Pastoral leadership training is the key to the future of the Free Methodist Church in Africa, according to Area Director Henry Church. Consider this: the African church — with over 300,000 members — is the fastest-growing church in Free Methodism today. How can the church shepherd so great a flock? And how can its leadership best be developed and equipped from among Africa's own people? The challenge is by no means a new one and through the years, FM leadership — both from inside and outside of Africa — has risen to the task.

A Vision of a Church
It all began in 1885, when G. Harry Agnew, one of the first Free Methodist missionaries to Africa, stepped onto the shores of Mozambique. Agnew had a vision of a church — truly African in every sense — growing; maturing; led by (and reaching out to) its own people.

But there was a lot of work to do before the vision could become reality. Agnew himself needed to learn the language and culture of the people, while they needed health care and schools where they could learn to read the Bible. In fact, they needed a lot of things — and the mission set out to meet as many of their needs as possible: establishing a hospital and clinic, and constructing schools. Evangelism efforts soon brought new converts. But how could these converts be moved into a church … a maturing evangelistic church … one led by the African people themselves?

One of the greatest needs then became the training of young Christians to be
pastors. Inhamachafo Evangelists Training School was founded, an early effort in Mozambique, augmented in recent years by the establishment of Beira Bible Seminary, which trains pastors at a post-high-school level. The Mozambique church now has its own bishop, runs a hospital and two leadership training centers, continually establishes new churches and just opened its third Annual Conference — all under the direction of Mozambican leadership.

Also during the late 1800's, mission work began in South Africa when the FMC established Edwaleni Mission as a vocational training school. However, most of the leaders in the definitive years of the FM church in South Africa were converted at Edwaleni but then went to the interdenominational Union Bible Institute for training in ministry because the FMC at that time had no ministerial training program in place. There were other programs of course. For example, Baker Farm was an early FM attempt at a self-sustaining enterprise that also served as a training ground for ministers, providing leadership for the Transvaal.

In 1944, Daisy Fredericks began training classes for a group of men in Rhodesia who felt a call to the ministry. Upon completion of the training, the men were licensed to preach there. Also by that time, Eldon and Florence Sayre had been sent to Rhodesia to open a Bible school but their plans were thwarted. Eventually, in 1956, the project moved ahead and Lundi Bible School was opened at Lundi Mission. Closed for a short time at a later date, Lundi Bible School re-opened in 1991 as Wesley Bible College in Masvingo, Zimbabwe (the new name for Rhodesia).

At about the same time things were getting started in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), the Free Methodist Church — along with Friends and the World Gospel Mission — organized a joint training program at Mweya, Burundi, for students from Central Africa.
Later, other programs emerged and then Free Methodists provided the leadership and the majority of the funding for the founding in 1980 of the Evangelical Bible Seminary of Southern Africa (EBSemSA), now called the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa (ESSA). Although interdenominational, two of the seminary's three principals have been Free Methodists, including the founding principal Philip Capp (now retired). ESSA currently trains students from 11 African countries, offering majors in missions, ministry, and development. Many graduates — including the bishop of Zimbabwe — are currently serving the FMC throughout Africa.

A Closer Look at Some of the Training in Place Today
In Malawi, where many would-be pastors come from remote village centers with little formal education available beyond eighth grade, students at the Malawi Free Methodist Bible School begin with a year of English and then continue with five years of Bible training. Using a modular approach (called the "Malawi model" or "Chilende approach"), between month-long intensive classroom sessions the school sends its students out into the field for three months of ministry under the supervision of trained pastors. Each student is required to plant three churches before he or she can graduate — a requirement that many of the students find very challenging, to say the least. And although some of their initial efforts have only resulted in small groups meeting somewhat sporadically, they are finding that the work is growing and that the job is getting done. In recent months, more than 200 baptisms have taken place in just two of the rural areas.

"It's like planting a tree," says Malawian Pastor J. Malenga. "When we plant the tree, it is very small. But with care and water it begins to grow — only it grows very slowly. Sometimes we want to become discouraged because the growth seems so slow, but it is growing. It may take many years for the 'tree' to be mature, but eventually the time will come — and that timing is the Lord's."

In Tanzania, where the FMC began in 1994, there are now some 3,000 members in about 60 churches — with more being added regularly. The Free Methodist Bible College of Tanzania, operating on the Malawi model, opened just this summer with an initial enrollment of 31 students at the Bible-school level and six at the college level. Ralph Funk (from the East Michigan Conference) and Gerald Baraza (former National Superintendent of the Kenyan church) spent four weeks teaching at the Malawi Free Methodist Bible School in order to fully understand its operation. Then they traveled to Tanzania, met with church leaders and agreed to open a school there, with Baraza serving as its first principal.

The Wesleyan Institute of Cross-Cultural Missions in Togo opened in 2001 under the direction of French-speaking Cameroonian FM pastor/planter Bernard Pangmashi and Brother Dosseh, a Togoan. The institute's vision is focused on church planting and it is hoped that over time its graduates will become FM church planters among some of Togo's 40 ethnic groups. The institute also prepares students to carry the gospel to those outside of Togo. Plans and budget are in place for the first group of students — being trained using the Malawi modular model — to begin their church planting work in 2003. They have already been sent out to gain experience at existing ministry locations. And a young Free Methodist from Guinea Bissau has come to Togo for training and with plans to return to his home country to plant a church.

The work in Togo is bearing fruit already. A recent newsletter from Pangmashi reports, for example, about a woman who came to a home fellowship group's prayer meeting. This woman, Sister Queen, then became one of the group's first converts. She had been abandoned three months earlier by her husband, but after the group prayed, a week later — with great joy — she reported that her husband had come back and was making a fresh start. It was a glad moment for everyone and praises were lifted to the Lord. Those at the Wesleyan Institute of Cross-Cultural Missions anticipate more of this kind of redemptive work as the Togo ministry progresses and new leaders are sent out into the field to start churches and build up the body.
At least seven other African countries are home to FM pastoral training centers today. These include Burundi's Mweya Bible School (established in connection with Friends and the World Gospel Mission), four locations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the John Wesley Institute in Rwanda and the Modular Bible School in Kenya (where Hope Africa University was recently launched). Ethiopia is ready to open a training program for pastors and has just inaugurated a master's-level program in Addis Ababa in connection with Azusa Pacific College; Egypt has had a good school in Assyut for several years; and Nigeria recently started a modular Bible school based on the Malawi model.

Since the beginning, the need for the training and equipping of nationals to lead the church in Africa has continuously been recognized, and Free Methodist World Missions has remained dedicated to meeting the challenges inherent in such a monumental task. And while most of the FM schools in Africa were started by North American missionaries, currently all but two of them are operated by national leaders.
God has answered the prayers and the vision of G. Harry Agnew. A church has been born. It is vibrant and growing, and strong FM nationals are emerging as its leaders — a direct result of the training made available to them through the years.