5th ARCC Graduation

Friday February 3rd was the 5th Graduation Ceremony for Africa Renewal Christian College (formerly Gaba Bible Institute). We had the honor of graduating 52 students with Diplomas and Certificates as well as the first 18 graduates from our Kiwoko Extension Campus.

Over 400 guests from partner churches and organizations joined us for this historic event, including a special performance from Mwangaza Children's Choir. 

17 of our students received Diplomas in Biblical Studies or Pastoral Ministry. 28 students received Certificates in Ministry or Worship Leading and another 7 students received Certificates in English or Computers. This no gives us over 160 alumni serving throughout East and Central Africa!

It has become a tradition to end the graduation ceremony with a commissioning and prayer service for the graduates. The students knelt in the middle of the field while pastors from all over the country laid hands on them and prayed over then as they head out into the mission field. It is our prayer that God will use them in a powerful way to build up his church and to spread the gospel throughout Africa!

Congratulations Class of 2012!

Our New Chancellor

On Friday February 3rd Pastor Peter Kasirivu was installed as the first Chancellor of Africa Renewal Christian College. Pastor Peter has faithfully served as the Pastor of Gaba Community Church since 1986 and the President of Africa Renewal Ministries since 1990. In that time God has transformed the community of Gaba from a tiny fishing village church of 15 to a vibrant congregation of 1500 members. Africa Renewal Ministries has also done an amazing work sponsoring over 6,000 children, overseeing 200 churches as well as opening schools and medical centers throughout Uganda.

On this great occasion we were pleased to have Pastor Simon Peter Emiau (the overseer of the Evangelical Fellowship of Uganda as the Guest Speaker and Pastor Fred Wantante (Senior Pastor of Makerere Full-Gospel) as the Guest of Honor. Each man has played a special role in Pastor Peter's life and it was a joy to have then on hand to lay hands on Pastor Peter as he was commissioned as Chancellor.

The Board of Governors of ARCC was also on hand to confirm their unanimous decision to appoint Pastor Peter as Chancellor of ARCC and to stand behind Peter and Irene Kasirivu as they take on this new responsibility of guiding the vision for ARCC. 

Later this week we will have more to share about the 5th Annual Graduation Ceremony which was also held on that day.

What's next in 2012?

2012 is set to start off with a burst of activity!

BACHELORS DEGREES
In January we will be handing in our application to the National Council for Higher Education to begin offering Bachelors Degrees. This is the next big step in the accreditation process. If our application is accepted we will begin admitting students into our Bachelors Degree programs in 2013. The staff will be working throughout the year to design and develop these new programs. To find out how you can participate and support this project click here.

SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Right now we are in the process of working with our national church and Christian ministry partners to recruit 100 scholarship students in 2012. We still need need your help! Currently we have commitments for 75 scholarships. If you are interested in supporting this project click here for details.

Africa Renewal Christian College

DORMITORY EXPANSION
With over 200 students expected to report on January 29 and a Bachelors Degree attracting 300 students in 2013 it is time to complete our third dormitory building. In November we received a grant for $25,000 to begin this project. From now through April we are working to raise an additional $80,000 to complete this project by September 2012. Our giving information is below and you can designate funds for this project by simply adding "ARCC Build" to the memo line.

Your prayers and support for leaders in Africa will impact communities for generations to come! 

Our first year in Buloba!

What an amazing year!

We started the year in boxes as we transitioned from Gaba to Buloba. Over the Christmas and New Years holiday 32 staff moved to Buloba and we all reported to work in January to find 100 construction workers on campus preparing the new facilities.

By February students were reporting while the renovations were still taking place. Picnic tables were used as offices, classrooms were temporary dormitories and we ended up with our largest intake of students ever.

By March 25th the Prime Minister of Uganda Apolo Nsibambi was officially opening our new Buloba campus while the paint on the walls was still drying!

Throughout the months of May-August our campus gained total access to student's with disabilities and our computer lab received a major overhaul doubling from 20 computers to 42!

By September we had 155 students of which 70 were receiving scholarships from you, our friends and supporters! Throughout the term these students gave back to ARCC by volunteering 7,000 hours in the kitchen, library, office and IT lab and an additional 2,500 hours on the farm and campus maintenance projects during our Friday Community Days.

God's provision continued to amazes us was we completed our $250,000 Renovation Project in June and were then able to raise an additional $100,000 from June to December to buy 4.25 acres.

Looking back this has truly been an amazing year! Step by step we are watching God transform our college into a premier training center for training the next generation of Christian leaders for Africa!

Thanks for you for partnering with us to equip Christian leaders for the transformation of society!   

