As some of you know, I am married to Elizabeth and we have three boys, Tevita (9), Freddie (4) and Albert born this April. We’ve been here in Sydney four years now, studying for a PhD – thanks to the generosity of Langham Partnership Australia and the Sydney Anglican Diocese.

I praise God that the thesis has now been officially submitted! I am grateful for the insights and encouragements of my supervisors, Dr Brian Rosner of Moore College and Dr Chris Fleming of University of Western Sydney. Awaiting the results can be a nail-biting experience; nevertheless, it feels as if a load has been lifted off my shoulders. In hindsight undergoing a PhD had always been a stepping stone, a means to an end. I believe that I will always be first and foremost a servant of Christ, burdened with love for the Tongans and feel that I can do nothing else but preach and teach them the love of Christ, the love that he had shown me whilst I was still a sinner. Therefore, the PhD had always been a means to qualify myself in worldly terms so that I can not only better equip myself for ministering to the Tongans but also to proclaim the gospel in any possible way that I can, whether it be in preaching or writing (as is Langham’s vision). I am forever grateful for the part that Langham has played in enabling me to reach this point.

Now as my family and I approach the end of our stay here in Sydney we are saddened and encouraged at the same time. Saddened to leave behind true friends, but encouraged that we will be putting into good use the newly acquired knowledge that we have gained here in Sydney.

At times it can be daunting to not be so sure of where we will be posted upon our return to Tonga but at the same time it is comforting to know that God is sovereign and He is in control of our future and wherever we will be placed he will use us to further his Kingdom. As an ordained minister of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, I will be told what the Bishop wants me to do in June this year, during the Annual Synod of the Methodist church.

Before we came to Sydney for the PhD, we worked in the Tongan Methodist Church Bible College for four years. That was quite a tough experience for us. A lot of opposition was encountered simply for teaching students that the Bible is true and that Jesus is still relevant for us today. However, with the PhD, we hope that things will be somewhat better for us. There are only three other ministers with PhDs in the Methodist Church of Tonga at the time being – all of whom occupy positions of leadership in the church. We don’t expect a position of leadership in the more immediate future but must be ready to convince our church leaders of our progress in the faith. Please pray that we will trust in God’s sovereignty at all times especially when things are tough for us.

John Stott Ministries-Langham Scholar Gladys Mwiti is the co-founder of Oasis Africa (OA), an organization that has equipped people to counsel and train others in more than 16 African nations. Issues addressed by OA include professional care for those with emotional struggles; supervision for psychology and counseling students; training leaders, counselors and trainers; HIV and AIDS care and prevention; children-at-risk projects; trauma counseling; and research and publishing. Gladys and her organization have helped with trauma relief after the genocide in Rwanda, after the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1988, and recently, after the tension and violence in Nairobi last year. John Stott Ministries’ Tiffany Randall had a recent conversation with Gladys to uncover how her passion for the children of Africa developed into OA, and her dedication to Africa’s spiritual, mental, and physical health.

What led you into the field of psychology?
It’s quite a long story. As a teacher and a Christian working in Africa, automatically you want to care for the children. Wherever I went, I began a Christian Union, where I’d lead the students to the Lord, and then disciple them to live out their faith. I did a lot of my co-curricular work with kids in all sorts of clubs and projects. I joined the Kenya Students Christian Fellowship very early. When I was 19, I started the Meru Evangelistic Team, a team of students who would do outreach in the high schools. We preached a lot in many high schools bringing kids to the Lord. Then many children would want to talk to me because of problems in their lives. Once my husband and I were preaching in a school where so many kids came and received the Lord. Then we said, “If you have problems that you’d want to share with us or pray with us about, please, stay behind.” The students formed a line, and one after the other was talking to each of us and praying with us until 3 a.m. Such programs are called l “Weekend Challenges” starting on Friday and ending on Sunday. I began counseling these kids long before I knew how to counsel.

Training programme cunducted by Oasis Africa conducted post-election violence

One event finally got me out of the classroom to seek training in professional counseling. I was doing very well as a science teacher, heading the department, and was also deputy headmistress at a girls’ day school. One morning, just before I did assembly, one girl came running into school. I had led her to the Lord the year before and knew that she had many family-related problems at home. She came to me…and said, “My dad came home drunk last night, as usual, and there was a lot of tension. Then this morning my mom said, ‘Go get your things, we are leaving.’ And I asked, ‘Where are we going?’ ‘We are going to your Grandma’s, you and your brothers and sisters, she replied.”

