Chuck Fox trains church leaders, and works with drug rehabilitation, development

projects and healthcare. Ruth is the principal at the Family Learning Center,

serving children of missionaries and church workers as well as local Thai and tribal

children. Ruth also works with the Akha Craft program and women’s ministries.

Akha pastors and other church leaders travel by motorcycle from the mountains to the ACT training center, where Chuck (back row) teaches the Bible and shares Christian songs and church teaching methods.

Summer 2010

InsIdE:Mentoring in Japan

TheoloGICAl edUCATIoN: Training Future Church leaders

“I f you are going to teach ‘I am the Bread of Life’ in Thai-land,” observes American Baptist International Minis-

tries (IM) missionary the Rev. Chuck Fox, “then you might want to think about how Jesus would want to say it—per-haps ‘I am the Rice of Life.’”

Chuck regularly processes this type of “translating” within an Asian culture as he provides theological educa-tion to pastors at the Akha Churches of Thailand (ACT) training center. Many of these eager students from the Akha hilltribe are rice farmers, who have the equivalent of a fourth grade education and no theological library. At times Chuck is required to offer Bible background rather than provide Bible translations that reflect Akha culture. For instance, in teaching John 1:29—“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”—Chuck says: “I don’t talk about ‘the water buffalo of God!’ Rather, I have to ex-plain from Exodus what happened with the Passover lamb. Although water buffalo are prevalent in Thailand and lambs are not, the blood of the lamb is an important foreshadow-ing of Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross.”

Chuck adds, “It is not appropriate for me to use illus-trations that come from my former world of TV programs and the like. Instead, I have to enter the Akha’s world—of nature, the jungle and farming. The Akha also know what it is like to be refugees and to have little or no land and not

much money.” That means they understand and welcome the words of Jesus, like: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me....’” (Matthew 11:28-29a)

Chuck and Ruth Fox work with approximately 75,000 Akha hilltribe people living in Northern Thailand. Chuck was raised in a Christian home in western Pennsylvania and worked as a research assistant in a medical laboratory until he felt God’s call to ministry and studied at Eastern Baptist (now Palmer) Theological Seminary. There he met Ruth. Describing their childhoods, he says, “I was watching ‘The Jungle Book’ on video, while Ruth was eating Burmese curry and riding elephants to school! She was an IM missionary kid in Burma and India.”

As an adult, Ruth graduated from Eastern Baptist Col-lege (now Eastern University). Having always had a “heart for missions,” she served in Japan as a special service worker with IM for two years (1980-82). Upon their seminary graduation in 1984, they were married, and Chuck became the pastor of the Frankford Baptist Church. That began a 15-year, cross-cultural ministry in northeast Philadelphia that led to their present work with the Akha.

The Akha escaped from their homeland of Burma (now Myanmar), west of Thailand, because of the harsh rule of the military government. They did not have a written

I enter the Akha’s world—of nature, the jungle and farming—to teach pastors in northern Thailand.by the Rev. James G. Layton, Senior Writer/Editor

continued on page 4

Vol. 2 No. 3 Summer 2010

I am blessed to be serv-ing as an International

Ministries missionary, in partnership with the Baptist Convention of Zambia, Africa (BCZ).

Just a short while ago we could only dream of providing theological edu-cation for the untrained pastors and other church leaders of the more than 500 BCZ churches. We prayed. We dreamed. We worked hard. Then in September 2008 we opened the Zam-bia International Theological Semi-nary (ZITC) in the Copperbelt Prov-ince of northern Zambia. We began offering a three-year, post secondary course of study leading to a Diploma of Theology and a two-year program for a Certificate of Theology.

With six lecturers we had our first intake of pastor-students—eight diploma students and five certificate students! I have had the privilege of being lecturer for the diploma stu-dents in Old Testament, teaching the Pentateuch, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets and Jewish Poetic and Wis-dom Literature Books. I have also had the joy of being lecturer in Church History for the certificate students.

We successfully completed our first year of study and have recently finished Term 1 of our second year! Term 2, Year Two is now beginning. We thank you for your prayers and financial support to carry out this vital ministry in the body of Christ with our sisters and brothers here in Zambia.

Learn more about Charles West’s ministry at: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/West

These dedicated pastor-students, being taughtby Charles West, are already benefittingtheir churches, utilizing the knowledge

they have received at ZITC.

