Every Student Has a Name from IICS on Vimeo.
Giving Food or Growing Food
John Stossel on ABC News reported, “In the past 40 years, Western governments have given Africa more than half a trillion dollars. Yet Africa is even poorer than it was before the foreign aid began.” Recently several books, such as William Easterly’s The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good, have documented how much Western aid not only does not alleviate poverty in developing nations, but can actually make it worse. Easterly points out that “22 African countries spent $342 billion on public investment from 1970 to 1994 and received another $187 billion in foreign aid over that period. But the productivity gain from all this investment was zero.” He and other experts are making the point that it is much more effective to teach specific skills to local leaders who can change the way food is raised and business is conducted.
As a young believer, Paul Gibson sensed that God wanted him to serve the Kingdom by alleviating hunger in the world for the glory of God. This call led to a Ph.D. in plant breeding, 15 years in developing nations, and 12 years on the faculty of Southern Illinois University.
Paul Gibson and his wife, Pauline, work long days, week after week, at Makere University in Uganda, raising up a new generation of agricultural scientists prepared to lead the way in alleviating hunger and poverty in Africa.
“We are often reminded that the number of plant breeders being trained in our program (presently 16 in the Master of Science program and 22 in the Phd program, from 8 African nations) makes a huge difference to the issue of food security in their home countries. Our students from Rwanda tell us there are only four plant breeders in their country (we know of only one Ph.D. level breeder there), and six in training–of which five are getting their Master’s degrees at our university,” according to Dr. Paul Gibson.
“Some of my students were heading up national research projects in their field, with only a bachelor’s degree. In Mozambique, from which we hope to add students in the coming fall, there are only five Ph.D. plant breeders for a country with 18 million people and 110 million acres of agricultural land. Besides Uganda, our other students come from Sudan, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.”
Gibson adds that training plant breeders is one of the most successful and cost-effective ways of addressing hunger issues, because an improved crop variety can greatly increase a farmer’s productivity. Developing a better variety takes much skill and time, but once it is available, little further investment is necessary for farmers to be able to use it to improve their food security and income.
The work of Dr. Paul Gibson and his wife, Pauline, was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2009 and is found on their website here.
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Thirsting for the Word in Brazil
Ezequiel, a young man in ragged clothes who lives in a sprawling favela or slum, helps customers at the grocery store where I shop in Curitiba, Brazil. He is eager to carry my groceries for me. I couldn’t help but notice his ragged clothes and unwashed body as we walked to my apartment building, chatting. Like so many slum dwellers, he has no hot water. When the temperature dips into the thirties, no one can blame him for not washing early in the cold morning air.
One Wednesday night at our Bible study, my IICS colleague Dr. Jim Davidson gave us a challenge. He asked us to take ten reais (about $5.00) and give it to someone that we knew needed it. It would be an open door to tell someone that Jesus loved him. I knew immediately that I would give my ten reais to Ezequiel. The next day I put ten reais into a Bible and took it to him in front of the supermarket. His reaction shocked me. He hardly noticed the ten reais, but clutched the Bible eagerly and said, “I’ve always wanted a Bible! My mother has always wanted one, too! Thank you so much!”
So that afternoon I gave him a Bible for his mother, too. As a result of this simple gift from me, Ezequiel and his mother began attending a little evangelical church near their home and soon accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
He came to me one afternoon as I was walking home and told me that he had shown his Bible to the pastor of the little church. The whole church had crowded around, thrilled that he had a Bible, because so many of them did not. So with Jim Davidson’s help, I gave Ezequiel a box of Bibles for his church. As he turned to go with his box of Bibles, he smiled and said, “I won my sister to the Lord, and now both she and her husband are going to church with Mother and me.” I was astounded.
Later that day, as I passed by the store on my way home, Ezequiel came running over to me and said, “Do you see that group of people sitting over there in front of the supermarket? They are all reading the Bible. They need the Lord!” He had taken all the Bibles we had given him for his church and gave them all to the supermarket workers and told them how much Jesus loved them.
I plan to find another box of Bibles for Ezequiel, because the first one did not make it to the church. Join me in praying for Ezequiel, both thanking the Lord for saving his soul and praying for his protection and health. The favela can be a very dangerous place to live. Pray that Ezequiel will continue to share the Gospel and that the Lord will use him in great ways to win the lost of his neighborhood and his world to Jesus.
Sandy Simmons (EdD in music pedagogy, Baylor, MMus, musicology, University of Texas, BMus, music theory, Baylor) has been a music professor affiliated with IICS at the Faculdade Evangélica de Parana in Brazil since 2003. Prior to her service with IICS, she served as a missionary with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board from 1981-1993. She has published numerous choral and instrumental works and has published two university-level music theory textbooks. She is from Hickory, North Carolina and is a member of the Cherokee Nation.
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IICS Founder Receives Research Grant
One of the fastest growing church groups in the world today is Pentecostalism. Dr. Danny McCain, IICS Founder and International Director-at-Large, received a grant last year to conduct research on this phenomenon. Nearly 500 applications were turned in for the grant and Dr. McCain was one of four to receive a regional center grant.
