For the month of April, we will be focusing on Africa 360.

Excerpt from the Africa 306 Lenten Devotional

Written by Pastor Nancy Pullen, retired

 

I first visited AU in August 1993. I was on my way to a Volunteers-in-Mission project in Mozambique, but we detoured to Zimbabwe to see the new university that United Methodists were building. At that time there were two studies underway: Animal husbandry and theology. We visited the farm, the library, and classrooms housed in the old farmhouse and buildings – pretty basic facilities. A quarter-mile or so away a dormitory was being readied for its first residents and a chapel was being built. AU was those buildings and a dream.

 By 2013, when we went to celebrate 20 years of graduating students, the campus was a full-fledged university. There are six areas of study, several state-of-the-art class buildings, a student building housing a cafeteria, the beautiful chapel, a new library, and dormitories. Nearby were single-family homes that serve as staff housing. The most remarkable part of all of this was everything is paid for. No new building is started until it is funded. The donations came from all over the world and some from Methodists who aren’t part of The United Methodist Church. The chapel was funded by the Korean Methodist Church, for example.

The campus was bustling with students from 26 African countries. Some of those students had been enemies before arriving here and learning to live together. That reminded me of why I support AU. I believe Africa’s best chance for peace and prosperity is in educated leaders. I want to be part of that future for the sake of Africa and of the world. This is one of the ways I try to follow Jesus’ calling to work for peace.

 

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“Give Faithfully. Give Hope. Be a Global Neighbor.”

Africa 360 is the Upper New York Conference’s holistic plan for health and education initiatives in Africa. Uniquely, Africa 360 is about dreaming God-sized dreams, ambitiously eliminating preventable deaths from malaria and equipping the next generation of leaders.

www.unyumc.org/mission/Africa -360

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The church has set a goal of $500. Let’s see if we can surpass that goal!

Envelopes for donations are available at the Welcome Centers and by each door.

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Loose change containers will be in Fellowship Hall, the narthex and the welcome center outside Gibbs on Sundays

 

 

 

April 3: Education