A dream Becomes Realityby the Rev. Charles WestIM Missionary in Zambia

2

Entrusting to Faithful People—Ensuring the Message Continues

“What you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.” (2 Timothy 2:2)

After Jesus was raised from the dead, the good news of forgiveness and salvation through him spread across the Mediterranean world. This message of God’s

love took root in the lives of many and gave birth to local churches. Paul and his co-workers began training leaders so that those congregations might survive, serve their communities and share the good news of Jesus in an ever-widening circle. Training local pastors and church leaders has also been a central priority of International Ministries (IM) work from the early 1800s to the present. one of the reasons that churches did not cease to exist when missionaries were forced to leave China, Burma and India in the 20th century is because those servants of Christ had trained men and women who were already exercising key leadership within the churches. Today, one quarter of our long-term missionaries are primarily engaged in train-ing future church leaders. every year, significant numbers of short-term missionar-ies expand the capacity of this ministry. our international partners are pointing to the steady growth of churches in their nations and are inviting us to send addition-al missionaries to help them train leaders for those churches. If you feel called to that ministry, please contact Jim.Bell@abc-usa.org. This issue of International Ministries ON LOCA-TION examines the strategic work of training future church leaders. Such training is most pow-erful when it combines academics with experi-ential ministry. last easter (April 4), northern Baja California, Mexico was rocked by a 7.2 earthquake, leaving more than 25,000 people homeless. Mercy and Rick Barnes, IM missionaries who are training leaders at the Baptist Seminary in Mexicali, under-stood that the earthquake was a call to action. Similarly, Mario Morales serving at the Baptist Seminary of Cochabamba, Bolivia, created and modeled (with his late wife, Iris) practical ministry for new church leaders through the house of hope. house of hope has programs that help women find jobs, a school of music and art, a food ministry and a carpentry shop ministry. It reaches from urban areas to communi-ties in the Andean mountains with teams bringing medical and dental services, soy milk and medications, vacation Bible schools and adult education programs. By combining academic and experiential learning, both knowledge and skills are being entrusted to faithful men and women who will be able to lead churches and teach others.

Executive Director’s

Messageby the Rev. Dr. Reid S. Trulson

Bags of provisions, which would last afamily of six for a week, were prepared

at the Mexicali Seminary.

Ruth Mooney teaches in theological centers throughout Latin America

How do IM missionaries in theo-logical education get their start?

Ruth Mooney, for instance, began her journey in a closely-related field. For 23 years prior to teaching in seminary, Ruth researched and wrote curricula in latin America. She reflects on how those early years began: “I was in el Sal-vador in the midst of a civil war, writing Bible study materials for the churches.” In August 2009, Ruth ventured into a new challenge, saying, “Going from developing curriculum to my work at the latin American Biblical University in San José, Costa Rica was a natural step. The seminary has been preparing pastors and other church leaders for all of latin America for the past 87 years. It has a vision that the pastoral role is not a maintenance one but one that ener-gizes the congregation to be a trans-forming agent in its own community.” Ruth’s classes sometimes go beyond San José since there are fifteen theolog-ical centers in latin America that relate to the seminary. Recently she journeyed to Peru, where students ranging from 27-62 years of age traveled up to eight hours from remote jungle towns to at-tend her intensive one-week session. one pastor said that the class had transformed how he sees children in his church. he had perceived them as ill-behaved, interrupting a worship time intended for adults. But through what Ruth presented, he came to understand that children have much to teach us about worship, and their natural energy and curiosity are gifts, not problems.

Learn more about Ruth’s ministry at: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Mooney

Ruth communicates her passion for Christianeducation not only at the seminary in Costa Rica

but also in classes held in places like Peru.

www.internat ionalministr ies .org 3

“God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19) And as amazing as it sounds, God has given to missionary theological educators

the privilege of playing a role in that work. The Spirit uses ordinary people like us to support those God has called into leadership, helping them to develop their gifts and hone their skills for mission.

As the Apostle Paul responded to the missionary call he received from Jesus, he spoke and wrote as a teacher whose goal was to “present everyone mature in Christ.” (Colossians 1:28) Almost two thousand years later, that is still the goal for International Ministries (IM) missionary teachers serving the church.

