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More North American churches are rethinking their world missions agenda. More churches are looking for ways to be strategic with their missions program and budget. More are concluding that equipping national leadership for the church around the world should be a priority. But mutually enriching partnerships between churches and theological educators on other continents are still rare.

Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) in Kenya and a growing number of US churches are creating a model of joint ministry that could transform how many Americans perceive the church in Africa. Founded by the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, NEGST has earned a reputation for academic excellence and visionary leadership in sub-Saharan Africa since it was established in 1983 (a sister school in Bangui, Central African Republic, serves francophone Africa). Its graduates include key pastors and teachers in Bible colleges and seminaries and a growing number of missionaries and Bible translators, all energized with a vision for discipling the nations of Africa. NEGST vice chancellor David Kasali and his colleagues actively cultivate partnerships with congregations in the US.

Elmbrook Church (Waukesha, WI) has supported the development of the Nairobi campus and various faculty members since NEGST’s beginnings. Elmbrook’s senior associate pastor Dick Robinson visits the campus regularly and consults with the trustees and administrators. According to missions pastor Val Hayworth, Elmbrook is committed to offering its resources and pastoral staff to assist with leadership development of pastors in the Two-thirds world. Hayworth prefers to go where the students are and respond to needs as defined by the churches they visit.

Faith Missionary Church in Indianapolis focuses its missions strategy on both“where the gospel is not” and “where the gospel is.” The latter category led the church to several theological schools in the world and especially NEGST after one of its members, Chet Wood, moved to Nairobi to teach at NEGST. Faith members visit NEGST, provide scholarships for NEGST students and keep informed about the African church scene through regular visits by Wood and Kasali.

Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, located in the Silicon Valley, combines the computer technology skills of its members with a desire to train pastors in Africa. In February the church sent a missions team of 11 to NEGST to install hardware and software for high-speed internet access and to train staff and students on its use.

“Partnership means more than a financial relationship,” says missions pastor Rick Langeloh. “We like to see opportunities for two-way giving and receiving. The NEGST community taught us about hospitality, Christian community and God’s vision for the church in Africa.”

Immanuel Presbyterian Church (Warrenville, Ill.) spent a year strategically planning for missions and made theological education a top priority. They also determined to match missions giving with personal involvement by members and began to encourage various individuals to spend time at NEGST helping to install computers and develop the library. The church also invited Kasali to preach and talk with members about the challenges facing the African church.

Several common features are evident between the relationships of these four churches and NEGST. First, the relationship is based on personal friendships, not institutional connections. Church members have gone to NEGST and NEGST leaders have spent time in the churches. Regular contact is seen as essential.

Second, the churches agree that future African pastors and teachers should be trained in Africa. That’s the proper context to do theology and apply the scriptures to African issues. Furthermore, the shortage of trained pastors on the African continent reveals that schools like NEGST must be expanded and supported to meet the need. Subsidizing a limited number of Africans to study in the US is inadequate.

Third, the missions leaders of these churches are persuaded that the exploding African church, now larger than the American church, requires the best theological education possible. They are encountering African church leaders who are determined to pursue it. NEGST hopes to launch a doctoral program in order to prepare more teachers for African theological schools. The African church is rapidly maturing and American churches can participate in the rise of the “southern hemisphere” church.

Fourth, these US churches recognize they have much to learn from African believers. “The church in America needs to know what is going on around the world and be connected to their brothers and sisters in the third world,” says David Kasali. “The church in the US not only needs to support the church in Africa during this difficult time of destructive evils on the continent, but also learn from African Christians their lessons of resilience, faith, hope, worship and endurance through suffering.” For this to occur, Kasali tells US congregations that they must listen to Africans, visit places like NEGST and learn from African church leaders.

In 2002, NEGST invited the members of these and other churches to form a North American network to facilitate an even larger web of relationships between the continents. Called Christian Leaders for Africa, this organization introduces NEGST to churches and individuals and promotes the strategic importance of theological education on the African continent.“CLA will serve as a bridge to facilitate and nurture the relationship between African and American churches,” says Kasali. “NEGST is an appropriate point of contact as it produces leaders who serve the African churches as pastors and teachers.”

The door is open to a new dimension in the local church’s involvement in world mission.

Paul Heidebrecht, formerly a pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church, is executive director of Christian Leaders for Africa. He can be reached at .