Zechariah Manyok Biar, Southern Sudan
I left my home area in 1987 when I was thirteen years old. I went to Ethiopia with tens of thousands of other small boys. We were initially known as the “Red Army” until the United Nations renamed us the “Lost Boys” in 1992. We went to Ethiopia as school boys and as waiting soldiers of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).
I volunteered in 1993 with eight hundred other school boys and joined the SPLA when the situation deteriorated in South Sudan. We managed to turn around the situation of the SPLA when we stopped the activities of the SPLA’s traitors and attacked the town of Kapoeta in Eastern Equatoria, South Sudan, in 1994 to 1995, which resulted in the SPLA’s recapturing of towns from the Islamic government of Sudan.
I served the nation in those days but I lost the hope for my formal education. God did a miracle when I became the Adjutant of the Faz Battalion Commander in 1997 on top of being the Battalion Chaplain. The commander became happy with me and sent me back to school as a kind of a reward for what he termed as “my excellent service in the army.” We were fighting voluntarily, so the army never paid for my studies. The church organizations took over my sponsorship and I did a Certificate and a Diploma in Theology under the sponsorship of the Voice of the Martyrs and the Open Door respectively.
Before I could graduate from the college, Dr. Mike Smith from the Church of Christ with many other goodwill members of both the Church of Christ and the Christian Church paid for my Bachelor of Arts with Education in which I majored in both Literature in English and English Language.
Dan McVey of Abilene Christian University (ACU) and Dr. Mike Smith then talked to the Graduate School of Theology (GST) for my coming to ACU. I was accepted at ACU. Last semester, Dr. Doug Foster, the Associate Dean of the GST at ACU, made a decision and the GST paid off one hundred percent of my tuition fees and other requirements.
The reason I want to do the Master of Arts in Christian Ministry is to understand the Bible well so that I can teach it to other people.
I shall be doing two things when I go back to Sudan: First, I shall be helping the missionaries to get into South Sudan as I helped the Church of Christ get into South Sudan in 2003. Christian Missionaries were expelled by the Arabs in Sudan in February 1964. Abel Alier, in his book Too Many Agreements Dishonoured, put the number of the missionaries expelled as 300. The Arabs and Muslims did what was effective as far as their plan for destroying Christianity in Sudan was concerned.
I am among the people who believe today that the people of South Sudan must let the missionaries go back to South Sudan if South Sudan should remain as a Christian nation. Christianity is rapidly growing in South Sudan, but we need more than that. We believe that people learn through exposure. Therefore, the strong Christian foundation can be built if we join hands with other Christians around the world and teach our people in a way that will remain in them forever.
The second thing that I shall be doing when I go back to South Sudan is to fight the unhelpful ideologies that are now taking roots in Africa. These unhelpful ideologies are preventing a change that we need in our continent. One wonders why the people of Africa who started the current civilization are not progressing! Egypt was the brain behind the civilization we have today. The Egyptians built the pyramids we see in Egypt today without the help of modern equipment. The Engineer who built the pyramids was a black African called Imhotep.
In spite of these amazing things, why are we not progressing today? I founded a Philosophical Discussion Club at Kampala International University in Kampala Uganda when I was undergraduate student in 2004. What we discovered in our discussions was that we are not progressing in Africa because we blame other people for our problems.
Many well known scholars in Africa today are quick to say that the colonialists are responsible for African problems. However, I cannot understand how the colonialists are responsible for African problems today. Nobody denies that the colonialists did damage to Africa in the past. But I don’t think they are responsible for what is going on in Africa today. If the colonialists were still the problem, then Ethiopia would have been better off now because Ethiopia had never been colonized.
I believe that African scholars need to do more in fighting the unhelpful ideologies in Africa today. Dwelling in the past is a great obstacle to our progress. Literature departments and the writers in Africa are keeping Africans in the past.
My plan is that if I finished my Master’s Degree successfully at ACU and managed to get $26,000 before August in 2009, I will go to Oxford University or Leeds University in England and do another Master’s Degree in the Postcolonial Literature. Then I will go back to Sudan and become a writer who must define African problems of the Africans and be a lecturer in the department of Literature in the University of Juba in South Sudan so that I can get involved in the fighting of the unhealthy ideologies that we now have in Africa.
Albert Douglas Ofori, Ghana
My name is Albert Douglas Ofori. I am from Ghana in West Africa. I am a preacher at the Dansoman Church of Christ in Accra, Ghana West Africa. I am also an instructor at Heritage Christian College (HCC), a preacher training school in Accra, Ghana. I am currently a student at ACU hoping to major in Master of Arts in Christian Ministry.
