Dr Daniel Bourdanné currently serves as the General Secretary of IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). He was born in Chad and is married to Halimatou, who comes originally from Niger. They have four children.
Daniel and his family are in the process of waiting for visas to move from Cote d'Ivoire to the UK, where the IFES international office is based. In March, IFES submitted an appeal against the British High Commission's decision to deny the Bourdanné family's visas. There was an appeal hearing in mid-August to consider the details of the case and the immigration judge decided in Daniel's favour, supporting his appeal.
'Thank you for your faithful prayers over the months for Daniel. I am sure you will join us in praising God for this good news. In this case, and in many ways across the Fellowship, the Lord continues to do great things for us, and we are filled with joy (Psalm 126:3).
'Please continue to uphold Daniel and the family in your prayers. We give thanks for their love for the Lord and their passion for serving God in IFES. God has given us a great gift in his provision of Daniel as IFES General Secretary.'
Dieter Brepohl, Chair of the IFES International Executive Committee
getting to know daniel
Daniel has been on staff with IFES in Francophone Africa for 16 years, first as a travelling secretary, then as Literature Secretary and, from 1995 to 2006 as Regional Secretary, responsible for overseeing IFES ministry across the region's 20 countries. He succeeded Lindsay Brown as General Secretary in July 2007.
Daniel studied in Chad, Cameroon, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire and France. He has a PhD from the University of Abidjan in animal ecology and is a member of the International Centre of Myriapodologists– in other words he is a specialist in millipedes.
Daniel has served on the boards of a number of Christian organizations in Africa. Over the past few years he has led a number of significant training initiatives including the 'Forum de Théologie pour l'Eglise' designed to bring theological academics and local churches together, the 'Centre Africain du Christianisme Contemporain' – an IFES Leadership Training Centre for Francophone Africa, and the 'Tyranus' biblical preaching initiative.
visa application
The judge’s ruling in support of our appeal against the British high Commission’s decision to refuse the Bourdanné family visas is a wonderful outcome. It is likely, though, to take several weeks before Daniel actually receives his visa, as the decision has to be sent to the British High Commission in Accra.
Daniel writes: 'Once again we have experienced the faithfulness of our God who has helped us to resolve our visa situation for his glory and for our joy. This has been a long journey. Walking by faith is a difficult experience, even for believers, but our Lord gave each of us patience, courage, understanding and prayer support.'
Many people have asked what else they can do to support Daniel and IFES through this time. We have been advised to wait patiently through the appeal process and not to take public action such as contacting the High Commission or publicising the case. If you want to express your support for Daniel, please write to the International Office in Oxford; we will not be able to respond individually, but will collect and use the messages as appropriate.
