Jeremiah Chenge knows that the students he teaches face new and growing challenges as they begin a life of ministry. A lecturer at the United Church of Zambia University in New Testament Studies, he specialises in teaching pastors through African contextual theology. Jeremiah mainly teaches in the Bachelor of Theology program, but in the last two years, he has also been teaching students in a new program, the Master of Theology. This new program wouldn’t have been possible without the work of the Langham Partnership, who support hundreds of seminaries and colleges all over the world with book grants and the funding needed to stock a full theological library.
Theology in Context
“Often students come in with the mentality that their ministry is about preparing people to go to heaven. So the idea of theology that must be contextualised and theology that must speak to the culture of people, they find it a little bit difficult. But as they progress, they understand more than theology must speak to the situation within which people are.”
These pastors are being trained to go out into both urban and rural churches. When they first graduate, they are usually sent to experience rural church life, before becoming pastors in an urban setting. The needs of both settings are vastly different. “The countryside often faces much more economically vulnerable circumstances. However, urban Christians can be more critical of what they might hear,” Jeremiah explains.
African contextual theology helps to relate the mission of Jesus to the context of Zambia as well. When students are sent to a particular situation, the first thing Jeremiah wants them to be able to do is understand the context they are in. Then they begin to develop the theology that speaks to that particular community where they are. Otherwise, they may be speaking into a vacuum where people do not understand him, and he does not understand the people.
Instead, Jeremiah hopes that people will understand themselves better and understand the nature of the God they are serving. “They will understand Jesus within their own context, not necessarily within the context of Galilee, but within their own context. They will no longer look at Jesus as a Galilean peasant, but as Jesus who is able to transform their lives within their own context.”
A Library that Makes Learning Possible
Crucial to the launch of the Masters of Theology was access to the academic resources needed to support this level of study. This is where Langham’s library resourcing program has been an answer to prayer.
“We’ve received books that talk about public theology, books that talk about Jesus the Saviour, books that talk about God’s involvement in human nature, books that talk about hope, hope for today, as well as hope for tomorrow. In my area, particularly the theology of Paul, such books are very helpful in the sense that we look at the life of Paul in relation to what has been written in a particular book, and then we ask ourselves questions. I think in my department, about one third of all the books we use have come from Langham.”
These books are particularly relevant to the new MTH program, with many titles from Langham found in module outlines as recommended resources. Without this partnership, students would not have access to up-to-date literature on key topics. In fact, without access to the right resources, the new MTH program would not have been greenlit at all.
“Now that the material is there, we have students who are graduating. You can’t teach somebody if you don’t have the resources. You can’t refer somebody to a book that is not available.”
Langham’s Impact Over a Lifetime
As both a former student and a faculty member, Jeremiah is delighted to see how far the university has come. “When I came here myself, we didn’t have any degree program. The highest we had was a diploma, and mine was the second or third class to obtain the diploma. The institution trained, and we were examined through the University of Macquarie. From there, we moved to BTH. Now we are at MTH. I think we are only a step away from getting into a PhD program. I’m excited, because I have seen this institution growing together with me.”
When Jeremiah studied here in 1979, there was no library, just a small room where students could read the small number of books on hand. To see how the institution has expanded to meet the needs of the church is what he calls a dream come true. And this growth has been made possible through the partnership with Langham. Jeremiah prays that this partnership grows more and more, so Langham may continue participating in training the global church.