“What about Daddy?” the girl asked. And her mother had replied, “Well, your father can stay if he wants to.” And the girl asked her mom, “Are you going to leave Daddy alone?” The long and short of it is, the mother looks at the child and says, “If you think you love me, you come with me. If you love your daddy, you stay with him.” The girl replied, “It isn’t that I don’t love you, but someone should stay with Daddy.” So the girl picked up her bag and ran over to school and looked at me and said, “Did I make the right decision?”

The Psycho-Social programme concentrated on trauma healing, teambuilding and reconciliation so as to increase productivity in various organisations among employees which were severely affected by the violence.

Nobody ever told me what to do with broken families. This was one of the many stories I’d bring home every day to my husband. Finally, he told me, “Why don’t you go back to school and get some skills if you want to help those children!” So that’s how I left teaching and went back to University. When I sought financial support to attend a private college, the only place offering psychology in Kenya, the ministry of education told me, “We do not need psychologists,” so they wouldn’t give me a salary or scholarship. For this reason, my bachelor’s degree was a big struggle, trying to feed the children and afford school fees at the same time. But by God’s grace, and my husband’s unrelenting support, I’m here. I graduated summa cum laude for my B.A. in Psychology, and went on to graduate with honors for the M.A. in Counseling Psychology.

What did you do once you received your Masters degree?
In 1989, I wondered what to do with my secular psychology degree…how would I integrate my faith with practice? I was then reading a devotional called, Every Day with Jesus by Selwyn Hughes in England, a renowned counselor who had trained with Larry Crabb in the USA. He accepted me and for four weeks I sat at his feet learning how to integrate psychology and Christianity. I went back home and founded Oasis Africa. I was the first integration therapist in the area, leading the organization for eight years, involved in the Rwanda genocide, HIV and AIDS, school and church-based counseling programs, among many other things. We trained hundreds of pastors and lay counselors for the church, schools and community. The need was huge.

How did your experience with trauma recovery in Rwanda help equip you for the post-election violence in January in Nairobi?
Actually, the Rwanda genocide equipped me long before the post-election violence. It is because of our experience in Rwanda that we were able, as Oasis Africa, to respond to the Nairobi U.S. Embassy bombing of 1988. When the bomb blew in Nairobi, my family was just getting ready to come to Fuller. I did not feel that I had the strength to get involved. I was very tired from packing, handing over to the staff at Oasis Africa, and so on. Then came the bombing. The staff we had went to the hospital to visit the injured people but we hadn’t done anything with what you call the “walking wounded,” those who had experienced the bombing but were not seriously injured, then the bereaved, the many who had lost businesses, rescue workers, the press, and so on. But I wasn’t going there; I didn’t have the energy. I kept quiet.

Kibera School kids receiving a pair of shoes and socks from Feed the Children.

Then my husband tells me, “Gladys, I know you are busy, I know you are tired, BUT, how can you explain it that when Rwanda blew up you were the first professional team to go there. Now, this has happened at your doorstep and you do nothing!” I went to my staff in my office and I asked them to pray. We have a very prayerful staff, and after a day or two, one of them said “Oh! We can use the same approach here that we used in Rwanda!” We went to the newspapers, television, radio, and we sent an ad that said, “If you have ever trained at OA, we need you for the bombing.” Through our Pan Africa Lay Counselors Training program, we knew that we had individuals working in churches, schools, NGOs, and the community; people who had received at least 150 hours of lay counseling training. With additional training in crisis response, these would help us run community groups for trauma healing post bombing.

The following week, we launched Beyond the Disaster Trauma Counseling Program, and the press came together with key leaders. Oasis Africa staff was there with registration tables and folders. We called the printing press and they had delivered 600 copies of the book I had written about the Rwanda event. By 9 a.m. there were 300 people sitting in the All Saints Cathedral Church in Nairobi. God heard our prayers. The counselors had come by bus; others walked long distances, while some rode of the night train from outer cities. They were ready to work, and that’s what saved Nairobi. Last year, we remembered that we had all these skills to respond to the post-election violence. We were ready to go, this time with professional M.A. Counseling Psychologists under my supervision.

Gershon Mwiti with the Kibera School kids during the prayer day for the kids on the eve of their final national exam.

We did both assessment and intervention. Now I have sets of data that I’m using with Fuller Seminary’s School of Psychology students for their writing projects and our professional writing at Oasis Africa as well. “What does traumatic stress look like?” The way you respond to a traumatic event now depends very much on your past experience and on your coping abilities and resilience. In our current study, we are looking at all these factors beginning from the Nairobi USA Embassy bombing. There are individuals who after last year’s post election violence find it very difficult to cope because they were also in the 1998 bombing. Others have lost children to AIDS, while others have been attacked by robbers in the streets. So we looked at all that traumatic stress in the post-election study and we have a lot of data. Findings will help us to understand how post-traumatic stress impacts people in this population.

