Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

When Jesus wept over Jerusalem he said:

“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes … They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Luke 19:42-44

In Greek, the word translated by “coming” means visitation for the purpose of bringing salvation. Through Christ the Lord visits his people. BEST is engaged to proclaim the visitation of the Lord in the world, beginning with our continent, Africa.

We thank the Lord for the first quarter of 2012. BEST has experienced a very busy quarter with visitors. Jack and Theo Robinson, Tom and Deb Berg, George Durance, and a team from Trinity Evangelical Presbyterian Church led by John and Marilyn Roughley. We mentioned these people because God has used each of them to bring insight about the future of BEST.

First doctoral student defended his thesis: Dieudonné Djoubairou is the first doctoral student who defended his thesis on January 4th. We thank the Lord for His faithfulness in leading this program.

Annual Colloquium: The annual colloquium of BEST was held at the beginning of January 2012. The theme this year was “Bible and Democracy”. The main conclusion was that the word “democracy” as political system is not found in ancient Israel or in the New Testament. However, the ideals of democracy such as justice, wellbeing, equity, peace, etc. are part of the biblical values for society.

Board meeting: the board of the school had its annual meeting in February. During this session, a new manual of procedure for the board was adopted. The seven year plan proposed by the president has been approved.

Future of BEST: After 35 years, BEST needs to expand while keeping its original mission. African society today is different from that of the creation of BEST in 1977. BEST is called to play a new role in the changing Africa. A seven year plan has been elaborated with the contribution of many people from inside and outside of Africa. The following paragraphs describe some of the four key elements of the seven year plan.

1. Expansion of the Women School: For the last 35 years, the women’s school was limited to the wives of students. There is a need to make this school a center to empower women and girls. The school will soon be opened to women and girls from the city. We will add new programs in professional computer skills, professional sewing skills, entrepreneurship and health promotion.

2. Training of teachers: At BEST, we identified the field of education as a critical tool for the transformation of the society. We are planning to launch a school of education to train teachers from a biblical, Christian perspective. Especially in Francophone Africa, there is a big need for such schools. Many churches have their own Christian schools, but their teachers are being trained in government schools.

3. Improvement of the kindergarten, primary school, high school and English Language School: for the next seven years, we are committed to improving the quality of our ministry and performance in these various schools. The goal is to make these schools models of good education in the city.

4. Construction of a Leadership Center: This center has been under consideration for several years, and now construction is ready to begin. It will contain 27 guest rooms, several meeting rooms for conferences and seminars as well as kitchen and dining areas.

Visiting professors: we received many visiting professors from America, DRCongo, Cameroon and Kenya. Dr Ian Shaw, from Langham Scholarship, founded by John Stott in England, also visited BEST.

Leadership positions of graduates: Jules Mboka and Jacques Vungbo, both graduates from BEST have been elected respectively as president and vice-president of CEUM (a denomination founded by the Evangelical Covenant Church of America) in the North-West part of DRCongo. The president of BEST and a team from BEST were present during the ceremony of installation in Gemena.

Health: the president of BEST had surgery in November. He had a gall bladder problem. Now he is doing well.

Thanks for being co-workers and partners in the Lord’s harvest.

Prayers:

• For the seven year plan
• Needs of financial support for students
• Financial support of the school (salaries, electricity, water, improved internet access)
• Permission from the government to begin building of the Leadership Center

May Lord bless you,

Nupanga Weanzana, Ph.D.
President of BEST

Children on FATEB Campus Bangui, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Deb just returned from 2 months in the Republic of Central Africa, the heart of Central Africa, a landlocked country ranking as one of the poorest in the world. But surprisingly,  one of the more stable countries of Africa in the last five years.

Unfortunately, in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), there is no industry, no work, no jobs. And anyone with hope talks of going to Ghana or Cameroon to look for work.

These are friendly, genuine, peace-loving people, who understand the value of education. Unfortunately, the conditions at the schools are deplorable.  We visited a public high school with 10,000 students. Overcrowding is the norm. The National University at Bangui is three years behind due to teacher strikes so no one can graduate.

