Our Mission
African Leadership is a Christian education and development organization that trains pastors and church leaders, funds relief and development projects in Africa, and assists refugees in Middle Tennessee.
Vision
We at African Leadership are excited and thankful to God for the opportunity to make a lasting contribution in the spiritual and social transformation of communities, both in Africa and in the USA.
Specifically, African Leadership will engage pastors and church leaders in acquiring an understanding of God’s Word, equipping them through an affordable two-year, Biblical training program, empowering them through mentoring, discipleship, and spiritual growth for the transformation of Africa one community at a time.
Core Values
As individuals and as the African Leadership team, we believe that:
- God’s Kingdom will be advanced as we seek to reflect His glory through worship and by living the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
- God is honored as we demonstrate faithfulness, loyalty, and righteousness to God.
- We must be committed to grow in our knowledge of God and to exercise faith in His creative ability to achieve His purposes.
- We are prayerfully dependent on God for life and Godliness.
Scripture
As individuals and as the African Leadership Team, we believe that:
- All Truth is God’s Truth; we are committed to the pursuit of Truth.
- The word of God (the Bible) is the basis of our belief and message, as well as the motivation and authority of our actions.
Others
As individuals and as the African Leadership Team, we are committed to one another in that:
- Each individual is created in the image of God. Therefore, we will treat each person with loving respect and dignity and will celebrate and encourage the development and expression of God’s gifting in each person.
- In our common calling and purpose, we must be committed to work and fellowship as a team that compliments, trusts, and encourages one another.
- We embrace transparent and open communication.
Self
As an individual:
- I recognize the need for the ongoing sanctifying work of God in my life and welcome supportive encouragement and correction from all other African Leadership team members.
- I am committed to continued proactive, personal improvement and professional skill development, and to this end, openly welcome encouragement from other African Leadership team members.
Philosophy of Ministry
The mission and vision of African Leadership focuses on training to transform. This transformation comes about by first acknowledging the underlying causes of the spiritual and social condition of African communities. African Leadership is committed to spiritual and social transformation in the local community by empowering local leaders with the Gospel of Christ for the whole person. Our focus on pastor training and education will lead to generational transformation, thus breaking the cycle of both physical and spiritual poverty.
Historical Mandate – Early Biblical records indicate that the Gospel was introduced to the African continent as early as Jesus’ earthly ministry (Luke mentions that a Cyrenian carried the cross of Jesus) and was certainly spread during the ministry of the Apostles (Acts records that Cyrenians were present on the Day of Pentecost). Philip shared the Gospel with an Ethiopian. Outside of the Mediterranean, North Africans were the first to receive and embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ; thus, African Leadership desires to embrace that which God began in the 1st Century, as the Gospel continues to penetrate the continent of Africa.
Biblical Mandate – Within the Biblical framework of the Great Command (Matthew 22:37-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), African Leadership is committed to the on-going advancement of the Kingdom of God, sharing the love of Christ and making disciples of all nations across the continent of Africa.
Cultural Mandate – The Bible is culturally relevant to every tongue, tribe, people, language, and nation. Therefore, it is imperative for African Leadership to empower a generation of indigenous African leaders who will be able to teach other pastors and leaders to impact their community, country, and the continent of Africa for Christ (II Timothy 2:2).
Economic Mandate – As God provides financial resources to African Leadership, it is our desire to be good stewards of all He entrusts to us by using those resources to empower indigenous leaders working through established local structures to take the Gospel to others where they live. This provides greater benefit to more people with limited resources.
Social Mandate – At African Leadership, we believe that Jesus gave the whole Gospel for the whole man. Meeting the spiritual need of a man without meeting his physical needs has little impact. We are reminded in Matthew 25:31-40 that whatever we do for the “least of these,” we do unto Christ. James 1:27 mandates us to take care of the socially disadvantaged among us – widows and orphans. According to UNICEF, there are currently 42 million orphans in Africa by 2010 with approximately 40 to 50 percent of them being orphaned by HIV/AIDS (I don’t understand what this means. There are currently 42 million orphans in Africa, of which 40-50% of them were orphaned by HIV/AIDS? What happens in the year 2010?)
Demographic Mandate – It is reported that 33% of the world’s Christians live on the continent of Africa – more than 400 million people. The growth of the church in Africa has placed it at the center of the Christian world. With the rapid growth of the church, discipleship has been neglected. African Leadership has the opportunity to be at the forefront of empowering church leaders with the tools necessary for continued church growth and discipleship.
African Leadership is transforming the communities of Africa by providing hope to one leader, one family, one child at a time. We currently are training approximately 10,000 students in 22 African countries, while conducting over 50 community development projects in nine countries.
