“Training the Next Generation of Servant Leaders:  Impacting Zambia Through Education”

As you all know from our pre-field presentations, there are many places in Zambia that are still unreached with the Gospel out in the rural villages.  It is our passion to see these unreached people receive the life-transforming message of salvation because of the great exchange: Jesus Christ’s righteousness for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).  Yet, one thing that has become increasingly apparent to us on the field is the need for the Zambian churches to take the lead in spreading the Gospel by sending out missionaries from the established churches in cities and towns to the unreached bush locations to plant more churches.  After all, the Gospel has been present in this country ever since David Livingstone discovered Victoria Falls in November 1855 (159 years ago).  

We live in an era of missions (especially in mission fields with a long history of Christian influence) where the best role of a foreign missionary is to be a facilitator working alongside of and underneath national leadership in order to help eliminate the dependency syndrome that has held Zambian churches with an iron grip since the colonial era.  Of course there is still a need for pioneer missions which is why we are involved so heavily with the unreached areas like Nambaaza.  However, we want to be pioneers alongside of Zambian partners with whom we have a relationship of mutual respect and equality.  We want to help break the grip of the dependency syndrome by providing a new model of how missionaries and local leaders work together.  In doing so, we want to empower the Zambian Christians to take the lead in reaching their own people with the Gospel.  One of the greatest methods of doing this is through education…not just transferring academic knowledge but training in practical application of that knowledge.  Increasingly this is becoming a major thrust of our ministry in Zambia.

Central Africa Baptist College & Seminary

Central Africa Baptist College exists to train the next generation of servant-leaders in Africa for Great Commission living.  That is a purpose statement that we can certainly get behind and join in fulfilling!  When we discovered that CABC had developed 1-week block classes to be used in remote locations such as Congo and South Sudan we started thinking that these materials could be very useful in Nambaaza.  After asking about the possibility of using these materials and having them translated into Tonga, we were given the wonderful response that not only could we use them, but that they would like to have Jamie join CABC as adjunct faculty.  This was a wonderful opportunity to offer great quality classes that would be offered through an institution that is recognized in Zambia as licensed to offer degrees.  So, last year Jamie joined the faculty of CABC as an adjunct professor.

So far Jamie has only had the opportunity to teach two classes.  Last June he and Pastor Arthur taught the Hermeneutics class in Nambaaza where ten students attended.  Hermeneutics is the technical name given to the rules of interpretation.  This class equips the students to properly interpret the Bible on their own, which is something every Christian should know how to do.   The believers in Choma heard about this and asked that we offer it there as well.  To ensure that many people could attend we waited until the school break time in December/January.  So, on January 6-10 Jamie and Pastor Arthur taught it again (in both English and Tonga.  This time we had twenty-two students (many of them are teachers in their local churches).  We were so proud of the effort that they put into learning.  They had six practical assignments in those five days and surprised us with how well they did.  What blessings to see people not only gain new knowledge, but put it into practice right away.  

Thankfully, we are also able to be part of the ministry on the main campus of CABC at least once a year.  The academic year in Zambia starts in January and ends in December, which is very unlike the system we are used to in America, but we really like it.  The last class of every year is a block class that coincides with the Leadership Conference that we have written about before. The conference and block class always ends on a Friday and then on Saturday is the Graduation ceremony for the students who are earning either a three-year diploma or a four-year degree.  We have been privileged to attend the Graduation for the past two years.  It is so humbling to see these students stand before their families, all of whom have sacrificed so much so these young students could get a high quality education for ministry. This is a ministry that has already started to shake up the continent of Africa, and it is just the beginning. 

To ensure that the classes we are offering in Nambaaza are of the same quality and that the philosophy of CABC shines through everything we do Jamie traveled to Kitwe again January 18-23 to attend the faculty In-service.  It was a wonderful time of getting to know the other faculty better and to sharpen up on teaching techniques.  The training sessions consisted of three major emphases:  team building, CABC Distinctives (vision, mission, and philosophy of ministry), and teaching techniques.  Team building is always of great importance, but even more so when you have a team from various cultural backgrounds.  Not only was the team building aspect profitable for Jamie joining this team, but also gave us some useful ideas for how to develop a harmonious and mutually respectful multi-cultural team in Choma and Nambaaza.  The sessions on CABC Distinctives helped clarify why this school has been extremely effective so far and gave great tools to use in building effective ministries in the Southern Province of Zambia as well.  Lastly, the sessions for teaching skills were filled with excellent reminders on teaching techniques, but gave Jamie many new tools and skills for teaching cross-culturally.  Jamie has been working on revising lesson plans and developing effective assignments and evaluations of learning for the classes. Now he can’t wait to put them into practice in the future classes.  A new component of this plan is the formation of a new translation ministry with a team of three highly qualified translators who can take the English material and produce Tonga class notes!  This year we plan to offer three new classes in Nambaaza (and possibly Choma as well.).  In short, the CABC in-service was time incredibly well spent (even if it did mean Jamie was away from the family for a week).