The mean annual income is about $700/year.  Mean life span is 45 due to aids, malaria and typhoid.

While there, we were able to take foodstuffs to the Fulani, refugees from Sudan, who are even more destitute than the Central Africans, and to the Pygmies, who have been pushed out of their forests and are also dependent on aide.

Mtelo Ministries is partnering with FATEB, a private university in Bangui, to improve the education system, pre-school through grade 13. We are also partnering with two orphanages and food programs run by Central Africans that also provide medical checkups and preventative care for the 200 children in the programs.

A Mtelo work team of Americans at the end of February was able to repaint and refurbish overcrowded housing bringing some cheer and hope to the gloomy prospects for the future.

We took medical supplies, eyeglasses, soap flour and sugar. But so much more is needed. We talked with folks whose families are in towns to the north and east under siege by the Lord’s Army. They can’t go to them and the family members cannot leave. We heard that there are already 100 US Marines in Central Africa in the area bordering Chad and Sudan. We were advised not to go anywhere near there. In fact, the gates to the city of Bangui are closed at 9:00 pm every night as protection from marauders.

We met a man who had been one of the Invisible Children. He had been abducted at an early age forced to labor for the Lord’s Army. Miraculously, by the grace of God, he escaped. And he was telling his story to all who would listen.

This region needs your help. This country needs your help. Please partner with us.

Mtelo  is an all-volunteer organization with no paid staff operating entirely with donated supplies and services. Every dollar you donate to Mtelo will go to providing food, medical or school supplies to those in need in the Central African Republic.

To assist with this project, designate CAR in the memo section when you hit the donate button.

We are beginning a new feature profiling students and faculty at BEST.

This month we would like to tell you about one of our graduating students, Fidele Yougouda his wife Rachel, and their family. Fidele and Rachel came to BEST several years ago from Maroua, Cameroon having been sent by the church in which he was one of the pastors. Fidele is receiving his Master’s degree in Missiology this year and Rachel has graduated from the women’s school.

Upon graduation in July, Fidele and Rachel will return to their home city of Maroua where Fidele will resume his duties as pastor, teach in the Bible Institute and the school of Theology. However, their heart is to evangelize the Muslims in Maroua-“the heart of Islam in Cameroon” as Fidele puts it.

Fidele and Rachel will be evangelizing the Muslim members of their families, their neighbors, the Fulani in their area, as well as Muslim students at the University of Maroua using tools like the Jesus Film, Bible study, friendship evangelism, and the Magdelena film which is geared toward Muslim women.

Fidele and Rachel approach their ministry as a team effort. In both the Fulani and Muslim cultures, men share with men and women share with women. Therefore, Fidele will be sharing with the men and Rachel will be sharing with the women. They have already begun this phase of their ministry in Bangui as Fidele is ministering to some of the Muslim men there and Rachel is holding a weekly Bible study with a Muslim woman in Bangui. Support of BEST through scholarships and operational financial support is critical to the training of quality individuals like Fidele and Rachel to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Francophone Africa.

Love and our heartfelt thanks,
John and Marilyn

(from the MteloCAR June newsletter)

In our last newsletter, we brought up the possibility that, due to several long term donors being forced to curtail or eliminate their financial support of BEST, a number of seminary personnel would need to be released. As you could see from Dr. Nupanga’s letter which you received earlier, thus far 12 people have been released. While these reductions in force are difficult and emotionally wrenching they were necessary to insure the continued viability of the seminary. The price of leadership often times involve making difficult decisions. Dr. Nupanga is a leader and we are extremely fortunate that God has brought a leader and visionary like Dr. Nupanga to lead the seminary.

One of the visions and a long term goal that Dr. Nupanga has is to work toward making BEST as self-supporting as possible. This will obviously take time, however let us tell you about a first step in this process and how you can help.

