November 18, 2008

Dear Friends,

Greeting of thanksgiving and hope from Malawi!

Faculty and students of University of Livingstonia, College of Theology 2008.

Yes, let us give thanks, express our deep gratitude and celebrate the joys, the blessings, the triumphs of the journey! The students and faculty of the College of Theology gave thanks and celebrated the blessings and the triumphs that brought our students, candidates for the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament, through three long years of rigorous study to Graduation Day, a journey accomplished with great sacrifice and often punctuated with hardship.

While students studied under Spartan conditions, their wives and children were sent to the homes of their parents to subsist on a meager allowance from the college of $15 a month, a stipend which often came late and may or may not have been received into their hands. Students persevered in long hours of grueling studies, frequently disturbed with notifications of children and wives hospitalized and funerals of family members. Yet they did not lose hope, spurred on by a sense of vision and devotion to the calling of Christ.

Then at last the day arrived when their course of study and practical work was successfully completed. It was a time for reunion with families, a time of joy and celebration: graduation day November 7, 2008. Oh what a morning, what a glorious day! Indeed, what a splendid day and week it was for our second class of graduates and their families. A great day of rejoicing for the college, the church, and the entire community!

Student Kennedy Moyo (now Reverend Moyo) and wife Tiwine receive Answers for Your Marriage while Debbie Chase looks on.

It was a week filled with festivity and marked by laughter, ululation, warm embraces and grateful hearts. Wives arrived with young children on Tuesday to celebrate with their husbands at the dinner in honor of our graduates on Wednesday. It was a great feast with speeches and entertaining dramas and songs that recalled the challenges and rewards of the journey that had brought them to graduation day. Thursday morning the celebration continued with worship service and the Lord’s Supper and afterward a time of celebration with gifts for our graduates. Representatives of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Presbyterian Church in Ireland presented gifts: the Africa Bible Commentary, a set of New Testament commentaries, a book entitled Answers for Your Marriage, a Bible in their vernacular language (Chitumbuka, Chitonga, Chichewa or Chingonde) and $90 for each student. Deep appreciation and rejoicing was expressed by our graduates, as their cup of blessing overflowed!

The pinnacle of the celebration was the graduation ceremony, with the Synod’s moderator-elect preaching on the great commission, the representative of the vice-chancellor awarding the licentiate of theology, and the Synod moderator officiating at a service of licensing and blessing. Awards were presented to graduates for excellence in performance in the various theological disciplines, and wives who had participated in the annual two-week “Wives Course” received a certificate of attendance. A joyous occasion, a great celebration!
        
There are 29 new ministers to serve the Synods of Livingstonia and Zambia of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian! After one year of successful service these ministers will be ordained. Seven of 29 also earned a diploma in theology, which they will be awarded next year, and nine will return to the College of Theology for one more year of academic work to earn a bachelor of theology degree.

In January 2009 the College of Theology will receive a new class of students, including both clergy and laity, who have earned a diploma in theology and have met the requirements to enter as advanced third-year students into the bachelor of theology degree program. This class will join the fourth-year class of bachelor of theology students.

In July 2009 the college will add a new class of first year students, who will begin their first year in the diploma of theology program.

Rear of house for female students.

To prepare for these new classes, construction of new facilities for the College of Theology continues through the generous gifts of partner churches. The house for female students is nearly complete and will be ready by the first of the year for women candidates for the ministry. Plans are also in the making for a new kitchen and dining facility. More to celebrate!

Thanks to all of you who have contributed so much to this celebration through the gifts of your abiding presence, devotion, prayers, and resources! Let us give thanks and celebrate the joy and hope that comes through sharing the journey!

Grace, Peace, and Blessings,

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 23