Sudman Safari: Opening Day of FATER

Monday, January 26, 2009

Opening Day of FATER

We went to the opening session at FATER this evening. There were quite a few students – I suppose 50 – 60. Most of them were returning students – only a handful of new students. The opening was similar to other schools' opening assemblies: Welcome to everyone, those who are new students this year stand up, those returning students stand up, introduction of faculty, prayers, singing, inspirational sermon taken from 2 Timothy, announcements, reading of the rules and regulations (be on time, turn off your cell phone when in class, etc. etc.) and so on. Because the college is starting an English track, some of the session was done in both French and English.

We were introduced and a couple students came up to Mark afterwards and thanked him for coming to work on the construction. I walked back with Gilles Bonvallat and Melissa Smith (the new gal who is teaching English). It was basically dark so that was interesting because there are no street lights and with the dirt road that is full of ruts, it makes for interesting walking! But we made it. Mark stayed and worked on putting a lock on the desk of the administrative secretary. He sometimes has to keep cash in his desk and needs a locking drawer. His name is Elias. He told me today that Mark is very good with tools and fixing things and now he can store cash without fear! He was very happy.

Earlier today, Mark went off to look at a couple of cars which didn’t impress him and he did some talking with people about the land. In the afternoon, Mark and I went together to look at one more car but it impressed Mark even less.

AIM’s goal is to establish maturing churches through the evangelization of unreached peoples, and through the effective preparation of church leaders. Mark and Lisa’s involvement at FATER will help AIM realize that goal.

The lack of a good center for training church leadership has been a longstanding problem in Rwanda, especially since the genocide of 1994 when over 800,000 people were killed, including many pastors.

The Faculté de Théologie Evangélique au Rwanda (FATER) is currently renting inadequate facilities which limits the total number of students to 60.

The construction of classrooms, administrative offices, a library and dormitories, will enable the student body to grow to 180.

FACULTE DE THEOLOGIE EVANGELIQUE AU RWANDA

STRATEGIC PLAN
August 2007

Vision and Values
The Rwanda Faculty of Evangelical Theology (Faculté de Théologie Evangélique au Rwanda – FATER) exists to enable its students to mature as disciples of Jesus Christ, in order to become fishers of men (Matthew 4:19), and so to participate in God’s mission by themselves making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
Accordingly the faculty has the following fundamental values:
1. It is evangelical: it bases its whole life and teaching on the inerrant word of God.
2. It is transformational: it seeks the transformation of its students in conformity with the image of Christ.
3. It is missiological: it assists its students in the development of their spiritual gifts – including leadership, teaching, evangelism and others – so that they may faithfully engage in God’s redemptive mission to Rwanda and beyond.
4. It is contextual: its goal is that the unchangeable word of God should be faithfully applied to the realities of the contemporary world in Central Africa – and especially in Rwanda – and elsewhere.
5. It is integral: it pursues a profound integration of the spiritual, cognitive and practical in all areas of its life and in the lives of its students.

Background
The Faculté de Théologie Evangélique au Rwanda (FATER) is now almost 6 years old. The vision for the school came from the Alliance Evangélique au Rwanda or AER (Evangelical Alliance of Rwanda), a body which embraces between 20 and 30 church denominations and a few para-church organisations, and is affiliated to the Association of Evangelicals of Africa (AEA). A number of its member churches felt the need of training for their own leadership and, following some consultation with Africa Inland Mission, decided to work together in the setting up of a theological school rather than each trying to establish their own. It was founded by the Alliance Evangélique au Rwanda (AER) in November 2001. It is therefore a genuinely Rwandan initiative rather than an imported solution to Rwandan concerns as perceived by expatriates. It constitutes a testimony to the faith of the Alliance’s leadership who pushed ahead with the project despite a lack of material support, but motivated by a concern that Rwandan believers be effectively led and discipled.
The lack of a good centre for training church leadership at a tertiary level has been a longstanding problem in Rwanda and the issue has become a critical one since the genocide of 1994 for a number of reasons. First, numbers of pastors were killed in the genocide, while others were implicated in the atrocities and imprisoned. Second, the participation of some professed Christians in the genocide indicated the very low level of effective discipling that had been taking place within the church. Third, in recent years the country has been developing and there is a growing middle class as well as significant urban congregations. A well-trained church leadership is important if these people and churches are to be adequately led and taught as believers. The often poor preaching and teaching in churches highlights the problem to which the Faculty seeks to respond.
The Rwandan churches also face other problems. There is a growing Muslim presence evidenced by a large new mosque in the centre of Kigali. The fraudulent ‘health and wealth gospel’ is communicated in some churches and also through occasional ‘evangelistic campaigns’ in Kigali. And the HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a major impact on the country. Consequently, the faculty aims to provide a solid and biblically based evangelical training for pastors and other leaders within the Rwandan church, a training that equips them to minister the gospel in their own context.
27 students have already graduated and the second group are finalising their dissertations. There are at present 62 students in four year groups. Most of the students are actively engaged in church ministry and so teaching takes place through evening classes.
FATER has survived its early years despite significant difficulties, including the problem of finding consistent Rwandan leadership for the school, through the perseverance of the Alliance. Their desire is that the school should move forward and there has been some progress over the last few months.