What excites you most about the future of Oasis Africa and what are some growth areas that you’re seeing?

One of the growth areas is that we are seeing ourselves reaching out more and more to the rest of Africa. I have now three books in the field that are doing very well. Through using these books and other materials for training of trainers and counselors, we are seeing what we call the “Oasis Africa Ripple Effect” as trained people train others. Our core call is to equip the church to be a caring community, and this is happening. I just came from Mexico for the Lausanne Congress on Care and Counsel as Mission Consultation. The model this group wishes to adopt for the worldwide church is exactly the model you’re seeing in OA: empowering the church to use care and counsel as a tool of evangelism and missions. In this regard, I see the future of OA as planting seeds that will begin to germinate all over the continent, especially through Bible schools, seminaries, churches, schools, corporate, non-governmental organizations, and the general community.

One of my books, Christian Counseling: An African Indigenous Perspective (Fuller Press, 2006) co-authored with Professor Al Dueck of the School of Psychology, is doing very well in Africa. The challenge however, is to train pastors and Bible school instructors on how to use it as a training tool. What works best is to sit with a team of 20 to 30 pastors and go through the book with them for three or four weeks, after which they prepare action plans to go and train others. This way, the book comes alive. Besides the 2,000 copies that Fuller Seminary Press printed, we have requested permission to re-print it here in Africa through a local publishing company so that it can be easily available.

My other hope is seeing one seminary out there in Africa begin a school of psychology. Right now we are asking which one and finding out actually [how to] model Fuller School of Psychology, fully fledged, producing doctorates, down the line. My hope is that many people, both funding agencies and Christian psychologists, can come and partner with us and help produce local doctorates. Already the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology is producing Ph.D.s in Theology. So we need to have another school giving us doctorates in psychology in the near future.

Then a big hope is to have an Oasis Africa Center, to house our training and counseling programs. Here, we can model how Africa should engage with indigenous cultures so as to develop a holistic relevant system of psychology. We need psychologies that are biblically centered, homegrown and professionally sound so that we can create sustainable programs in the continent.

Then a big hope is to have an Oasis Africa Center, to have a place of our own which becomes the counseling center, the training center and begins to model how Africa should engage with indigenous cultures. And actually coming up with psychologies that are biblically centered, homegrown and professionally sound, to reach the rest of Africa.

Can you comment about the difference between meeting people’s immediate physical needs and their psychological needs and why the psychological aspect is important?

First and foremost you need to know that I am so grateful to John Stott Ministries and CISF for supporting me through school, more so because I think I’m the only Ph.D. in Psychology to have graduated from these two programs.

There is such a huge need for psychological mental health interventions. I believe that poverty is very much a psychology problem, although no one has found a direct cause and effect relationship. Poor families, especially those living in poor unsafe neighborhoods, have a lot of psychological struggles going on. This is because often, many children grow up in an atmosphere that is not safe, living in a violence-ridden community. And then if that violence is in the family, they are also affected. So safety in the family is critical, even though people have to live in poverty. The family is the foundation for a child’s mindset. If a child begins to believe they can succeed in life irrespective of poverty, they can make it because they begin to see hope. For example, if you look at Barack Obama, he did not grow up in a “normal” family with a mother and a father. He was a kid brought up by his grandmother. If that grandmother had unsafe habits like drug use and abuse, or domestic violence, this man would not be talking about hope right now. I trust that Obama’s “Yes we can,” is not coming from now. It must be a theme that he has used on himself: “Yes, I can” possibly arising from someone who told him: “Yes, you can!” At OA, our hope is that children in our slums can also say: “In spite of whatever is around me, in spite of what life has handed me, in spite of my father being an alcoholic, in spite of whatever, “YES I CAN.” In our Mashaka Children’s Centre, we are training these orphans and vulnerable children to believe that irrespective of their circumstances, they can grow up one day to be successful boys and girls, man and women. We also train parents to provide a safe place for the children because the environment itself will encourage the child to perform better.

Research indicates that if a child is living with a depressed mother, the child gets depressed. This means that the mental health of the child is dependent upon the mental health of the mother. It follows that if we can deal with factors that are linked to parental depression, the family can begin to plan together with the energy that was going into destroying one another becoming a creative force for the betterment of the members. The children learn to pick up whatever resources they have and do better than a child who has everything, but they don’t have mental health. Mental poverty can be dealt with whether in the slums or in the best suburb. This is because mental health is not dependent on material things but on the hope that the parents and the environment brings to the child. So the slum child, to me, actually needs more psychotherapy than a kid who has everything. And, this is what we at OA are about – providing psychological mental health services to the educated in high rise buildings and giving exactly the same quality assistance to the poorest of the poor in our slums.