Maturity in Christ is ultimately God’s own work—both drawing people to Jesus and leading us into maturity as disciples. But God makes use of human instruments, including cross-cultural missionaries who focus on theological education.

We are not in charge (nor are we the most numerous—or even the domi-nant—teachers), but cross-cultural missionaries have a role to play, simply because we are different. Not better, wiser or closer to God. Certainly not more knowledgeable about the local context. But different.

When we put our passion for Christ and our difference at the service of local believers around the world, God makes wonderful things happen. Our different backgrounds, life experiences, perspectives and training lead us to ask unexpected questions in the countries where we are guests. Or perhaps we respond to com-mon questions in uncommon ways because of those differences. If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, those moments open new opportunities for all of us—both missionaries and our hosts—to grow toward maturity in Christ.

So, whether teaching in Bible school, university and seminary formal degree programs, leading workshops among people with no formal education, or any-thing in between, IM missionaries specializing in theological education do not seek to impose models and understandings from our home context. Rather, we seek to put what we have learned at the service of our hosts, in the joyful antici-pation that we all will discover new things and, by the mercy of God, grow in faithfulness to the Savior.

We love to see those we have served make creative use of things we have discovered together, or begin to exercise gifts they did not know they had. Our delight is to receive comments like this that I had the privilege to hear recently:

“I want to tell you, God is really changing my life through what we have studied together. This is not just about what I do in ministry, but about who I am as a follower of Jesus!” — An African Sister

Learn more about Stan’s ministry at: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Slade

Stan Slade leads Kenyan church leaders to discover truths in Mark’s Gospelduring Berean Safari 2010 (a yearly leadership training conference) in Ruiru, Kenya.

Missionary Theological Educators—Used by God for Growth toward Maturity in Christby the Rev. Dr. Stan Slade, IM Global Consultant in Theological Education

language until Paul Lewis, an IM missionary in Burma (1947-66) and Thailand (1966-90) designed an alphabet for a New Testament translation. The Akha are an oral language people, a fact that is im-portant to Chuck as he trains church leaders to tell Bible stories using a flannel board. After a trained team visited one village, four new families claimed Jesus as Lord and became part of the church.

During one of Chuck’s recent vis-its to another Akha village, the young people were particularly mesmer-ized. “That day we began with the question—who is Jesus? We told the stories of Jesus calming the storm, friends helping a paralyzed man down through a roof and then blind Bartimaeus,” says Chuck. “The Holy Spirit was helping us to show that Je-sus, the Son of God, can calm a storm, forgive and heal a paralyzed man and use his power to restore sight.”

While training pastors and travel-ing to tell the good news of Jesus, Chuck is “translating” the love of God to the Akha, whose animistic culture has led to a life of fear and whose conversation before they be-come Christians seldom uses words like love, forgiveness and thank you. Chuck reflects on that fact, summa-rizing the message of his ministry, saying: “I close storytelling festi-vals with the story of the prodigal son. The emphasis is unique among the world’s religions—the heart of the father who welcomes home the repentant son.”

Learn more about the Foxes’ ministry at: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Fox

An Akha leader, trained by Chuck, uses a flannelgraph to tell a story of healing and

redemption from Mark 2:1-12.

I enter the Akha’s world...continued from page 1

T he original inhabitants of Mesoamerica, the Maya, lived mainly on the Yuca-tan Peninsula of Mexico, developing an advanced civilization that began two

thousand years before Christ. However, today Mayan descendents are marginal-ized. Yet they are raising their voices to become “leaven of hope.”

Ricardo and Doris Mayol, who were commissioned as IM missionaries in 1998, began their ministry to these people when they founded the Mayan Intercultural Seminary in Chiapas in 2004. Doris observes: “The Mayan people invite us to rethink faith and service. With Jesus at the center this is exactly what we do.”

Through their coursework the Mayols address deep-seated problems, the result of poverty and injustice for generations. Ricardo says, “Most of our students are peasants with little education, but they are respected church leaders who de-sire to grow so they can better serve their congregations. Our students can earn a certificate, diploma, or a bachelor degree as well as their elementary, middle, or

high school diploma. We teach in three languages, focusing on biblical foundation, peacemaking, economic develop-ment, social analysis, and youth and women ministries.”