In July 2005, the Graduate of School of Theology at Abilene Christian University, began an off campus program at Heritage Christian College in Accra, Ghana. This program was as a result of the collaboration between ACU and HCC to develop some of the faculty of HCC. The development of the faculty will enable HCC to obtain accreditation from the Ghana government. One of the requirements of the National Accreditation Board of Ghana, for Heritage Christian College to obtain accreditation is that, not less than eight members of the faculty should have masters degree or higher. Currently HCC does not have that number. Developing the faculty of Heritage Christian College will equip the faculty to effectively train preachers for the Lord’s work in Africa. It is interesting to note that HCC does not only train preachers from Ghana, but those of other African countries. The main objective of HCC is to become an accredited University committed to the training of preachers in the whole of Africa and beyond; for the advancement of the work of God. It also hopes to train godly men and women to be servant leaders for excellence in service to Christ in strategic service of human endeavor throughout the world. I was one of the members of the faculty who benefited from Abilene Christian University’s desire to train some of the faculty of Heritage Christian College. I began my graduate studies in July 2005, and so far I have completed six courses already in Ghana. In order to complete my studies, ACU has offered me a scholarship, and this has enabled me to be at ACU. I came to ACU for two major reasons. In the first place, it will enable Heritage Christian College to meet the government’s requirement for accreditation. This will help the development of the school. Another reason is that I believe ACU can effectively equip me spiritually and academically for effective ministry in Ghana and Africa as a whole. In this era of increased knowledge, if one does not develop himself academically in addition to his spiritual development, I don’t believe that such a person can do an effective ministry. There are some Christians who do not believe that scholarship will enhance ministry; rather they believe that much learning will make one apostate. I do not agree with those who hold such view. Looking at my work in Ghana, I believe scholarship will enhance my ministry. By studying at ACU, I believe it will equip me with deeper understanding of the scriptures. It will also enhance my research and writing ability. This will enable me to go back home to do effective ministry. As a teacher at Heritage Christian College, my training at ACU will enable me to teach effectively.
After completing my studies successfully at ACU, I will go back to Ghana to continue with the work I was doing before I came to ACU. My work in Ghana involved preaching. I am full time minister at the Dansoman Church of Christ, a congregation of eight hundred members. I was not only preaching in my congregation, but several other congregations throughout Ghana, especially congregations that did not have fulltime preachers. My other duties were counseling, teaching Bible classes, officiating marriages as well as burial services. I was the chairman of a team of preachers who have voluntarily committed themselves to the resolution of church conflicts in Ghana. In addition to this, I was also involved in evangelism and church planting in many areas in Ghana. Besides my work as a fulltime minister, I was also teaching at Heritage Christian College. My work at HCC involved the training and development of gospel preachers in Ghana as well as training church leaders and Christian workers for several congregations in Ghana. I have been doing this work since 1998. I was deeply involved in the Lord’s work in Ghana and immediately after my studies at ACU I have to go and continue with this work
Considering the work in Ghana, especially with the development HCC, I believe the collaboration between Abilene Christian University and Heritage Christian College will go a long way to enhance the Lord’s work in Ghana.
J. Garpue Lieway, Liberia
My name is J. Garpue Lieway, born April 28, 1972 in Buchanan, Liberia (West Africa). I completed high school in 1997 the same year I was saved in Liberia. Then God took me to Ghana in 2001 where I obtained my Bachelor’s of Christian Ministry degree (4 yrs, 2002-2005) at Heritage Christian College (HCC) and received HCC’s prestigious “2005 Best Academic Student Award.”
I completed my study and HCC employed me as College Research Assistant. I taught a few courses, assisted students to write good research papers, and fulfilled other duties for the College. In addition, HCC assigned me to establish a community church at the college. I did, trained leaders, developed the congregation both spiritually and numerically between June 18, 2006 and Feb. 24, 2007. On the latter date, I formerly resigned as the funding minister of the College Church of Christ (Ghana) and College Research Assistant and flew back to Liberia March 16, 2007 to meet brethren and family members who survived the 14 years of civil war.
While I was in Liberia between March to August 2007, the elders at the Smythe Road Church of Christ in Monrovia employed me as the full time pulpit minister. I preached weekly sermons to a weekly average of 300 attendees, mentored, and worked with four elders and four other ministers to plan and develop Church growth programs. I also worked for the Church Growth and Enrichment Ministry (CGEM—Liberia), which is a church planting, man power development, leadership training, and members’ capacity building ministry currently operating in rural Liberia where Catholic, Lutheran, and Methodist denominations and pagan religion predominate.
James T. Kurmawo, P. Nathan Tears, and I established CGEM out of great concern for our people when we were refugees and I a student in Ghana. James is the Program Director, Nathan the Field Coordinator, and I am the Administrative Secretary of CGEM, which the Smythe Road Church elders oversee.
However, I think God brought me to Abilene Christian University (ACU) in order to pursue a Master’s degree in Christian Ministry, further develop and transform my spiritual and academic life, acquire additional teaching, preaching and mentoring skills, seek faithful Mission minded Christians who might want to enter partnership with CGEM in particular, and the mission work in Liberia in general. After graduation, I will return to Liberia to implement my vision for ministry:
I envision equipping disciples of Jesus through small group Bible study, preaching and teaching Bibles Classes, speaking at workshops and seminars, training servant leaders, mentoring, and developing and empowering people to become mature Disciples of Christ.
I envision lecturing full-time at the Liberia Bible College in Monrovia, Liberia and becoming an adjunct lecturer at the HCC, Accra, Ghana. Only God can help me achieve this vision to his glory.