In the press release from 2010, scholars are taking note of this movement. Philip Jenkins, professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University, said “For years now, observers have recognized the enormous significance of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity worldwide, but the topic has never received the attention it deserves in the academy as a whole, and especially in teaching.”
You can read the entire press release here.
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Roma Medical Doctor Graduates
Recently, Vladimír Cervenaka, a Roma student (sometimes pejoratively called Gypsies) received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the medical faculty of Charles University in Prague. He will be one of the first Roma doctors of medicine in the region. There are several reasons why Cervenaka’s graduation is newsworthy.
A disturbing part of social life in much of eastern and southern Europe is the situation of the Roma. There are now several million Roma living on the margins of society, often in isolated ghetto-like conditions or separate villages. Only a small fraction of Roma children graduate from secondary schools. Many Roma face discrimination and prejudice from individuals, groups and national governments.
According to a recent article in The Economist (Sept 2, 2010), “An ingrained underclass, Roma are the victims of prejudice, often violent, at home in eastern Europe. Thousands have migrated westward to seek a better life, particularly as the expansion of the European Union has allowed them to take advantage of freedom-of-movement rules. Yet although conditions may be better in the west, the reception has rarely been friendly and politicians like President Sarkozy have ruthlessly exploited hostility towards the newcomers.” The article is referring to the recent expulsion by president Sarkozy sending more than 1,000 Roma migrants back to Romania and Bulgaria.
The Economist points out that in spite of an EU campaign, “most Roma are still worse off than under communism, which, for all its faults, at least guaranteed work, housing and welfare, and stamped down on hate crimes.” The Roma suffer the worst health conditions in the industrialized world together with some of the worst health problems associated with the third world. Rates of both infectious and non-communicable diseases are high. The proportion of Roma living in poverty exceeds 75% in countries throughout the region. There are reports of some living in caves and old shipping containers.
Most Roma children receive a severely inadequate education with many placed in schools for the mentally handicapped regardless of their level of intelligence. So poor education, massive unemployment, discrimination, isolation, extreme poverty and terrible health conditions among the Roma all elicit reactions from their neighbors, whether in compassion or in hostility.
As part of its commitment to applying a Christian worldview to social issues, the IICS-sponsored Comenius Institute of Prague has partnered with a German organization, Giving Hands to sponsor university level education for a small number of Roma who are ready for advanced studies. One reason the IICS-Giving Hands Roma student program is important symbolically is the growth of neo-Nazism in the area which is openly anti-Roma. There was recently an anti-Roma riot, very strange, something hardly seen in Europe since the 1930s. In contrast to some Europeans who want to send
the Roma to concentration camps, as Christians we want to help send Roma to universities to get a good education.
Cervenaka hopes to provide medical care in a Roma area after completing his practicum in a Czech medical clinic. He will not only be meeting a serious medical need among the Roma, but he will also provide a good role model for young Roma, and help earn respect for the Roma people in the wider area in a manner that reduces prejudice.
Whether Europeans decide to respond to the Roma in compassion or in hostility is influenced by our view of human dignity. The Giving Hand/Comenius Institute program is based on the Christian view that all human beings have a God-given dignity, because all people are created in the image of God.
The need is immense. But the opportunity to extend a helping hand to others who are also created by God is an unmistakable window of opportunity for ministry.
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Equipping Scholars Globally
Christian Scholars are asking for help despite the fact that professors exert such an incredible influence, no organization has focused on equipping Christians outside of North America and the UK, who are teaching at public universities in their own nations. Over the last several years, many of these scholars have approached IICS asking for help.
While most of these national scholars are deeply committed to making a difference for Christ and His Kingdom, many are not well-equipped for the task of serving in a higher education context as a Christian. Some are unprepared to articulate and promote a Christian worldview in the academy. They seldom have had a Christian teacher model how knowing Jesus shapes both the content and method of our teaching. Few have access to Christian scholarly resources.
Sadly, national academicians are frequently not welcomed in the local church because of anti-intellectualism among believers. Even where there is freedom of religion, many scholars in the developing world simply lack the resources to own Christian textbooks or to attend Christian academic conferences. In regions with a historic exposure to Christianity like Latin America and Europe, a high percentage of Christian academicians operate under the old sacred/secular dichotomy which separates their spiritual life and convictions from their professional and academic life. So their influence for Christ is muffled. Tragically, in some countries like China, those who have had some exposure to Christian scholarship have primarily met liberal scholars who deny the fundamentals of the faith.
Notwithstanding their immense potential for the Kingdom, national Christian academicians are generally neglected in the Christian world. Often campus ministries and mission organizations focus primarily, if not exclusively, on students. While such organizations as IAPCHE do a great job ministering to those in Christian higher education, no organization is focused on mobilizing, equipping and serving Christians in secular higher education globally.
Christian faculty in secular universities outside of North America and the UK are asking IICS for help. They are not asking for money, but for encouragement, equipping, collaboration and mentoring so they can exert a greater influence for Christ in the academy as they teach the next generations of leaders for their nation and the world.