The Mayols take their classes to the people in church settings, village homes and even corn fields, as well as in the seminary classroom. The results speak for themselves:

Twenty-year old Humberto is an orphan in charge of his family of eight. He is his church’s preacher and feels called

to be a pastor, but he has not finished middle school. Through the residential theological program he studies to earn a diploma in Intercultural Theology and Ministry and pays for his education with corn, chicken, tortillas or beans. He says, “There is a path opened for me to become a better servant of our Lord.”

Manuel is the 53-year-old senior pastor of a church with more than 500 mem-bers. But he has had virtually no formal education. In early 2012, he will earn his elementary school diploma and have completed courses in the theology program.

Carmen is a cheerful, mid-aged coordinator of artisan women. When she was four years old, she could not stand because of malnutrition and never went to school. Through the seminary’s extension program she finished her elementary school education and also earned a certificate in theology. She feels called to be a pastor saying, “I will keep learning because I want to serve God and the women.”

The Mayols also teach Spanish-speaking students, who have had better life opportunities than their indigenous counterparts. Leopoldo, a Mexican retired en-gineer, is finishing his bachelor degree in Intercultural Theology. He coordinates the tutoring program, helping students like Humberto, Manuel and Carmen to finish their schooling. He remarks, “Teaching is a ministry that helped me grow in my faith, and it is my commitment to the Lord and the seminary.”

Reflecting on their ministry, Doris says, “Here, we learn about the pains, tears and hopes of people who, at times, have nothing more than their faith. Here, we learn different languages, languages of the hearts of our indigenous partners in ministry. And we hear the echo of God’s voice.”

Learn more about the Mayols’ ministry at: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Mayol

Lessons on poverty and injustice are woven into curricula in southern Mexico

PacificOcean

Gulfof

Mexico

U S A

M E X I C O

GUAT EMA L A

Mexico City

Chiapas

Doris explains to Mayan women, some of whom were seminary graduates, how to sell their

textiles in a global economy.

Ricardo (back row, left) teaches Bible, Life and Service class to church leaders from 10 villages,

some walking up to 7 hours!

4 On Location Summer 2010

W hen you think about preparing people for leader-ship in the church, what setting jumps quickly to mind? Perhaps you picture a college or seminary

classroom. In most cases that would be accurate. But not when it comes to John and Tomoko Armagost, who serve with the Japan Baptist Union (JBU). John and Tomoko’s

“classroom” is found in the day-to-day life of the church as they provide one-on-one, personal instruction. They do this as men-tors, helping individuals not only to comprehend theoretical content but also to apply those learnings

“on the job.”This type of theological educa-

tion is valuable among churches in Japan, since less than 1% of the population is Christian, and church leaders are critically need-ed. The Armagosts work presently with five different congregations and pastors in the Kansai region.

John grew up in Montana and Oregon as the son of an American Baptist pastor. Tomoko’s father served for 15 years as the evangelist on the “Gospel Ship,” as he took the good news of Jesus Christ to remote Japanese islands and churches in the Inland Sea of Japan. They met when John, a seminary student, spent a year in Japan teaching English at Hinomoto High School, a Baptist mission school. They soon got married and returned to the U.S., where John completed his Master of Divinity degree at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. As missionaries in Japan, they daily tap their church experience developed

during their pastoral years at Calvary Baptist Church of Leavenworth, Kansas (1988-93).

Throughout their development, John and Tomoko were influenced not only by their families but also by chaplains and educators who mentored them. It was natural for them, therefore, to become mentors themselves when they were asked in 1999 by JBU to serve as pastors of the Nishi Okamoto Christ Church. The church had

been without full-time pastoral leadership since 1995, when the pastor became a victim of the Kobe earthquake. Reflect-ing on those first years, John says, “We wanted to begin looking for a Japanese pastor to work with us, but it wasn’t until 2001 that we were able to mentor a young man, Akira Takahashi, who was just about to finish seminary.”

Together, they formed a pastoral team with John as senior pastor, Tomoko as Christian Education director and Mr. Takahashi as a pastor-in-training. Tomoko says, “After he was ordained, Pastor Takahashi became co-pastor, and by 2007 he was named pastor and John was given the title of associate pastor. Although church responsibilities changed, John continued to mentor the young pastor, which was im-portant especially since church members retained complex, difficult memories from the losses caused by the earthquake.”