2011 Testimonies

Through the Alumni of ARCC the gospel is spreading throughout East and Central Africa. Here is a small glimpse of the impact our students are having in their churches and communities:

Jimmy, Julius, John, Moses, Allan and Edison have planted churches in Uganda and Rwanda 

Michael, Rogers, Pascal, Robert, Ruben, Nathan, Apollo, Eric, Godfrey, Geoffrey and a host of other continue to serve as Pastors in established churches proclaiming the gospel and making disciples

Emmanuel, John-Baptist and Godfrey serve as overseers of the churches in their districts caring for groups from 30-300 pastors each

Paul, Dorothy, Raymond, Alice, John, Emmanuel and Fridah are actively building up the church and spreading the gospel through their music ministries

Ronald, Fridah, Miriam, Francis and Albert have been sent out as missionaries to Northern Sudan, Nigeria, Congo, Kenya and the Philipinnes

Moises has established a fellowship and bible study for the disabled community in Rwanda

Francis, Dennis, Enoch, Ronald, Moses, Harriet, David, Atrici, Prudence and Mark have strengthened Bible training centers in Kampala, Kiwoko, Lira, Soroti and Burundi 

Dorothy, Patrick, Sarah, Doreen, Carolyn and Thomas have transformed Child Sponsorship programs through their commitment to preaching the gospel and counseling children 

And the cry of the African pastors and leaders for more training is being answered as our programs continue to grow!

We are so encouraged to see our Alumni spreading the gospel to the nations and pray that God will continue to raise up leaders to expand His Kingdom!

The Gospel is the end of Tribalism

I recently read a book that gripped me and convicted me more than any other theology book I have ever read... Bloodlines by John Piper.

For those who know and love his writings it will not surprise you that he was able to so eloquently bring the matter of race back to the cross of Jesus Christ. And while Piper was clear that he was dealing specifically with the matter of race in America due to the extensive research that would have to take to research race across the globe - I would argue that his research did address the matter of race  and tribalism across the globe.

In summary of his main line of thinking - Just as "Abraham was blessed to be blessing to the nations" and that the twelve were commissioned to "make disciples of all nations"  - it is also true that any form of racism or tribalism is opposed to God's work in spreading the gospel to all nations.

This is also a reason why we must encourage believers from every nation to join the work of missions. For when one goes from their family, people and home to a new nation or tribe to share the gospel to people of another tribe they are joining with God in his mission to reach the nations.

As churches we must strive to be united in one voice as the choirs in heaven who sing out in Revelations 5:9-10:

   “You are worthy to take the scroll
   and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
   and with your blood you purchased for God
   persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
¹⁰ You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
   and they will reign on the earth.” 

If Jesus purchased people from every tribe with his blood, why should we in any way despise the same people whom he loved to the point of death.

Racism and tribalism still exist in every corner of the world... but they should be completely absent from the church!

Christianity Throughout Uganda's Independence

October 9, 1962 is the day that Uganda received Independence from Britain. Milton Obote became Prime Minister and he wrote the common man’s charter with Socialism as the predominant ideology. In this generation Christianity was looked at as the white man’s religion. Christianity was seen as part of colonialism and hence rejected. Missionaries where seen as land grabbers.

Jomo Kenyatta
(1963 - 1978), President of Kenya "When the white man came we had the land and they had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed and when we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible."

Idi Amin became President in 1971. In this generation the rapid expansion of Islam was the greatest threat to Christianity.  It was this time that the foundation of Old Kampala Mosque was established. Many Ugandan Christians were persecuted and ran to exile such as Festo Kivengere, Archbishop of York John Sentamu and Archbishop Janan Luwum was executed by Amin.  This period saw Uganda registered as a member state to the World Islamic League.

From 1979 to 1986, there was  constant change in leadership and no stability in Uganda. There was a vacuum that threatened the faith in this generation. In a period of seven years we had 8 Presidents: Lule, Binaisa, Muwanga, a presidential Commission of 3, Obote 2, Bazilio, Tito Okello and then Museveni. This was reflected in the church that lacked strong leadership. The result was that Christians, like Sheep without a Shepherd, were scattered. Many cults and false doctrines began to creep in during this period.

From 1986 till today there has seemingly been freedom of worship. For the first time in our history, the major threat to Christianity is not governments or leaders, the major threat to Christianity is not external but an internal one - it is the threat of deception.   Ugandan's are faced with two predominant forms of false teaching: the Prosperity Gospel and the Gospel of Moralism. The first falsely promises health and wealth to all true believers while the second teaches obedience as the only path to God's love and the only hope for believers salvation.  The great sadness is that each gives a false picture of God's glory, His love for mankind and the true path to a relationship with him... Notes taken from a sermon given by Dennis Kilama, Academic Registrar, at Lugogo Baptist Church on Independence Day October 9, 2011.