This update is related to the Global Pastors Book Sets campaign.
Giving Pastors the Chance to See the Bible Clearly
Samuel had never been to Bible school. Just a few years before, he became a Christian. He was still learning about God and working to correct the beliefs instilled in him from his Jehovah’s Witness background. But despite his background, a church asked him to be the pastor. They saw the potential in Samuel and were confident in what he could become as a pastor. And they were in need of a pastor to fill their pulpit.
And then Samuel’s brother introduced him to Central Africa Baptist University (CABU), a place where he could study the Bible and learn to preach. Samuel went on to receive a degree in Bible from CABU, and he explains that now he’s more fully equipped to care for his flock as a church planter and pastor. “Before I attended CABU, the way I understood Scripture was different—it was not complete because I didn’t have an understanding of many of the things I was reading. But after studying at Central Africa Baptist University, I came to a better understanding of what the Bible is really talking about. CABU has helped me to study the Bible and understand the Bible clearly for the first time.”
By God’s grace and in partnership with the ministry of Central Africa Baptist University, donors to Crossway have provided Bibles and theologically sound resources to support Samuel and thousands of other pastors throughout Africa. And in Kitwe, Zambia, the Lord had been doing a separate work in Phil Hunt’s life far before this moment in time. This work would eventually lead to him crossing paths with Samuel.
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Books: A Key Part of Theological Training
Since 1993, Phil and his wife have served in Zambia doing church discipleship ministry. Many people came to know the Lord and grew in their faith during those years. In time, this produced men passionate about serving the Lord through pastoral leadership. But this presented a problem: Phil and others didn’t have the means to respond to the need for discipleship and training. Eager to get out on the field to do ministry, some aspiring pastors even wanted to plant their own churches. But what they needed first was theological training because Phil knew that most were still immature in their understanding of God’s Word. As he shared, “Without proper training, these men would be tempted to parrot the health and prosperity preaching they saw on TV or heard on the radio. It is common for a pastor to read a verse or two of Scripture, then proceed to preach a sermon totally unconnected with the passage.”
These men used the only resources they could access, which caused Phil to see that God was calling him to act on what was really a theological famine. “I had a growing realization that if we were going to see African-driven, locally led, healthy, and reproductive churches, we needed to have a means by which we could train men at that level. We specifically needed to train the leader of leaders for the church. In the beginning, we tried to teach and train them informally as best we could. But eventually, that burden led to what is now called Central Africa Baptist University.”
In 2006, during their first semester of ministry, Central Africa Baptist University (CABU) enrolled seven students. During their 2023 academic year, 200 students attended the CABU campus, with another 1,700 pastors trained through Theological Studies by Extension, which offers 15 week-long sessions in Zambia and surrounding countries. The key reason behind Phil’s mission came from the need for resources.
We were struck by the recognition that these men needed to be resourced if they were going to pastor. In Zambia, Christian resources are very difficult to find. There’s not a wide variety of readily available resources. When there are resources available, they’re extremely expensive because someone has brought them from the UK or the US. These books are much more expensive than if you bought the same book in the US. Very few pastors could afford those kinds of resources.
These resources are essential to supporting pastors like Samuel. He serves as a local pastor of a church that is home to more than 300 congregants in a rural farming town located a two-hour drive from the city of Solwezi in northern Zambia. What Samuel teaches these believers as a pastor is critical because this teaching is the only exposition of the gospel they receive.
By God’s grace, Samuel studied to receive a degree in Bible from CABU, equipping him with the teaching and book resources to exposit God’s Word accurately and applicably. Phil connects with publishers like Crossway in the US, where he often receives theologically sound resources that he can freely provide to his students. Because even though Phil and the CABU team provide excellent teaching, what pastors carry back to their places of ministry is most important. Phil explained that,
The men we train either come in for training or we go to them for training, but the key is that we must leave them with reliable resources. This way, after they’ve thought about what they have learned for a week or month or year, they can go back to read and be reminded of how to think rightly about what they have been taught. Otherwise, I think we’re really doing them a disservice by giving them helpful information but not supporting that teaching with something they can refer to for years following.
Samuel now serves both as a church planter and pastor with the Evangelical Church in Zambia. The resources he has received during his training at CABU remain on the bookshelf of his library as important reference points and tools for his studies, not to mention reminders of the truths of the gospel.
A Lifelong Education
As part of the pastor’s book set Samuel received from Crossway, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever has been an especially helpful reference as Samuel cares for and trains pastors and church leaders. He shared that he needs resources like these in order to help his church remain steadfast against the false teaching they’re experiencing: “My church is struggling to stand firm against those who are doing fake miracles. Here we have the Zionists and Jehovah’s Witnesses who especially question our church’s doctrines through their false teaching. They specifically are challenging us by preaching the prosperity gospel and claiming that Jesus is not the son of God.” Samuel is using these theologically sound resources to keep his church on track when the questions and challenges come.
Because of the resources in his library—many given to him during his time at CABU—Samuel can return to his education daily and learn more from theologically sound books. He can, therefore, study God’s Word, counsel and disciple pastors, prepare for Sunday sermons, and more. Because of the Lord’s grace, his church and network of pastors continue to grow in a healthy way.
Donors to Crossway have an opportunity to impact pastors like Samuel and ministries like CABU. You are invited to join us in this mission to resource the church to the ends of the earth!
Praise God for CABU’s new publishing house, Imbila Publishers, that will allow theological resources to be printed in Zambia at a lower cost. Pray that these resources will serve to equip pastors like Samuel in their ministry work.
Pray for Samuel as he continues to lead his congregation. Pray that this congregation would come to know and love the Lord more daily as they continue to read God’s Word and study it for themselves.