In 2008, Pastor Takahashi asked John and Tomoko to work with the youth of the church. As they began, the Armagosts mentored a lay person, Mr. Banno. They met regularly for prayer, discussion and planning. One result is that Mr. Banno

has taken a larger leadership role with the youth and the church as a whole. Additionally, much of what the Armagosts have done in developing the youth ministry at Nishi Oka-moto has now become a model for other JBU congregations.

John and Tomoko have also mentored a third person from that congregation. Mr. Fujioka, an owner of a small restaurant, was coached by the Armagosts when he began leading a small group ministry. A few years later, Mr. Fujioka answered the call to full-time work and today is pastor of the Nishi Kiori Baptist Church in the northern part of Japan.

Church life encompasses many things. For the Armagosts it is a “classroom,” where training future church leaders through mentoring produces graduates for the work of build-ing God’s Kingdom!

Learn more about the Armagosts’ ministry at: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Armagost

The staff of the Nishi Okamoto Church in 2001 was a team created through mentoring (from left), John, Pastor Takahashi and Tomoko

Mentoring in Japan— a One-on-One Approach to Training Church Leadersby the Rev. James G. Layton, Senior Writer/Editor

John & Tomoko Armagost have been serving as IM missionaries

since 1994 in the region of Kansai, approximately 340 miles from Tokyo.

Sea ofJapan North

PacificOcean

EastChina

SeaPhilippine Sea

J A P A N

Kansai

Tokyo

Mr. Banno (left), with his daughter, leads the church during a fellowship time.John not only mentored Pastor Fujioka but also officiated at his wedding in May 2010.

www.internat ionalministr ies .org 5

A Family Tree Grows in Africa

Being sensitive to God’s call to be-come an IM missionary sometimes

follows a family tradition. In 1948, IM assigned the Rev lewis Brown, who began serving in the Congo in 1924, to organize the Kikongo Pastoral Training Institute. In 1956, one of his sons, Arley, served for a short time at the Institute during his 38-year ministry in the Congo. And from 1961 to ‘63, another of lewis Brown’s sons, Wes, taught there as well. But that was not the end of this family tradition. Today, the granddaughter of lewis Brown, Rita, serves at the Institute with her husband. The Rev. Glen and Rita Chapman began their work at the Kikongo Pastoral Training Institute as IM missionaries in 1993. Rita, of course, grew up in the Congo. But so did Glen! his parents, orville and Virginia Chap-man, taught at the Institute on two different occasions (1967-75, 1984-93). Rita and Glen first came to know each other in the hostel for missionary children when Rita was in fifth grade and Glen was in seventh. Glen de-scribes what happened in the ensuing years: “We were special friends in high school and went to different colleges, but we corresponded regularly. We were married while I was in the Army and after my seminary years were com-missioned as IM missionaries in 1987.

T he Kikongo Pastoral Training Institute is the ministry base for Glen and Rita Chapman, International Ministries (IM) missionaries who are training church leaders to serve in rural areas. In a continent in which church mem-

bership is growing faster than anywhere else in the world (currently 300 million), tiny Kikongo, a rural area just 100 miles outside the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is suffering from a critical shortage of trained pastors.

The Chapmans teach pastoral couples who become God’s instrument for more abundant living (John 10:10) in rural areas. Glen observes, “We are not only training pastors but also agents of development.”

The Institute has living space for 40 families and a program that produces graduates who dramatically impact both the spiritual and physical life of rural communities. Training for the pastors (husbands) includes such courses taught by Glen as Introduction to the Bible, Homiletics and Baptist History. Rita’s teaching ministry at the Kikongo Women’s School focuses on reading and writing for the wives as well as classes on the Bible, home economics and health-related issues.

Rita describes the school’s approach: “We train student pas-tor’s wives to become full partners with their husbands in shared rural pastoral ministry. Classes equip the women for their new church and village leadership roles.”

The day begins with chapel at 7 a.m. followed by morn-ing classes. In the afternoon students literally do “field work” to help provide food, maintain the grounds, or work in the lumber mill that helps support the school. On weekends, the students engage in more traditional seminary field work as they serve churches in nearby villages and learn to apply the lessons of the week.