IICS has a unique platform from which we can naturally come alongside national Christian scholars and help them. We have recruited professors from several nations, including Russia, China, Nigeria, France, Australia and other nations. For years we have been mentoring and working with national scholars in the countries where our professors teach. In the Czech Republic our Hidden Seeds program has specifically focused on identifying and mentoring outstanding Christian scholars in a variety of fields. As an academic organization, we have a high level of credibility with national academicians and we understand the needs of academics. Our resources and our conferences are focused on ministering to academics.
IICS is launching the Global Scholars Program to equip, encourage, mentor and collaborate with non-North American Christians who teach at a non-evangelical university outside of North America and the UK.
We will focus on the specific needs national Christian scholars have identified. IICS will assist global scholars in several ways:
- Recognition and accountability. Academicians who are teaching at non-evangelical universities outside of North America and the UK are encouraged to apply to be recognized as an IICS Global Scholar.
- Encouragement, mentoring and prayer. IICS professors and other Christian professors will mentor national scholars.
- Regular communications. Our website will be upgraded to provide help on how to teach and minister effectively, Christian worldview and other topics.
- Teaching for Transformation Conferences in various regions. This conference will help academicians deepen their walk with God, enhance their teaching effectiveness, develop their Christian worldview and identify appropriate ways to share Christ in the academy and to disciple students and faculty who come to faith.
- 5. IICS Academics Abroad Orientation and Vision Conference. Discounts and full or partial scholarships will be available for the IICS Academics Abroad Orientation and Vision Conference each July in Kansas City.
- Global Scholars Book Collection. A collection of 15-20 books on key areas such as teaching, spiritual formation, discipling, understanding Scripture, evangelism, Bible commentary, basic Christian doctrine, world religions, science and faith, history of the Christian movement, missions, and a Christian worldview.
- Teaching in a Distant Classroom. Complimentary or discounts on individual copies of Teaching in a Distant Classroom by IICS professors Mike Romanowski and Teri McCarthy will be available.
- Webinars, global educators’ list serves and bulletin boards
- Database of national Christian scholars outside of North America and the UK.
The university classroom is one of the most strategic places in the world for developing leaders. National Christian scholars have unparalleled potential to change their nations for Christ as they teach the future leaders in their classroom day after day. We must encourage, provide resources, and assist them as they grow in their understanding of their mission and their critical role at the university.
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Professors Wanted for Every Department
In March I met with several administrators and faculty members at the Royal University of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. When they first heard that IICS was offering to send some professors to their university, they couldn’t believe it. “Can it be true?” This country which suffered so much at the hands of Communist tyrants who murdered two million of their own people is still struggling. They are desperate for help and eager for our professors to arrive.
The president of the university asked, “Can this organization provide us with a professor for every department?” While I was heartened by his words of welcome, I was saddened by our lack of resources.
On my way to Phnom Penh, I lectured for two days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam at the top university there. I was a guest of the university’s Center for Religion Studies. After the Communist takeover of Saigon in 1975, the Marxist-Leninist Department became the Philosophy Department. Now, nearly 35 years later, most of the faculty I met taught political philosophy, and here that still means Communism.
My topic for the first three-hour lecture was the global expansion of Christianity. The faculty and students listened intently as I documented the explosive growth of Christianity.
To add to the unique setting of my talk, I lectured next to a statue of Ho Chi Minh, the Communist revolutionary. The Vietnamese flag and the yellow stars of Communist Vietnam were on the front wall. As I was speaking, I saw that one of the students had his textbook lying on the table in front of him. It was by Vladimir Lenin. All the students I met had studied Marxism-Leninism extensively.
Early in the lecture, when I was explaining what distinguishes evangelicals within Christianity, the translator stopped me and asked me to explain the distinctives of evangelicalism more fully. That provided a good opportunity to present what a personal relationship with Christ is like and how a person comes to know Christ. Since one of the terms I used was “transformed life”, this became a theme in many of the lectures. Rather than translating into Vietnamese, Ms. Hi, my translator, simply used the English term, “transformed life.” The students had several questions about this “transformed life.”
One student asked me to explain more about how to become a Christian. “How does this change—this transformed life—happen?” Another very serious student asked me to explain how one commits himself to Christ.
I explained why biblical Christianity is so outward-focused and global in its focus, showing that the God of the Bible is the God of all nations and peoples in both the Old and New Testaments.
Next, I explained why Christianity is so attractive. The Bible is rooted in a real space-time world and not a mythical fairy tale. The perfection, character and beauty of Christ is stunning—if only you could know Him! The offer of forgiveness and a transformed life gives hope to the broken. Christ’s global community reaches across racial and economic boundaries and old enmities. As I was leaving the classroom, one earnest young man asked me, “What will happen if I want to become a Christian? How will I know I have been changed?”
After my visit to Southeast Asia, I visited IICS professors in a couple of Persian Gulf nations. In every university I visited, doors are open for more professors. “The harvest truly is ripe, but the laborers are few.”
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