To find out more about Central Africa Baptist College visit:  http://www.cabcseminary.org

Baptist Bible College and Institute of Choma

Over this past year Jamie has also been involved in discussions with the director and professors of a local Christian school closer to home.  In fact, it is only about 3 miles down the road from our house.  This year Pastor Arthur, whom we work so closely with, was able to earn his third year diploma through BBCIC.  What a joy it was to attend this graduation and celebrate the achievements of so many of the local church leaders of Choma that we have grown to love and respect. 

The director of the school, Dr. Gary Barker, is a missionary with Baptist-Mid Missions.  He and his wife plan to retire in January 2015 and have recently moved the school to its next phase of maturity – Governance through a Board of Directors.  Pastor Milford Mulimba has been one of the professors at the school and the plan is for him to become the first President of this college next January.  There are certainly bright days ahead for the Baptist Bible College and Institute of Choma.  This is something we are excited for and happy to be part of.  Jamie has been asked to be on the Board of Directors alongside of the Barkers and three of the local Zambian church leaders.  What a privilege to serve alongside of these Godly people. 

Non-Formal Training

Truly, the training of leaders is one of the greatest ways that foreign missionaries can invest in a truly indigenous church planting movement. There are actually five levels of training as illustrated in the chart below that we first saw at the Center for Intercultural Training in 2012.   

As you can see, every Christian should be receiving training in their local church to be used for their local church ministries because every Christian should be serving the Lord as a member of the Body of Christ.  Local church equipping is foundational for all other training.  Out of each church God will call some members to be Pastors and church planting missionaries.  Yet, in addition to their calling they will need further equipping.  The next level of training should be non-formal church planter or pastoral training, yet this is often a missing component of training.  Instead potential pastors and missionaries move on to Bible Schools that offer three year diploma's and bachelor's degrees.  Out of those who get that level of education some will then go on for theological training at a Seminary where they will earn a Master's degree.  From there a few will even go further to earn a doctorate degree in ministry.

Obviously we are very involved in the Bible School and seminary training.  Yet, one of the things we want to make sure not to neglect is the non-formal and highly practical training that is often missing.  Such training is always valuable, but is especially useful in the rural settings like Nambaaza where the leaders cannot just leave their ministry location to attend a school like CABC where they create a campus atmosphere that devotes equal time to character development, skill training, and Biblical knowledge. Therefore, we are devoting a significant amount of our Nambaaza ministry to this Non-formal training.

When it comes to discipleship the saying is true, “More is caught then is taught.”  So, serving alongside of a ministry mentor is an invaluable experience.  It was the method that Jesus chose to transform “uneducated, common men” (Acts 4:13) into the ministry team that “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). Life-on-life discipleship is always more impacting than simple attendance to an academic class, especially a one-week block course that by its very nature limits the attention to primarily knowledge acquisition.  Both academic training and practical training are important.  They complement one another.  The academic side emphasizes the Biblical content and uses a grading system to evaluate progress while the "non-formal" training emphasizes the character of the servant and provides the ministry setting as its true evaluation of progress.

With this in mind, we have been using the rainy season to provide such non-formal training to the young men of Salvation Baptist in training for evangelism and discipleship of new believers.  We have also used this time to develop a non-formal training approach for the leaders in Nambaaza that helps the potential pastors and deacons, as well as their wives, prepare for ministry.  In addition to the Biblical education they will get from the CABC block classes, we are developing a program that will address their need for their own spiritual formation, family life, understanding of the doctrines of the church to organize their congregations Biblically, and develop the practical skills of evangelism, teaching, preaching, and counseling in an on-the-job training program.  Jamie will disciple the men.  Mandy will disciple the women.  However, we will be doing a session for the men and women combined every week to develop their own unity in marriage to help them avoid the common problem of these men neglecting their families for the sake of the ministry. 

Well, as you can see, we’ve had an exciting rainy season so far and it is just a little more than halfway over.  So, please be praying for us as we continue to fine-tune these plans for Nambaaza that we hope to start implementing in May!  There is still much to do.  Thanks for your prayers and support.

- Jamie & Mandy

*** We would like to close with a list of recommended reading regarding the concepts of eliminating dependency in missions and facilitating a truly indigenous church planting movement as described in the opening paragraphs of this article:

Missionary Methods:  St Paul's or Ours?  by Roland Allen.  The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge. 1912, 2006.

When Charity Destroys Dignity:  Overcoming Unhealthy Dependency in the Christian Movement.  by Glenn Schwartz.  World Mission Associates, Lancaster, PA. 2007.