August 2006

Dear Friends,

Springtime has come early this year in Malawi. People are out and about, mingling and sharing life, and nature is also showing signs of new life springing forth. We are now in our fourth year at Livingstonia Theological College, and it seems like we have been in an eternal springtime, a time of continuous growth. I got a clear picture of this when I read the principal’s annual report to our Synod Assembly, which meets in September.

Livingstonia Theological College was planted in April 2003 to train ministers to serve the membership of Synod of Livingstonia of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Malawi, which is growing by leaps and bounds. We began with twenty-five students and one full-time faculty member (the others part-time), in borrowed facilities with no beds, no textbooks, no library books, and just enough money to feed students for a month. It was a vision and venture of sheer faith. Committed to the vision, we trusted God’s promises and provision as we did our part to establish a new theological college for training ministers to serve the vast harvest in Malawi. However, little did we know when we opened those doors of the college the full extent of that vision and the tremendous growth that would ensue.

As the Apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 3:6-7: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth,” and, indeed, we have seen miraculous growth!

Growth in Students and Faculty

We began in 2003 with twenty-five Synod of Livingstonia candidates for the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. All twenty-five graduated in October 2005, and are serving congregations. In January we received our second intake of students, this time thirty, twenty-five from the Synod of Livingstonia and five from the Synod of Zambia. We are greatly blessed by these students from our sister Synod as they share their experiences from beyond our national border. Our faculty has also grown to three full-time and five part-time members of faculty.

Growth in Land

In 2004 the Synod of Livingstonia expanded and transformed our vision when it granted Livingstonia Theological College land at Ekwendeni Mission Station to establish our own campus. A year later, in October 2005, an architect from Scotland volunteered his time and talents to design the campus and its facilities. More planting and watering by God’s faithful people through whom God works to give growth, life and blessing.

Growth in Facilities

Just prior to receiving land for the new campus news came that the loaned student dormitory was no longer available for use. Where would the students live? There seemed no options. They would be left without housing to complete their final year of study. Then without knowledge of our need, a Church of Scotland congregation donated £14,000 and, behold, a dormitory was built.

Gradually money trickled in to begin building two classroom blocks (four classrooms), enough funds for the foundation to be laid. Then a PC(USA) congregation called to see if we needed more funds to construct the dormitory. The answer was no, but we need funds for the classroom block. $30,000 was given. This generous gift was followed by another, £5,000 from a Church of Scotland congregation to roof the classroom blocks.

When the classroom blocks are completed we will move from our current borrowed facilities to begin teaching our students in a spacious new classroom. Temporarily, we will use the other three classrooms for administrative offices, a library, and faculty offices. We hope to build in the near future a library and administration block so that all four classrooms will be freed for teaching, and we can have four classes of students at Livingstonia Theological College.

The college has also received a gift of $8,000 from a PC(USA) congregation to build a house for female students, to open wide the doors for women in ministry.  God’s faithful people planting and watering, and God gives the growth! 

Growth in Relationships

We have in Malawi a wild fig tree called the Kachere tree. With its broad canopy, the Kachere tree has been the traditional communal meeting place for the people of Malawi. The early missionaries conducted their first schools under the Kachere tree. Livingstonia Theological College has grown in relationships, now one of five constituent colleges of the newly established University of Livingstonia. Like the Kachere tree, these five colleges (theology, education, nursing, commerce and technical), form a broad canopy for learning, for growth and new life in Malawi.

The principals of the five constituent colleges meet quarterly to share ideas, strategies, and concerns. The Senate of the University of Livingstonia, on which Livingstonia Theological College has representation, is the body which sets the academic standards for all five constituent colleges. Together we are making a difference in Malawi.

Growth in Academic Programs and Academic Excellence

Livingstonia Theological College began as a three-year licentiate of theology training program for ministers. Sixteen of our first class of twenty-five students performed so well that they qualified to earn concurrently a diploma in theology through the University of Malawi. However, now that Livingstonia Theological College has been firmly established as a part of the University of Livingstonia, we offer our own diploma in theology, and fifteen of our current class of thirty are in the diploma of theology program.

As we grow in academic offerings we also seek to grow in academic excellence. Thus, we have been upgrading our current curriculum and writing new curriculum for the diploma of theology and Bachelor of Theology (BTh) courses of study. The latter we hope to begin in 2007 as a distance-learning program so that ministers in the parish, who already have the diploma in theology, can earn a Bachelor of Theology degree while remaining full-time in the parish.

Abundant growth is taking place at Livingstonia Theological College for the growth of the kingdom of God. Thanks to all our colleagues and partners who are faithfully planting and watering with us and thanks be to God who gives the growth!

Grace, peace, and joy,

Debbie

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 337