The Institute focuses not only on pastoral husband-and-wife teams but on the whole family. Rita is supportive of the children, becoming aware of any health situations as she

supervises the nursery and pre-school. She also celebrates the maturity seen in the women, telling of one example: “Prior to coming to the Women’s School, a current student’s heart belonged to Jesus, but she was functionally illiterate. She could neither read the Bible, nor confidently share its meaning with others. Re-cently, however, she was able to lead more than 100 women in worship, using the skills she had learned and practiced at the Women’s School!”

Glen’s ministry includes responding to invitations from graduates who want their villages to understand more clearly the story of Christ, using the “Jesus” film. In the past Glen had been transporting the necessary audiovisual equipment by riverboat or bicycle. A one-way trip to a certain village took him five hours. But he has begun using a Powered Parachute, and the journey to that same village recently took him only 25 minutes. He says of that trip, “It would have been 20 minutes, but I had a headwind! It’s an unusual solution for me since I’m a real weakling when it comes to motion sickness on the ocean. But I usually do fine in the air, since flying is so fascinating.”

Learn more about the Chapman’s ministry at: www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/Chapman

Rita & Glen Chapman (back row, center)serve at the Kikongo Pastoral Institute with

a dedicated Congolese staff that trainsstudents in a three-year program.

Glen Chapman flies toteam up with formerstudents in sharing the message of Jesus.

Closing the Million-Mile Gap— Training Rural Church Leaders in Africaby the Rev. James G. Layton, Senior Writer/Editor

The Chapman family (left) and the Brown family (right) traveled together on vacation in 1973; Glen is in the blue print shirt, Rita in the white blouse.

A future missionary couple were about to say “good-bye” with

Glen soon leaving the Congo for college.

6 On Location Summer 2010

I N M E M O R I A M

Rosa Iris MoralesAmerican Baptist Missionary in Bolivia

Born: October 5, 1961Commissioned for missionary service: 1999Called into Christ’s presence: July 28, 2010

Gifts in memory of Iris Morales may be given to the New Missionary Fund and sent to:

International Ministries, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482

“T he faith of even the most zealous believers has been tested here

in Haiti,” observes Nzunga Mabudiga, International Ministries (IM) mission-

ary in the most im-poverished nation of the western hemisphere. After one of the worst natural disasters in history—the earthquake on January

12, 2010—the brave Haitian people understandably struggle to make sense of it, “If our God is a loving God,

American Baptist International Ministries (IM) has been fo-cused on leadership development around the world almost

since we began in 1814. As soon as missionaries settled in a new country, they started small Bible schools and other educational endeavors to train church leaders. Later, many former missionaries and others gave sacrificially to create endowments. These are the source of most of our leadership development scholarships today.

In the current fiscal year, IM has distributed approximately $167,000 in grants to applicants from every continent.

One former scholarship recipient was Kyu Kyu Khin, who came to the United States from Myanmar (Burma) in 2002 to pursue a masters degree in theology at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. She remained in the U.S. to earn a Doctor of Ministry degree in marriage and family at Eastern Baptist (now Palmer) Theological Seminary. Many among the IM staff at the Mission Center in Valley Forge joined with both seminaries and the Friends of Burma to walk with Kyu Kyu since, except for one return visit to Myanmar, she was without her husband and two sons. She needed even more support when she fell ill to a debilitating cancer and required much medical attention and help with insurance and costs.

By God’s immeasurable grace and mercy, Kyu Kyu triumphed and today she is on the faculty of Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT), the oldest (founded in 1927) and largest seminary in Southeast Asia. According to its principal, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Ngun Ling, “Ninety-five percent of the church leaders, theological educators, theologians and organizational leaders in Myanmar come from MIT.”

Kyu Kyu serves as MIT’s chaplain, provides counseling services on campus and teaches courses like Marriage and Family Counseling and Cri-sis Counseling. She writes from Myanmar: “I would like to express my heartfelt thanks again to International Ministries.”

When you think of IM’s important work in theological education, you can give thanks to God that it includes a scholarship program that produces abundant harvests in partner countries year after year.

The result of Kihomi’s instruction is exponential—trained women church leaders return to different

regions of Haiti and train others.

Nzunga is not only a universityprofessor-administrator, but

he also models what he teacheswhen visiting churches to preach.

why did he allow this to happen to us?” How do Haitian pastors honestly answer questions like this in a way that strengthens faith and brings comfort to suffering people? As theological educators in Haiti, Nzunga Mabudiga and his wife, Kihomi Ngwemi, face this challenge every day.

