Global education, Africa University

The growth of the United Methodist Church, which in 2003 touted a membership of more than 10 million, can be attributed, in part, to evangelism efforts in Africa, southeast Asia, and Europe.

General Conference delegates voted to provide schools in those regions and around the world with more resources to educate people doing the work of the church. The delegates approved a $4 million Global Education Fund to assist the 748 Methodist schools, colleges, universities, and seminaries in 69 nations.

The new fund will be part of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry's technical assistance program, which works to train "a new generation of clergy and lay leaders who will commit boldly to Jesus Christ and be characterized by intellectual excellence, moral and spiritual courage, and holiness of heart and life."

Plans for the fund are based on the knowledge and experience gained by denominational leaders from Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe.

Sixteen years ago at General Conference, Louisiana Conference delegate Nancy Carruth stood at the podium and proposed a United Methodist-related school that could transform the continent of Africa. She returned to the podium May 3, to thank the denomination for making that vision a reality.

"Africa University is committed to making a difference," said Bishop Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo, the school's chancellor and chairman of its board of directors. "Thank you, General Conference, for all you have done; already we are changing Africa."

The school opened in 1992 with 40 students who met in converted barns and chicken coops. Today, five faculties of education, agriculture, business administration, health, and science and theology, boast 1,283 students in 30 debt-free, state-of-the-art buildings. A total of 1,059 people from 24 nations have graduated from that school.

Delegates voted to provide Africa University with $10 million in apportioned funds and an additional $10 million to be raised through World Service Special Gifts over the next four years.

Methodist Healthcare of Memphis and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, have joined with Africa University to equip healthcare professionals from Zimbabwe to deal with AIDS in their communities through education, prevention, treatment, and infection control efforts.

The school has also developed an Institute of Leadership and Government, to which the U.S. government contributed $1.8 million. The U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, Joseph Sullivan, told the delegates, via the video, that this effort will provide a generation of people to "fulfill a vision of peace."

Melissa Lauber is associate editor of UM Connection, the newspaper of the United Methodist Church's Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference.

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