Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Jesus Christ through all generations, forever and ever. Amen. – (Ephesians. 3:20)
This has been a tremendous year of blessing and growth for African Christian Schools. It has been a time of rebirth, restoration and expansion. Over the past decade mission efforts all across the continent have faced tremendous challenges and opposition as we have seen the rapid expanse of Islam, kidnappings, and terrorism interrupt important works of the kingdom (especially in Northern Africa).
As we reviewed our mission efforts we realized it was time for a new approach if we are to continue to share the gospel of Christ in a troubled world. Here are a few of the steps we have taken to insure God’s work continues:
¨ We are providing vocational training programs and taking steps to insure that our graduates will have a sustainable means to support their families and work (without the endless dependency on U.S. support).
¨ We are installing internet connectivity on all our campuses and looking for options to provide more distance learning and lower-cost alternatives to training preachers and teachers.
¨ We offered a prison ministry training workshop on the campus of WNCC and will repeat it at NCBC in May.
¨ We have created a true partnership with our African brethren who are taking on more of the financial responsibility for the work of the schools.
¨ The board at West Nigeria Christian College raised over $12,000 to fund the annual lectureship and NCBC has covered the cost of the annual lectureship and the preacher’s seminar the last two years.
One of the most exciting aspects of our efforts at African Christian Schools is our commitment to finding more effective ways to partner with our African brethren while expanding our work into new areas.
For years we have received requests to start training schools in Liberia, Cameroon, Benin, Tanzania and other regions. If we continued to follow a model of “bricks and mortar” this would be impossible. This year ACSF helped fund a campaign to Northern Ghana that is helping set a standard for the future.
In July a team of workers went to three villages in the Muslim regions of Northern Ghana to help strengthen churches, provide leadership training for ministers and evangelize the local communities. The results from that effort saw 76 people baptized, 3 congregations revived and 1 new congregation established. In addition, hundreds of church leaders in the region received leadership training to help them in the work with the local churches.
It truly is a new era of work and partnership with our brethren in Africa. I have never been as encouraged as I was on my last trip. Our brethren understand the need to become self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating.
There is still a tremendous need for your help and investment in Africa. The addition of computer labs and internet connectivity, the recording of video classes and establishment of satellite training will be significant investments in the next few years, but investments that will reduce overhead and expand our mission to evangelize Africa.