I am convinced that sustainable poverty eradication programs would never be done without psychology and without counseling services. . When people are not behaviorally and cognitively empowered, development money can easily be likened to pouring aid money into a hole, a bottomless pit. Many communities have gone into a dependency mode, feeling that the humanitarian NGO is a “rescuer.” We need to turn it over and say: “You rescue yourself. I’m simply here to catalyze that skill, to throw you a rope and pull you out. But then when I pull you out and you get running on your own, then you can change your own life.” Sustainable development should include psychologists, counselors, coaches, and mentors who can empower the service recipients, open their eyes to see possibilities. This was, we break through the learned helplessness that characterizes many poor communities.

Gladys received her Ph.D. with support from the JSM-Langham Scholars program. For more information on how to support other Majority World scholars, visit:https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/JohnStottMinistries/OnlineGivingUnitedKingdom.html

Langham Scholar Ignacio Benitez

Before I started my graduate work, I believed to have all the answers to people’s problems. And that’s how I approached evangelism… with a sincere heart but a limited scope concerning the church’s mission and Christian theology. I did my best in communicating the gospel. I used to feel guilty if I was not preaching every single day and not winning people for the Lord. Unfortunately, I realized that a good part of my sharing the gospel was empowered by envy, the need to feel that I was “a good Christian” and to say “I preach everyday”. Preaching in the streets, buses and trains is great, but through the years I have understood that evangelism through friendship is more effective.

When I started my M.A. in Biblical Studies (California) my vision about the church’s mission was enriched considerably. I began to realize that I didn’t have all the answers to people’s problems and that people were not a “product” to obtain using certain cliché evangelism phrases but human beings with unsurpassable worth because of what Christ did on the cross. My vision on evangelism changed radically.

Langham Scholar Ignacio Benitez (far left) with JSM VP Dave Hoffman and friends from the Certeza bookstore in Argentina.

We have decided -with my wife Larisa- to spend as much time as possible with our non-Christian friends. We are amazed how the Holy Spirit opens their hearts, and how they want to know more and more about the Lord. Our love for them is honest and real. Now we enjoy sharing the good news in a very simple way -not by pressure or envy- that sometimes includes saying “I don’t know” to the hard questions about life and suffering. It may sound paradoxical and even outrageous, but my Ph.D. studies are helping me become conscious of how little I know about the complexities of life and how the love of Jesus is sufficient to change every heart and situation.

I always encourage my students at the Bible College to invite their non-Christian friends to have a meal at their home, to serve them in love, to be there for them unconditionally, to ascribe worth to them in every situation. I believe this is what Jesus did throughout his ministry.

May the Lord help us–here in Argentina–not to be self-righteous but a loving and embracing church that shares the good news of Christ.

Last fall, I spent a significant amount of time in Latin America. For most of this time, I was part of a teaching team, working under the umbrella of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE) and its Latin American partner AETAL (Associação Evangélica de Educação Teológica na América Latina). ICETE offers a series of weeklong professional training seminars for academic deans. It has been my experience that many of those who are asked to give leadership to Bible schools and seminaries have minimal practical experience or training in areas of academic administration.

I was working with Dr. Fritz Deininger, the former dean of the Bangkok Bible College and Seminary, Dr. Pablo Sywulka, the former director of the Seminário Teológico Centro-Americano in Guatemala and Dr. Orbelina Equizabel, now a professor at Biola University, but the former academic dean at SETECA. We met from November 10-13 in João Pessoa, the most easterly point in Brazil with just over 20 leaders from 12 different training institutions, and then from November 17-21 at SETECA in Guatemala with another 22 people for 13 training institutions Almost all of the participants were academic deans, though we also had several school directors. We looked at the nature of a dean’s role, focusing specifically on issues of administrating, time-usage, and team-development. We also spent time examining the personal qualities needed for this position. The plan is to hold these training workshops over a period of three years. In 2009 we will look at the role of the dean in curriculum development and in creating a learning community. In 2010, we will then look at the role of the dean in human resource development, i.e. knowing how to select, encourage, manage and train both teachers and staff. It struck me that this was time well spent, and I’m wondering the extent to which these professional training workshops could serve many of our former Langham scholars.

LPRC FOR SPANISH-SPEAKING LATIN AMERICA – QUITO, ECUADOR (15-17 November 2009)
In between the two academic dean’s training workshops, I enjoyed being able to be a part of this gathering of key people (under the joint leadership of Milton Acosta and Ruth Padilla De Borst) who enthusiastically share their time and wisdom to help Langham be more effective in what it tries to do at the Langham Partnership Regional Council. Representatives came from all corners of the continent, from Mexico to Argentina, and built upon the work of previous meetings. Although my greatest joy was simply to be with some incredibly good people, I was also encouraged by enthusiastic reports on the many Langham-related ministries going on throughout the region. One of those includes the speedy development of a Latin American Bible Commentary.

