Theological Education Consultant, Dr. John Jusu leads Mesa Global Regional Training Hub in Anglophone Africa, helping church leaders access essential training.

Report from Dr. John Jesus: I had the opportunity to train 20 Master of Divinity students from our partner seminary, Africa International University (AIU), in basic facilitation skills for teaching in “non-school” contexts. We also equipped these seminary students with tools like the Africa Study Bible and training manuals on topics ranging from preaching to discipleship, to leadership and church planting, to growing congregations. Our purpose? To launch these students as trainers in their home communities to help address the leadership challenge facing the African Church. The goal is to have about 200 pastors trained by these students by the end of the academic year.

One student trainer said, “The cultural depth of the Africa Study Bible is a game-changer for our ministry… This is a great resource for the church in Africa that I can now comfortably use to train others.” Now, just 3 months later, 15 students have already launched their training programs.

This course on facilitation skills grew out of a collaborative project between Mesa Global’s Regional Training Hub and AIU to review the training model of seminary students who are aspiring to be pastors and church leaders. The AIU curriculum now includes the deliberate training of master’s level students with facilitation skills while they are still in seminary. These students earn academic credit when they form leadership training groups in their churches. The result? An impactful strategy for multiplying leaders! In the words of one student: 

“This workshop has changed my approach to Bible study facilitation… I thought it was a training like no others!” 

In addition to the 20 Masters students, another 20 experienced and trained church leaders and pastors, seminary professors, and teachers joined the training. The desire is that the highly trained professors will return to their seminaries and replicate the model – training and deploying their own master’s level students to start multiplying leaders even before they graduate from seminary. 

Anglophone Africa’s Regional Training Hub – multiplying and connecting leaders to do good for the sake of the gospel! 

Mesa Global is a faithful partner of The Bolick Foundation.