# Seminary materials for Africa



## turmeric (Sep 23, 2008)

An elder in our church, James Dirksen and his wife Dana went on a short-term mission trip to Zambia this summer. We saw their slides this Sunday after service.The elder went, as I understand, to assess the needs of the region preparatory to assisting with business development and his wife took her music ministry for the orphan children there. A Presbyterian seminary is being expanded there. The wife, Dana, is setting the Westminster Shorter Catechism for Children to music and has produced 3 CD's so far. They are now being disseminated throughout the Third World by TransWorld Radio in its children's programs.

Anyway, James is starting a foundation to provide seminary materials for Africans who will be going to the Presbyterian seminary in Zambia and the African Bible College in Malawi. There is a ratio of 1 trained minister to 5,000 parishioners in these countries. Most educated Africans leave to escape the poverty. These seminaries are encouraging Africans to stay and assist their people in ministry and in agriculture and the professions. There is a great need for the Calvinistic doctrine of the sacredness of our secular callings to take hold there.

Sorry about the long post. The long and short of it is, I'm requesting any PB'ers who have good theological books and CD's and tapes which they no longer need to consider donating to this new foundation. The classes are conducted in English, it's the lingua franca in those parts. Here is the website for Dana's music, which she is happy to donate to any missions endeavor. The foundation does not have it's own website yet, but there is contact information for the Dirksens at the music website. Please feel free to contact them yourselves and be informed of their ministry. If it's any inducement, they come from the same church as the Monergism.com guy! 

Thanks all!

Meg (a.k.a. turmeric)


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## Leslie (Sep 23, 2008)

Thanks. I teach children and the catechism set to music would be ideal for my purposes. How do you propose getting the materials to Zambia and Malawi?


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## turmeric (Sep 23, 2008)

Contact Dana Dirksen and mail it to her in the States. She wants to send a container to Zambia in October. She'll probably send you the music for free if you tell her you're a missionary there in Ethiopia.


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## panta dokimazete (Sep 23, 2008)

Have ya'll thought about using Monergism.com for printed material?


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## turmeric (Sep 24, 2008)

Not a lot of people in Zambia have computers.


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## TimV (Sep 24, 2008)

You could contact the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. For decades they've had a sophisticated English missions outreach to most all of Southern Africa, with emphasis on agriculture, medicine and religious teaching. The experience is what you'd gain by contacting them. 300 years with an active Reformed mission in Africa is a long time, and my experience after 9 years there is that Reformed theology is very difficult for some reason to get across in Africa, and that's what I hear from long term missionaries there as well.


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## Pergamum (Sep 24, 2008)

TimV said:


> ... my experience after 9 years there is that Reformed theology is very difficult for some reason to get across in Africa, and that's what I hear from long term missionaries there as well.



Why is this?


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## TimV (Sep 24, 2008)

I'm not sure. It's not the intelligence of the people; they typically speak several languages and I've had managers who were brilliant. It was first pointed out to me 20 years ago when I first visited there my a Pastor of a very large English speaking Reformed Baptist church in Joburg, and I haven't seen any evidence or heard of anyone in the field who disagrees with his assessment.

Perhaps abstract thought?


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## turmeric (Sep 24, 2008)

Perhaps linear thought. I know a missionary in Uganda who thinks in both the African way and the Western. He says the African way in non-linear. Now that the new African translation and study notes is out there, things may change. Most of the people in Zambia, BTW, belong to a Presbyterian denomination. Whether they actually get it or not is another matter.


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## TimV (Sep 24, 2008)

> Perhaps linear thought. I know a missionary in Uganda who thinks in both the African way and the Western. He says the African way in non-linear.



That's very interesting, and at your convenience I'd like to hear more about that.
Thanks


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## turmeric (Sep 24, 2008)

Well, Tim, I tried to get him to explain it, and he tried to explain it and I couldn't get it. Here is an interesting article I googled. Seems that Sub-Saharan Africans have the covenant of works, no law, no Gospel, no eschatology. Might go a good way toward explaining some things.


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## TimV (Sep 24, 2008)

I only have a half day working today, so I'll plan on looking there when I get back, thanks.

You'd get a man who had a native intelligence that would have gotten him a PhD in math if he'd been born in the West, but I couldn't get them to tell me what 10% of a hundred was.

I'd have a woman who was in charge of first aid and keeping medical records, and who would have been a high priced doctor if raised in the West, but I couldn't get her to stop using used needles, since if she couldn't see a germ, she didn't really believe in them.

I just assumed it had to do with abstract thought patterns, but surely there are qualified anthropologists who've written about the subject.


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## Shane (Sep 27, 2008)

Actually there is a fairly strong reformed movement in Zambia. A have listended to Conrad Mbewe preach and many give him the nickname "the Spurgeon of Africa" and I can personaly say I can see why. His blog can be found hear A Letter from Kabwata He is the pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka and part of a group called Sola5. You can check out Sola 5



So Calvinism is alive in Zambia and if I may say I think in some ways it is actually in a healthier state than in South Africa itself.
I am currently studying through the Sovereign Grace Theological Seminary (SGTS) which was only started this year. (There is not much available in SA with regards to solid biblical training).

I praise God for the Sola5 group, it is filling a much needed gap in our part of the world.


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