Langham Scholar Juan-Jose Barreda is just about to complete his Ph.D. in Theology from ISEDET University Institute in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His dissertation is on the “Messianic Expectation in the Qumran Writings and a Comparison with the New Testament.” While Juan-Jose’s dissertation is certainly an impressive reflection of his deep, biblical knowledge, it’s in the streets of Argentina where Juan-Jose seeks and discovers a different kind of wisdom.

On my recent trip to South America, I met Juan-Jose at ISEDET; later that evening we visited his church, where he was hosting a movie night for some local street kids. I quickly learned from him that one of his passions is working with the homeless on the streets of Buenos Aires. He feels that he learns a lot about himself and the Bible by getting to know them.

Originally from Lima, Peru, Juan-Jose moved to Argentina some 20 years ago and has been a Baptist pastor there for 15 years.  “I love to teach the Bible,” he says, “and I think that the pastor has to have a deep studies in Bible, because … [teaching] grassroots leaders is difficult when you don’t have the preparation and study of the Bible yourself.” Juan-Jose says that leaders want their teachings to be more biblically sound, but with little or no programs for formal training, it becomes crucial to pass on scholarship as much as possible.

Juan-Jose is also concerned that the homeless in his area live in a culture where receiving help is uncomfortable to people, so he has been working to change the mindset of his church to reach out to them in a spirit of partnership and not in the typical patriarchal way of providing help. Weekly his church members go and sleep with them in the streets, and then homeless families come to the church and stay overnight there. It gives Juan-Jose and his church members a chance to eat with them and have Bible study together.

“It is interesting how God can teach me through them,” he says. “I help them to understand the world of the Bible and some methods reading the Bible, but they teach me about the street and how to live – to grow – and there is a moment when I understand that we cannot separate the academic from the pastoral care and the wisdom is not just in the seminary or the library, but also in the streets.”

This combination of “street” studies and formal education is a way Juan-Jose is able to meet with people who have a heart for the Word so he can spark in them the need to grow stronger in their growth with God.

After completing his studies, Juan-Jose will be teaching with the Kairos Foundation, which seeks to teach the Bible to churches and different ministries with an integral mission view. There he will help to train other area pastors and church leaders. He also plans to start some Bible education projects in the neighborhoods.

To learn more about Juan Jose, his comments on society, and how to pray for him read his comments below:

When you think about issues that you see happening in the society, what is one that the church can help most?

Juan-Jose: Well as a church, we are talking about solidarity right now. Here we live with a lot of individuality. And there is a problem because, everybody looks for himself, and our problems in society is that it is very difficult to find someone to help you, to take care of you. Also, it is difficult to get somebody to love. It is interesting because many people are asking for somebody to help them, but when somebody tries to, we have a culture where it is difficult to receive love from the other. We don’t know how to be loved. Our church tries to help men from 55 years, and we have serious problems. They say they want to be helped, but when we try, they feel very bad. So, as a church we have been transformed by the Holy Spirit to learn how to love somebody, to make space where everybody wants to be together and help each other and make a difference in our society.

In Argentina, 10 years ago we never saw people sleeping in the streets, but today, there are many families living in the streets and the society is not attending to their problems. They see them as part of a building and they just walk by and leave them there.

How can the churches in the West and America best pray for you?

Juan-Jose: First of all, it’s important to meet us. One from the other. When I talk about theology, I talk about the body. The body is important. We all need to meet to talk about things like what we all are doing. There is a lot of ways to help, but there are many that think we can help you to learn about the world and life in Christ. But when somebody feels that it is important to get to know the other it helps him or her to grow as well. I think that the first thing we need to learn together is to become friends, to have partnership and to love each other and take time together. When you think you have everything and you are the leader, you sometime forget that you need to love the other, and be loved in return.

Also, my father is very sick right now – he has Alzheimer’s and has recently been diagnosed with cancer.

If you could say something to the people that have made your scholarship possible, what would it be?

Juan-Jose: First of all – Thanks! I really appreciate the help that I receive. I started my doctoral studies in 1996, but I could not finish because of my work and my economic situation here – it wasn’t possible. And I think those who support me are part of my ministry right now. I feel that we are together in ministry that God has given to me. I want them to know that I will be working for God and I am thankful for them.

For the past couple of years, Las has been combining his work in Jamaica with being an associate general secretary for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), based in Oxford. This has meant some rather long-distance commuting. Meanwhile, back in Kingston, Jamaica, he had been appointed by the board of the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology (CGST) to take over the role of president of that institution when the previous leader, Dieumeme Noelliste, stepped down. Since Las was unable to do so immediately, Anthony Oliver stepped in as acting president for the past year. For several years Anthony had already served as academic dean of CGST, so this was an additional burden. Anthony is very glad that Las is returning to Jamaica this autumn to take up his role as president.

