Africa Needs Educated Clergy

Re International Ministries Reconsidered, May

My recent experience visiting our mission partners in Malawi tells me that one of the greatest needs in the global church is educated clergy. My visit to Zomba Theological College (ZTC), where pastors of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) are trained, was enlightening. The phrase used by one of the Malawian professors there was that the CCAP clergy presence was a mile wide and an inch deep – meaning that while there are many, many CCAP congregations in Malawi, there is a lack of properly trained clergy to lead them.

The PCC is helping with the appointment last year of Rev. Dr. Todd Statham as a lecturer at ZTC. Todd is now one of only two lecturers at ZTC with doctoral training – and the other is leaving soon for another posting.

ZTC does struggle financially, as do our own theological colleges from time to time, but the absence of a highly educated professorial staff to develop an educated clergy is the greater crisis.