News from NEGST

Africa, the White Man's Burden. That's how the European colonial powers saw themselves and the continent of Africa.

But the White Man has actually been Africa's burden. Just consider the trillions of dollars of aid the West has spent in the last four decades on Africa with very little to show for it.

That's the subject of William Easterly's new book called The White Man's Burden (that phrase goes back to an 1898 Rudyard Kipling poem about Africa). Easterly is an economist who worked for the World Bank for many years dispensing millions of dollars in a vain attempt to eradicate poverty in Africa. His book is a confession of failure and an exercise in humility.

Easterly reviews the sad history of the colossal waste of money that often ended up in the personal bank accounts of corrupt politicians rather than on the projects it was intended to support. But he puts the blame back on the West, on himself, for the arrogance to think that we know how to solve the problem of poverty and that we can and should do it for the poor because we believe they are helpless.

What he learned the hard way was that the poor often have a better idea of what they need to do and they can often solve their own problems without our Big Plans and boatloads of money. Western aid agencies have been more concerned about accountability to their own donors and proving to the donors that they are doing good work. But they have not really listened to the people they are trying to help and made themselves accountable to the poor in Africa.

Easterly proposes that instead of grand schemes to end poverty or get a poor country growing economically, Westerners should take on small-scale, piecemeal projects in partnership with local communities and leaders in Africa. Be successful in small things, like a school or a clinic or a microenterprise. There are no guarantees of success in these areas but if you persevere, experiment and stay in close contact with locals, the results can be amazing.

That's exactly what Christian Leaders for Africa and other friends of NEGST are doing. We are committed to seeing one particular theological school prosper and educate hundreds of pastors and missionaries and Bible translators. It's easy to get distracted by many other worthy projects and even other excellent theological schools in Africa. Fortunately, other groups of Christians are organizing to be partners with them as we are with NEGST and we pray that God will bless them as he has blessed us.

There's another lesson to be learned from Easterly's book. Don't let money be a substitute for a relationship. It won't work. The relationship really is the most important and if it is not genuine, the money will distort the relationship and disappoint the donor. If our love and concern for our friends at NEGST—students, faculty, staff—is the real thing, and if we actually do pray for them, we will truly be a blessing no matter how much money we donate. Money does good work if it follows behind relationships.

Speaking of Relationships...

If you walk on the NEGST campus these days, you will meet students like:

Lawrence Oseje
Who believes God has called him to evangelize and plant churches among Muslims in Nairobi. He is completing a Masters in Theology degree specializing in Islamic Studies.

Hasmik Babayan
Who came to NEGST from Arminia with a desire to be trained in reaching Muslims so she can do ministry in her own country and maybe even Turkey.

Jacob Kivuva
Who is a widower with two young sons but deeply committed to planting churches.

Samuel Mwangi
Who was attracted to the Pygmy people in northern Congo and traveled there from Kenya. It took him almost a week to find them since they are nomadic. He believes God is calling him and his family to be missionaries to these people.

Margaret Muhia
Who gave him a fine career with Kenya Airlines to study at NEGST because of a lifelong call to ministry which her church affirmed in her.

Judy Nduati (here shown with Islamic Studies professor, Caleb Kim)
Who with her husband, Haran, was a missionary among Muslim tribes in northern Kenya and will be returning after earning a Master's degree in Theology with a special focus on Islamic Studies.

Sharing Wisdom and Experience

This August NEGST will host a consultation on faculty development and evangelical doctoral training in Africa. Representatives from numerous other evangelical theological schools across Africa have been invited to explore ways to collaborate and build up Ph.D. programs like the one NEGST began in 2005. The end result will be a blueprint for schools considering the Ph.D. program as way of training future professors in Africa. Even more significant will be the relationships that develop between professors and administrators from all the schools represented.

NEGST is seeking participants and financial supporters for the consultation. If you are interested in either, contact Dr. Douglas Carew at vice.chancellor@negst.edu

Paul Heidebrecht
Christian Leaders for Africa
P.O. Box 1642
Indianapolis, IN 46206
clafrica@sbcglobal.net