Namibia

James is in Namibia right now.
I asked him to write and explain what he is doing there this week.


Four years ago (July 2007), Zambian pastors and some pastors from the US cooperated to launch a training program for pastors in the Copperbelt region of Zambia, called Copperbelt Ministerial College. It meets one week per quarter. During that week, two classes are taught. One of the students from this college, Kapambwe Nsenduluka, is presently a missionary pastor in Namibia. Having benefitted from the training of CMC, he asked whether we could give some help for starting a similar program in Namibia. I visited in October 2010, and met with a group of pastors representing some of the Baptist churches here, and presented a vision for training and offered help for how they could begin a school here. The pastors asked that we help supply lecturers and other support for ministerial training.

So, this week is the first "module" for training pastors. I am teaching a course about the centrality of the Gospel and its relationship to the Law, which is called Legalism, Lawlessness, and the Gospel of Grace, and Isaac Makashinyi is teaching Christian Ethics, with an emphasis on its application to the African context. I am here as much to help see the first module through and assist the local coordinator (Buddy Bahun) as I am to teach the course. This module is a sort of "trial run" with only a few students, after which they should have a good idea of how to handle all the scheduling and logistics required to make the module work. So, we hope that the next module should have many more students. Still, it has been nice to have a small and intimate setting with a handful of guys to begin. Things are going very well thus far, and we're thankful to the Lord for His help in getting off to a good start.