Ten-Point Plan
1. Governance. The governance of the school is in the process of clarification. At present FATER has no legal identity and is covered by that of the Alliance. The intention, however, is that it should have its own distinct legal identity which would nevertheless recognise continuing ultimate ownership of the Alliance’s member churches. The by-laws (Règlement d’Ordre Intérieur) are almost complete and there are draft statutes, which will need to comply with relevant Rwandan government legislation. One major issue being addressed at present is that of clarifying the composition of the governing body both in order to define the longer term relationship with the churches of the AER and to ensure that the areas of expertise – including financial, legal and educational – necessary to the running of the school are sufficiently represented on the governing body, while also ensuring the preservation of its evangelical character.
The present administrative council of FATER is working with the principal with the aim of completing the documents by the end of March 2008, at which point FATER will be able to seek its own legal identity from the state.

2. Programme. A major priority is to ensure that the programme of studies, while thoroughly biblical in its basis, effectively prepares students to respond to the particular needs of the Rwandan churches, and to communicate the gospel appropriately in a Rwandan context. The programme has been revised over the past few months to ensure that it adequately reflects Rwandan realities, and in August 2007 the administrative council endorsed the revision which will begin to come into force in the 2008 academic year. Areas that still need to be addressed more effectively are those of mentoring and the general spiritual development of the students, as well as the practical dimension. These in turn depend on our having an adequate body of full-time teaching staff. The issues have already been raised and, assuming growth in the number of full-time staff (see below), a process of discussion leading to revision will take place in the course of 2008, for implementation in 2009.
There are two further major inadequacies of the programme that are being addressed:
First, there has been a heavy dependence on part-time teachers providing concentrated courses of a week or two. The solution again is full-time staff, and the plan is to make a significant moves in that direction next year with the addition, by the end of 2008, of two full-time staff members.
Second, the focus on evening classes for people with occupations during the day has meant an inadequate emphasis on personal study and reading. We are addressing that, first, through the development of the library (see below) and, second, through extending the length of each of the three terms so that there will be more time inbuilt for reading and the preparation of student work. The extension in the duration of each term and the introduction of specified library research time will be effective from January 2008.

3. Library. The development of the library is essential to the quality of the school. At present there are about 2,500 volumes in the library, about a third of them in English. We aim to double – or more – the number of French theological books by the end of 2008, and have already received quite significant gifts to help us to do that, including £15,000 sterling from a donor in the UK and €8,000 from Germany. We plan to work in large measure with the Langham Partnership for the ordering and purchase of books. At the same time we propose to continue to expand the holding in English.
We appointed a part-time librarian at the beginning of July 2007. He has an undergraduate qualification in theology and several years experience working in the library of the Institut Supérieur Théologique de Bunia in DR Congo, as well as some library experience in Kigali. We are also improving the library furniture with new tables and chairs for study, and more shelf space. The improved furnishings should be in place by the end of the present academic year.
When we have adequate accommodation, which means our own buildings, we would anticipate the introduction of computing facilities with internet access. Realistically this will probably only begin to be realised in the course of 2009. At that point we would aim to have a ratio of one computer for every four students. Given present student numbers this would mean 15 computers. The cost of hardware would be in the region of $15,000, and internet access through Rwandatel would add an initial $1500 and an annual running cost of approximately $2000 at present rates.

4. Buildings. The school at present uses rented accommodation, which is not perfect but not inadequate. We are in the process of purchasing land in the Gasabo District of Kigali. Seven adjoining plots have been bought so far and we hope to add at least a further two to complete the area. We are in touch with the local authorities with respect to building permissions and have received a favourable response, most notably following an interview with the Mayor of Gasabo. We are also in contact with a local architect, who has made a preliminary visit to the area, and there is the possibility of assistance in the planning of the site from interested Western parties, but nothing definite yet.
At all events, once the land purchases are complete, which should be by the end of 2007, we will have a long-term plan drawn up for the phased development of the property. The long-term building plan and architect’s drawings for the initial phase will also enable us to look for possible donors. We would hope to have the building of classrooms, administrative offices and a library underway by the middle of 2008 at the latest.
The construction of buildings will also enable the student body to grow. At present we are limited by the accommodation we have.