Anthony himself, like many Langham Scholars around the world, also pastors a church that is close to the seminary. This means that he is preaching most Sundays as well as teaching in seminary, running the administration, and trying to raise money. The task is endlessly stretching. Under Anthony’s leadership, CGST has been able to introduce several new Masters level courses and they are in line for accreditation not only with the Caribbean Evangelical Theological Association, but also with the University Council of Jamaica.
Anthony is an Old Testament specialist, who enjoys his teaching and tries to do some writing as well – though the pressures in the past year have made that diffi cult. Perhaps it’s not surprising that he has done a lot of teaching and preaching on the theme of Christian stewardship, including Bible Studies in the books of Chronicles, which he hopes to produce as a book.

Matthew began his ministry as a missionary church planter with ECWA in the mid-1990s. He took his first degree in missiology, and his zeal is still very apparent. Even during his Ph.D. studies, he engages in student ministry, taking some of his fellow students to the campus of the University of Jos and relating to village students there every Saturday and Sunday.

Matthew’s other main passion is the Bible. He has been specializing in the Christological intepretation of the Old Testament, but with the particular goal of reaching the new generation of Africans with biblical teaching about Christ that is culturally rooted and relevant. “I have a great dream for biblical Christianity in Africa,” he told me when we met in Jos in January 2008, while I was leading a Langham Preaching seminar there. “I want to see African Christological reconstruction that will go beyond the standard pictures of the past and really speak to ordinary Christians.”

For four years before starting his doctoral studies, Matthew had already been teaching several courses at JETS, on Hebrew and Old Testament studies. He is also on the faculty of another ECWA seminary at Kagoro and will probably move to that faculty after his PhD. He is a highly valued member of the upcoming ECWA leadership, and finished both his BA and MA studies with top grades in all classes. He is working equally hard at his PhD now, and will finish his course-work in May, and then move into two years of dissertation work, hoping to complete some time in 2010.

I was so impressed with Matthew and the way his enthusiasm for his studies just fizzed out of him as he talked about the topics he is researching and writing on. But then I discovered another reason for the joy in his voice and the sparkle in his eye. He got married just a couple of months ago, in December! His new wife, Juliana, is doing a postgraduate degree in Law at the University of Jos.

Matthew is one of a growing number of scholars that JSM-Langham is supporting to do their Ph.D.s in Majority World contexts.

Read more about Langham Preaching training in Nigeria
View the LPI  Nigeria photo gallery

Most Langham scholars’ eyes light up when they talk about their doctoral studies supported by a Langham Partnership International (LPI) grant. But Andrea Zaki Stephanous positively sparkles as he describes the difference it has made in his life. Andrea did his Ph.D. in Manchester, England, in the field of religion and politics. LPI International Director Chris Wright met him recently in his home country Egypt and asked him about it.

“My Ph.D. programme absolutely transformed my life,” Andrea began. “It was a paradigm shift for me. First it gave me a deep appreciation of the importance of education and adapting a proper scientific approach to problems. Secondly it equipped me with the skills I need in my role now. By the grace of God I serve in a top position in my church and country, and in that role I have to deal with intellectuals, with officials. I would not know how to do so without the experience and skills of the Ph.D. Thirdly it has empowered me in my job, as a professor, publisher, writer, speaker. I am invited both by the state and other organizations to give papers and presentations on a range of social and political issues as well as theological ones. Being academically equipped gives my church as a whole respect, in a culture where religious leaders are often despised as people of slogans only. Absolutely all my work as a leader in church, seminary, and society, has been transformed by the academic skills and challenges of the Ph.D. work.

“And yet at the same time, as you go through the Ph.D. you always affirm to yourself that you are a child in the world of learning. And even afterwards, I never feel that I am a ‘scholar’ – when you know how much there is that you don’t know! I don’t feel worthy of that title. There is still a very long way to go.”

So what exactly does Andrea do? Prepare to be astonished. He carries an amazing portfolio of responsibility. He described six of them.

• Director of Communications at The Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Service (CEOSS). Andrea was involved with CEOSS, working among the poor in squatter camps, since the 1980s. He now directs its publishing department, Dar El Thaqafa, producing books and multi-media resources not only for Egypt but the whole Arabic speaking world. In this role he is also involved as a resource person for inter-faith dialogue and peace-building and conflict resolution programmes for church leaders. This is Andrea’s main (and only salaried) job.