Dr. Nupanga has the vision of establishing an English Language Learning Centre on the grounds of BEST. This will meet an educational need in Bangui since English is the global language of business and will be offered for a fee to the residents of Bangui who desire to learn English. The plan is that the Centre will be managed by an African, who will also be the primary instructor. Eventually, additional instructors from the West and Africa will be utilized on an as needed basis to teach in the Centre. Revenue that exceeds operating expenses of the Centre will be used toward funding the operation of the seminary.

The start up cost of this Centre will be in the neighborhood of $30,000. This includes furniture, computers, electrical work required, fans, a window air conditioner for the “computer lab”, and a curriculum. The furniture will be made on site by the craftsmen working in the woodshop, and the electrical work will be done by local electricians who have worked at BEST in the past. More than likely the computers will be purchased in France and shipped to BEST.

If you would be interested in helping to finance this endeavor, you may do so in several ways. One way is a lump sum cash donation made payable to Mtelo Ministries. Another way is that you may purchase one or more chairs at $20.00 each (a total of 64 are needed); purchase one or more tables at $85.00 each (32 are needed); purchase one or more computers at approximately $1500 each (12 are needed); fans at $100 each (4 are needed); and a window air conditioner at $650 (as you can tell, some items are pretty expensive in CAR!). Finally, we are also in need of $2,000 for electrical work, and about $2,000 for the curriculum. The remaining $3,000, if needed, will be used for classroom supplies and the initial payments of the Centre’s manager and instructor.

You can donate securely via credit card with the Mtelo Ministries donation button. Alternately, checks may be made payable to Mtelo Ministries and sent to Mtelo at P.O. Box 871144, Canton, MI 48187. However you choose to donate, please include a note of what equipment you would like to “buy” (you can also donate to the scholarship fund). We are hoping to open the Centre late summer or early fall of 2009. Thank you for your prayers and your sacrificial giving. May the Lord bless you richly as you continue to partner with our brothers and sisters in Africa.

Love and our heartfelt thanks,
John and Marilyn

(from the MteloCAR June newsletter)

We have recently returned from Bangui where we experienced one of the best, if not the best, trip to Africa that we’ve ever had. We had the privilege of leading a team of twelve people, nine from Michigan (seven from Trinity and two from Ward) and three from Texas to serve at FATEB, or in English, The Bangui Evangelical School of Theology (BEST).

Thank you for your prayer support as well as individual financial support, your encouragement, all the medical supplies donated for the clinic at BEST, the yarn for the women’s school and the pillowcase dresses that were sewn in love along with so many more donations, too numerous to list. Thank you for partnering with us as we served God and our brothers and sisters at BEST and in the local community surrounding BEST.

As a team we preached in local churches, spoke to youth groups and women’s groups, held a mini vacation Bible school, planted flowers, taught English, First Aid, Nutrition, Child Development and Beading . Some of the team was able to paint several rooms of a home for a missionary couple as well as working in the library at BEST. As a team, we attended the grand opening of Hope Orphan Center and also visited Loving God Orphan Center. We were able to give clothes and medical supplies to both orphan centers. Doug and Linda Thompson from Ward conducted a marriage seminar for the seminary students and their spouses. Ed McCallum from the EPC instructed the seminary staff as well as the students on the missional church (which was the topic of Ed’s D.Div dissertation).

One of the experiences that totally blew us all away was the expression of community we experienced when we informed that Nan McCallum’s mother had died. Numerous people came by the house to offer condolences and pray with Nan, cry with her, and comfort her. As amazing as this was, we were not prepared for the outpouring of love that evening when close to 70 staff, students and families brought chairs and sat out on the lawn and held a memorial service for Nan’s mom. There was singing, Nan had the opportunity to share about her mom, a sermon of comfort was given by one of the pastoral students, and there was a receiving line of condolences. Finally, the students out of their poverty took a collection and gave it to Ed and Nan as an expression of love.

Truly these brothers and sisters in Christ live their faith and totally live the love of Christ.