5. Staff. We recognise the vital, indeed primary, importance of the quality of teaching staff for the achievement of the school’s objectives. FATER has depended heavily on part-time teachers – both from overseas and suitably qualified local people – offering concentrated courses of one to two weeks in length. From an educational perspective this is not an ideal approach, and for language teaching (Greek, Hebrew and English) it is disastrous. The solution is to engage full-time teachers of the necessary spiritual and academic calibre, who will not only teach but also be able to play a part in the practical and spiritual mentoring of students.
We hope that over the next academic year we will appoint two full-time members of staff – Phanuel Munezero, who has just finished a Masters at NEGST, and Bruce Rossington, an AIM missionary also with a Masters in theology – which will bring a huge improvement to the implementation of the programme. We will also be using two part-time but committed teachers, both of whom have Masters degrees from NEGST as well as having studied elsewhere, and who are willing to teach on a weekly basis instead of through concentrated courses.
We also plan to move ahead with staff development. The academic secretary, David Kyembwa Bulambo has just been accepted for a distance learning programme at the Faculté Libre de Théologie Réformée in Aix-en-Provence, France, hopefully leading to doctoral studies. The programme involves three visits to Aix each year, and it begins in September 2007 with the first of these. The major element of cost is therefore the three visits, the academic fees being quite modest. We anticipate a cost of about $9000 per annum, and we have raised over half the funds necessary to complete the requirements for the first year, while we are seeking more reliable support for the continuation of the programme. Assuming steady progress he should complete the programme in 2012.
We would plan for Phanuel and Bruce to undertake similar studies once they have settled into the teaching role, probably beginning in early 2009 for Phanuel and late 2009 or early 2010 for Bruce. The distance learning programme of the South Africa Theological Seminary would be a possibility for both, especially now that its proposed doctoral programme has received approval from the South African government.

6. Finance. The financing of the school has been a problem over the years. It has survived mainly from student fees, with some income from the subletting of part of the premises that we rent which offsets some of our own rental cost, and a very small income from gifts.
Student fees are pitched slightly above what our students can afford (about $350 per annum). We are trying to raise scholarship support in order to reduce actual fees while increasing income at the same time. We estimate that, on the basis of annual student numbers of about 60 the real cost of the training we offer once we have employed two additional members of staff, will be in the region of $500 per annum. We would like scholarship support to bring the sum they actually pay down closer to $225 per annum. We are having a degree of success in this but are looking for more support, and the stabilisation of what we receive.

7. Publicity. The school has been weak in this area. A missionary colleague has begun work on a web site for us (faterkigali.com) but progress is not rapid, and we do need assistance with the production of brochures and other publicity material, and with relations with the media here in Rwanda.
If we could find the right person the cost of salary would be in the order of $6000 per year, not counting the actual publicity budget.

8. Accreditation. In the short-term we are in communication with the Faculté de Théologie Evangélique de Bangui with a view to their validation of our programme. A recent visit from the principal of Bangui was very positive and we are anticipating that they will give us validation.
Longer term we will be looking for accreditation from the government of Rwanda and from ACTEA. We have a long way to go in both areas – especially in terms of full-time qualified staff, infrastructure, and library facilities – but are making progress and are in contact with both, including a recent (August 2007) meeting with the newly appointed Executive Director of the new Council for Higher Education in Rwanda.

9. Growth. We have had approximately 60 students enrolled over the past two or three years. Our present accommodation makes it difficult to envisage any significant increase in that number. However, in the planning of our own facilities on the new site we will be planning for increased classes of up to 40 students, with the possibility of expansion to a student body of 160.
In the longer term we are also looking at two possible developments in terms of our programme.
a. First, in view of the slow movement towards the English language within Rwanda we will probably need to open an English language programme at some stage, and perhaps sooner rather than later. Indeed, current Rwandan legislation on higher education mans that we need to look at the possibilities of a bilingual approach to teaching.
b. Second, we are also considering the possibility of a full-time programme as well as the evening one we operate at present. This would be much more feasible once we have our own buildings. We also need to research the market somewhat to see if this would be viable, especially as there are other programmes available in English, either already functioning or projected.
It may be feasible to bring these two possibilities together and run a full-time programme in English while continuing with part-time in French.

10. Transport. In view of the proposed location of our own buildings which will be some distance from the centre of Kigali, the provision of transport, probably in the form of an 18-seater bus, would be very helpful. The cost is difficult to determine: perhaps an initial\outlay of $40,000 followed by annual running/devaluation costs of $6,000, a good deal of the latter offset by fares paid by the student users.