of the organization into functional teams for effectiveness and efficiency.
NIFES Presently have the following Structure:
- National
- Area
- Zone
- Sub-Zone
- Campus Group
At the Zonal levels, Training Secretaries coordinate ministry operations and training in tertiary institutions,
while the Area Directors supervise operations at the Area levels. The Area Directors are supervised by the Management Committee of the Fellowship made up of 5 Departmental Heads and the National Director based at the Headquarters, Jos.
Departments
Our ministry work has been enhanced effectively by spreading our operations into different departments. The need for this became critical in order for us to respond adequately to the challenges of our growing and dynamic ministry. Below is a brief highlight of the focus of each department.
Office of the National Director
The National Director is the Chief Executive and spiritual leader of the Fellowship. He is responsible for maintaining the Biblical integrity of the Fellowship, and keeping it true to its doctrinal basis, making sure it is ran according to Biblical principles. He guides the Governing Council in policy formulation and decision-making and is responsible for putting Council decisions into effect. He guides and motivates the National Executive towards responsible student leadership.
Finance and Administration Department
This Department is charged with the responsibility of developing, implementing and monitoring the fellowship’s personnel and financial policy. The Department is concerned with the smooth running/implementation of the fellowship’s operational guidelines by the various arms of the fellowship nationally as well as the direct supervision of the support staff of the fellowship. The department supervises the execution of physical development projects of the fellowship and devises strategic means of fund generation for the sustenance of the vision of NIFES. A Director who is a member of the Management Committee heads the Department.
Campus Ministries
This department is responsible for developing effective strategies for implementing our vision and goals amongst campus groups such as discipleship, leadership etc. The department is also concerned with producing relevant training materials for various aspect of ministry on campus, an awareness brochure of NIFES vision and programmes for grass root mobilization of student nationally. Move over the department oversees the work of Training Secretaries and Area Directors and it is responsible for monitoring National Security/and Strategic issues in the country as this affect our operations on campus. A Director who is a member of the Management Committee heads the department.
Missions and Evangelism
The Missions Department in NIFES is a service arm of the fellowship concerned with short term plans of mobilizing motivating, training and exposing student, staff and associates to reach out to the rest of the world with the gospel of our Lord Jesus (Mk. 16:15) The department is therefore responsible for creating Mission awareness amongst students, staff and associates through a functional partnership with other mission agencies and IFES family worldwide. It also sensitizes people to appreciate the campus world as a strategic mission field. Moreover, the department is concerned with developing strategies for effective campus evangelism that also targets internationals studying in our institutions of higher learning. A Director who is a member of the Management Committee heads the department.
Associates Ministry
This department promotes the continuous involvement of NIFES Graduate in student ministry. The harvest on the campus if very ripe, the staff and student leaders are insufficient for the task, thus this department engages in recruiting and enlisting more labourers into His vineyard in our tertiary institutions to disciple our students. The department is also responsible for preparing final year students for the life after school and maintenance of links between Associates and Student/Campus group. Through this department, Associates are informed, equipped and involved in the progress of NIFES as a ministry.
These Departments are Campus Ministries, Missions & Evangelism, Associates, Research & Development and Finance & Administration. In addition, we have specialized units like Communications & Media and HIV/AIDS Unit.
0 comments:
Post a Comment