(shown: Two of the recently launched publications of Dar El Thaqafa: “The Arabic Contemporary Theology” (left), and “Salvation,” the sixth volume in the Global Christian Library.

• Professor at the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cairo. Andrea teaches at both undergraduate and graduate level on Religion and Politics, Theological Foundations for Social Change, and Inter-Faith Dialogue in the Middle East.

• TV Presenter: Andrea both writes and presents a weekly programme for SAT 7, which goes out across the Middle East, called, Without Embarrassment. Each programme features two guests – Christian and Muslim, discussing all issues imaginable, from religious violence to the resurrection of Jesus.

• Chair of the Council for Service and Development for the Synod of the Nile (the main Presbyterian church in Egypt). This works to empower local churches to be salt and yeast in society. He oversees the work of 10 staff, 500 volunteers and several major health, education and economic projects.

• Vice President of the Protestant Council of Egypt. There are 1,200 Protestant churches within this alliance, and its council functions not only as a forum for working together, and an authority structure, but also as a combined voice to the government. So Andrea needs great political wisdom as well as ecclesiastical diplomacy.

• International Deputy Director for the Middle East, for the Lausanne movement.

“And yet,” says Andrea, “I like to keep up my first love as a researcher and writer. This is a crucial part of what I do. I set aside time weekly for that. I have a nice office in my home where I do that. All of my children are at school or university, so everybody is studying and I am studying with my family around me!”

It would be hard to think of a better example of a rounded ministry of head, heart and hands, than the work of Langham Scholar, Andrea Zaki, in Egypt.

“I would not be as I am now without God’s grace and the support of Langham,” he concluded. “That is from my heart.”

Read more about Langham scholar Andrea’s work with the production of “Arabic Contemporary Theology”

View the LPI photo gallery of the January 2008 Egypt gatherings

“In the academic catalogue of JETS, my attention was captured by this statement:

JETS understand its role in a number of ways: It is a school of renewal. It seeks to reform traditional theological education within the modern African setting. It is a service organization to the church of Jesus Christ. It provides basic theological training for both current and potential church leaders. JETS continuously seeks to identify areas of need in the church so as to provide the relevant theological training and services to meet such needs. In carrying out these functions JETS seeks to integrate biblical teaching , academic learning and practical ministry skills. It tries to develop graduates who will be able to continue their academic knowledge with the practical competencies, clear independent thinking which are needed for successful ministry.

“These laudable objectives naturally fit my present involvement in my immediate community. I was asked to plan a two-day economic conference, which featured the presentation of papers on various topics enable the association come up with policy guidelines for the commission. Thus, my committee created the suggested topics and presenters for the Economic Conference held September 7-8, 2007. The topics and presenters include the following:

1. An analysis of Kaura Local Government’s natural and human resources. This topic addressed the need for database information of the natural and human resources of the Local Government Area.

2. Repositioning Religion/Faith and Ethic for Sustainable Economic Transformation of Kaura Local Government. This topic addressed the question of how to re-instill character virtues such as honesty, truth-telling, trust, hard work, selfless service, moral rectitude, integrity, God-fearing, and patriotism. It also addressed the issue of the symbiotic relationship between faith and democracy.

3. The Role of Entrepreneurial Education in Economic Empowerment of Kaura Local Government Citizens. This topic saught to show our present educational concentration and what area(s) we need to pay more attention to. It will also address job-creation, attitudinal challenges and proffer solutions.

4. An Examination of the Agricultural Potentials of Kaura Local Government Area.

5. The role of youth in socioeconomic, socioethnic, and sociopolitical reconciliation in the society.

6. The role of civil society in a democratic setting. This topic addressed issues that include human rights, justice, the common good, social criticism, the political power of the electorate and the relationship between the electorate and the elected members of the community.

7. Economic Situation of Southern Kaduna: Its Challenges and Solution. This topic addressed the question of the causes of poverty and inequality in Kaura Local Government Area: Why are so many of our people poor? What are the causes of poverty and inequality in the community?

8. A SWOT Analysis of Health care system of Kaura Local Government. This topic included an ecological analysis of the area.

9. An examination of the physical security and infrastructure of Kaura Local Government Area.

10. Sustainable-Economic Empowerment. This topic addressed economic empowerment through micro-finance Bank and stress the significance of co-operative societies, particularly, how to create and sustain small and medium-size enterprises.

11. Export venture and what it entails: This topic addressed the need for networking with organizations that are involved in export and the ministry of commerce.

“I have since realized that the Gospel will not have deep roots in Africa if we do not start to address the problem of poverty in all its ramifications. That means that we need a balance theological and ethical perspective to ensure spiritual renewal in Nigeria. Holistic teaching and preaching ministry is desperately need in Nigeria.