We, along with Cindi Cole and Kathy Martin, had an amazing, once in a lifetime opportunity to visit a couple of pygmy villages. One of the local churches we ministered in has a ministry to the pygmies so they invited us to join them. We worshipped with them, ministered to them and gave them some food and clothes. They blessed us with their singing as they glorified and thanked God for what He has done for them. We were deeply touched when in spite of their hardship and need, in love they gave us bananas, manioc and pineapples. We were struck by their extreme poverty, the lack of medical care, food and education. The Pygmies face diseases ranging from malaria, cholera, ear and chest infections caused by lack of protein and extreme malnourishment. We noticed that the majority of the children’s stomachs were bloated from malnutrition. The forest has been their home for years but now they face de-forestation and with the clearing of the land their food resources disappear as well. Please pray for strength and protection from the evil one for the pastor and evangelists that work among the pygmies and that God will provide for their daily needs. The needs everywhere we went were overwhelming and emotionally draining yet we know that God is in control.

We have, for several years now, been convinced that the way we as Westerners can have the most profound effect in reaching people groups in the world with the message that Jesus died for them and to provide sound Biblical instruction is through supporting national pastors and leaders. That is why we are so committed to serving BEST through helping to raise scholarship and operational funds for the school. However, the global economic crisis has hit BEST particularly hard. Two of the organizations that have been most faithful in providing assistance over the years have informed BEST recently that they will no longer be able to contribute to student financial aid. This loss represents almost 10%of the annual income of the seminary. A third major contributor is also forced to reduce support to BEST because of the economic crisis.

This loss of income will certainly require that a number (possibly up to 25%) of seminary personnel will need to be released and salaries reduced to survive this reduction in revenue. This action is painful enough for Western organizations, but for Africans who have a profound sense of community (see above description of how Africans live out their commitment to community), this is a terribly difficult action to take. Please pray for Dr. Nupanga as he will need to be the person to carry out this action.

As you prioritize your giving for 2009 and beyond, please consider how you would be able to assist furthering the word of God and the teachings of Christ by supporting BEST prayerfully and financially. Any assistance would be a marvelous help and a blessing to BEST. I am sure that you will also be blessed beyond measure knowing that because of you countless Francophone Africans may hear the gospel.

Should you be led to help with the cost of the operation of the seminary or to contribute to the scholarship fund, please make your check payable to Mtelo Ministries and send to Mtelo Ministries at P.O. Box 871144, Canton, Michigan 48187. All gifts are fully tax deductible.

Thank you for your support in the past and your continued support for the staff and students at BEST.

Your partners in Christ,
John and Marilyn Roughley

One of the team member’s mother died the Tuesday after we arrived and she had to leave early, but the outpouring of love and sympathy by the Africans was nothing short of amazing.  We got the news on Tuesday morning and that evening about 5:30, about 75 students showed up with chairs and held a memorial service for Nan’s mother.  This is the first time Nan had been to BEST, and she had only been there a few days.  They truly model the Christian walk and Agape love.  The service consisted of singing, Nan was able to share about her mom, a sermon by one of the students, even a collection!  Out of their poverty they gave Nan a monetary gift!

The second week, one of the team members became very sick.  He is the son of another of the team member and is not a believer (or not a commited follower of Christ).  The Africans brought a French trained doctor to the house (the doctor thought it might be malaria or typhoid), took him to the French private clinic for blood tests, and the number of people who came to the house to pray with and for him was probably more of a witness than any words could describe-we think this is why God allowed him to go on the trip.

These things I will probably never forget.

- John

The vision of BEST is to train entire families; therefore, in addition to the seminary a women’s school is offered. Wives attending with their husbands will receive training in Bible, Theology & Doctrine and Christian Education. The women are also instructed in homemaking skills such as reading, writing, computers, cooking and sewing. BEST also provides a nursery school, pre-school and primary school for the children.

The responsibility of spreading the gospel and discipling believers in Africa needs to be placed increasingly on the shoulders of African believers. However without the training and education provided by seminaries like BEST, this cannot be achieved. Yet the fact remains that most African churches cannot fully fund the education required.

That is where the support of churches, other American organizations, and individuals becomes vital. Please help this important ministry grow in the Central African Republic and across the continent.