Nzunga teaches theology at the Christian University of Northern Haiti. He leads his students in wrestling with life’s difficulties, showing the answers found in Christ who ago-nized in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46) yet triumphed on Easter morning (Matthew 28:6). Aca-demic surroundings have not deterred Nzunga from teaching a practical theology as reflected in his textbooks that address relevant topics, like AIDS

Theological Education Goes Beyond the Efforts of Missionariesby the Rev. Stan Murray, IM Area Director for Southeast Asia & Japan

Theological education is critical to restoring hope to earthquake-devastated Haiti

and the Mission of the Church, Sex before Marriage and The Prison Ministry. Stu-dent pastors have also appreciated The Critical Moment of Pastoral Ministry, a daily reflection for church leaders serv-ing in a needy society.

Training future Haitian church leaders requires action beyond the uni-versity setting. In response to a request from the Haitian Baptist Convention, Kihomi is providing train-the-trainer sessions that focus on leadership devel-opment for women as well as on evan-gelism and health education. Because of this training, some non-government organizations are asking the Baptist women to help lead in rebuilding their nation.

Learn more about Kihomi & Nzunga’s ministry at: www. internationalministries.org/missionaries/Kihomi_and_Nzunga

www.internat ionalministr ies .org 7

Summer 2010

The American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, (operating as International Ministries), organized in 1814 is the first Baptist international mission agency formed in North America and the second oldest Baptist mission agency in the world. We serve more than 1,800 short-term and long-term missionar-ies annually, bringing churches and individuals in the United States and Puerto Rico together with partners in more than 70 countries in holistic, cutting-edge ministries that tell the Good News of Jesus Christ while meeting human need.

I357.PUB.09/10

TheoloGICAl edUCATIoN: Training Future Church leaders

8 On Location Summer 2010

INSIDE:

Theological Education Training Future Church Leaders“What you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faith-

ful people who will be able to teach others as well.” — 2 Timothy 2:2

C hristianity is experiencing explosive growth in many areas of the world, including Africa, China and Southeast Asia. each day 20,000 Africans come to Christ. In Nepal, a country in which no

Christian was officially allowed until 1960, there is now a church in every one of the 75 districts with estimates of more than half a million believers. Yet many new believers who hunger for the Word, have never read the Bible, been to Sunday school, or received basic Christian teaching. There are few trained pastors or lay leaders, and Bibles or educational materials are scarce. As a result, the need for trained pastors and lay leaders is a huge worldwide need. Praying for laborers in God’s harvest (luke 10:2), International Min-istries (IM) missionaries work in villages and cities around the world to train future church leaders. IM offers instruction through seminar-ies, Bible schools and pastoral institutes as well as resources for some church workers to study abroad as they prepare for ministry. The largest of IM’s seven ministry focus areas, 27 long-term mis-sionaries train future church leaders with $1.8 million in financial support. Sixty-eight volunteers and short-term missionaries assist in providing theological education.

The Many Faces of Theological EducationIM classroom educators and advisors working with distance learning and new-teacher orientation

Mexico—Chuck & Ramona ShawverChuck, at the Baptist Seminary in Mexico (Mexico City), coordinates the pastoral work of students who go to minister in nearby churches. Ramona serves as academic advi-sor to the seminary’s residence students. The Shawvers also work with the various distance learning programs that serve more

than 200 students through regional centers and extension programs.

China—Judy SutterlinJudy serves with Nanjing Union Theologi-cal Seminary, where she teaches general, biblical and theological English. In addition, she continues to help with the orientation and care of the Amity Foundation’s incoming English teachers and serves as an IM liaison

to Amity projects, including support for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS-related loss of their parents and for remote village clinic work.

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I n H a I t I a n d I n t H e W o r l d

1 I enter the Akha’s world Foxes 2 Entrusting to faithful people Trulson A dream becomes a reality West 3 Missionary theological educators Slade Teaching in Latin America Mooney 4 Lessons on poverty and injustice Mayols 5 Mentoring in Japan Armogosts 6 Closing the million-mile gap Chapmans 7 Restoring hope to Haiti Mabudiga/Ngwemi Beyond the efforts of missionaries Murray In Memoriam Morales

Thailand

Zambia

Costa Rica

Mexico

Japan

D.R.Congo

Haiti

Bolivia