“I want you to know that I would not have been able to do what I am presently doing without your prayer and support. So we are in this together. Thank you very much for upholding the cause of Christ and for partnering with us in doing what will deliver people from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Pray with us!”

Read the papers presented by Sunday Agang at the JETS Economic Conference:

Developing Christian Entrepreneurial Mindset in Kaura local government area

Repositioning Religion

Langham Partnership International was one of the primary funders of a landmark consultation for faculty development and doctoral training in Africa held this August. Held by Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST), it was hosted by the leadership of NEGST, the Faculté de Théologie Évangélique de Bangui (FATEB) and the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA). This upbeat, collegial consultation was conceived, planned, and delivered almost exclusively by Africans. It was by Africans for Africa. Whereas many “muzungu” (a.k.a. expatriate; ghostlike) expressed their forceful desires to participate, the consultation leadership doggedly limited the number to 40 with one westerner from each funding organization. Therefore, I was one of only six muzungu and the only woman. I was proud to represent Langham when Douglas Carew of NEGST challenged the participants of the female leadership void!

Langham scholars were well represented in this select group: Douglas Carew, Tewoldmedhin Habtu, Edison Kalengyo, Henry Mutua, Moussa Bongoyok, Zac Niringiye, and Jehu Hanciles. Of particular note was the plenary speaker, Dr. Andrew Walls. The discussion around his two deliveries was worth the price of the ticket alone.

Statement of Need

As the growth of African Christianity outpaces that of many other geographical areas of the world, the theological and educational needs within the African church are rising. Furthermore as the church grows, African church leaders are increasingly thrust into greater leadership roles. Leaders in African theological institutions must plan, in a concerted and collaborative manner, how to meet burgeoning educational needs. Theological institutions in Africa face significant obstacles in providing quality education and learning opportunities. One such problem is the “brain drain” as many of the best scholars and leaders in Africa are trained at great cost but attracted to service outside the continent. In addition, theological institutions have been forced to operate in relative isolation and independence due to the difficulty of communication and travel. Limited resources have also prevented adequate execution. But the development of travel and the internet have created opportunities for theological institutions and funding ministries to create networks for collaboration and consider innovative solutions.

This Consultation was convened in light of this new day for theological education and provided a forum for representatives of leading evangelical theological institutions in Africa, prominent church leaders, scholars, and key supporting agencies to collaborate by defining the needs for faculty development and evangelical training at doctoral levels in Africa. Participants strategized together on ways to meet these needs within Africa. As result, a Blueprint for Evangelical Doctoral Education in Africa was produced.

The goals were:

1) to create an ongoing collaborative network of theological institutions offering or hoping to offer doctoral level training.

2) to spearhead a plan for providing faculty development and doctoral level training in Africa.

3) to create the Blueprint for Evangelical Doctoral Training in Africa.

The discussion topics were:

1. The underlying philosophy of missiologically-based doctoral level theological education and the rationale for developing these doctoral programs in Africa.

2. The challenges and solutions found for developing distinctive programs that are sensitive to African social realities.

3. The need for collaboration, rather than competition, between African theological educational institutions.

4. Program delivery options, including modular courses and distance learning, dissertation only/course work and dissertation, etc.

5. Options for theological education in national universities in Africa (Stellenbosch, Potchefstroom, University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria, UNISA, universities in Kenya or Nigeria).

6. Evaluating the value of linking with Western institutions.

7. Positions, assumptions, ethos, and outcomes in defining curriculum of relevance to the African Church.

8. Opportunities for presenting each participating institutions’ dreams, program, and plans.

Blueprint for Evangelical Doctoral Training in Africa

The Blueprint for Evangelical Doctoral Training in Africa will serve as the starting point for future meetings and collaborations ahead. This is the good news. This Consultation was not perceived as an end-game. It was heralded as a prompt to launch, even provoke, collaborative efforts. Let us pray this will be the beginning of the end for independent competitive ventures for theological education in Africa. Let us pray this will be a witness to the Church. Let us pray the western theological institutions will be willing to provide complementary service which will further inspire teamwork for the gospel. Let us also pray this venture will serve as a model for doctoral education on other continents. It was a privilege to participate in this Consultation.

Participants:
Institutions represented were:
Africa Nazarene University (Nigeria)
Akrofi-Christaller (Ghana)
EGST (Ethiopia)
FATEB (Central African Republic)
FATEAC (Côte d’Ivoire)
George Whitfield College (South Africa)
JETS (Nigeria)
NEGST (Kenya)
Nigerian Baptist Seminary (Nigeria)
South Africa Theological Seminary (South Africa)
Scott Theological College (Kenya)
TCCA (Zambia)
Uganda Christian University (Uganda)