ECLEA 2024 YEAR-END REPORT
2024 has been another productive and effective year for ECLEA. Our friend and missionary teacher, Frank Cummings, decided to retire from active ministry in East Africa. Further, because of various church-related issues and involvement, our fellow teachers in Virginia, Robert and Sondra Adams, are similarly stepping back from travel to East Africa. All of these good people will be missed. Nevertheless, our work—both from the American side and indigenously by the East Africans—has continued unabated. New ECLEA books and translations have been completed, and ECLEA has extended its relationships with East African colleges and theological schools. Here are some of the year’s highlights:
Jonathan’s work in East Africa
I was again able to make five trips to East Africa. In January-February, I was in Rwanda, where I taught Biblical interpretation (3X). In April, I was in Kenya and did Biblical Interpretation, Stewardship of Time (to a large women’s conference), Esther, Forgiveness & Reconciliation, and Biblical Interpreation. In June, I was in Tanzania and taught 1 Peter, Ruth, Jonah, and Habakkuk. In May-June, I went to Burundi, where I taught The Church: Its Nature, Mission, and Purpose and Jonah. I also participated in 4 graduation ceremonies with a total of 158 graduates, who completed their 31/2-year program of study (utilizing ECLEA course books). In September I was in Tanzania where I met with 20 of the main Tanzanian ECLEA teachers and talked about ECLEEA’s vision, mission, purpose, and teaching methodologies. I also taught at three venues the books of Esther, Ephesians, and Biblical Interpretation. Finally, in October, I was in Uganda where I taught Biblical Interpretation.
I also participated in a graduation ceremony for 30 students, respectively, who received certificates, diplomas, and degrees from East Africa Polytechnic College Kyambogo (the theological school which has partnered with ECLEA in Uganda). Further, I accompanied Bishop Sempala and the group from his secondary school, Prince Joseph Academy, to the Julius Nyerere/East Africa Community 25-year commemoration ceremony. In total, I taught well over 350 students. In short, a wonderful and productive year where the gospel is being taught broadly and deeply throughout East Africa! You can see my reports on the ECLEA News & Blog page of the ECLEA website. (http://www.eclea.net/news.html).
Paul and Rosemary Nelsen’s work in East Africa
Paul and Rosemary Nelsen were hosted for about a week in Tanzania by Equipping Church Leaders Executive Director Joram Ibrahim the last part of January, 2024. The trip was so both could present courses they had written as part of the ECLEA curriculum. Rosemary taught her three Bible Literacy Courses (Two Old Testament and One New Testament) using visual aids, participation, and lecture. Paul taught a new course on leadership based on Nehemiah, chapters 1-6. These courses were taught in Arusha and Tanga.
The highlight of their visit was a graduation ceremony that took place in Tanga on Saturday, Jan. 27. Almost 40 students were given a certificate of completion for a two-year courses covering ECLEA curriculum. The Nelsens participated by shaking hands with each student and presenting the certificate.
Jacob Boldig’s work in East Africa
Jake absorbed the role of bookkeeper in 2024 after Brenda Haase retired. He spent time creating tools to analyze donations and expenses to better summarize our activities at a high level.
Jake and his wife, Jamie, will be traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo with Stephen Sempala and Protais Nshogoza for two weeks in December 2024. This trip will consist of visiting three centers in Goma and one in Bukavu in Eastern DRC that have been started by Congolese pastors who have been reached by many previous self-funded trips of ECLEA trainers from the neighboring five countries that we have a footprint in. We will spend two days at each center presenting the vision of ECLEA and teaching. Stephen, Protais, and Jake will remain in contact with DRC leaders over the next year to monitor results. Stephen is also expecting to make monthly trips to DRC in 2025 to more closely advise DRC leaders. We have long identified the Eastern DRC as a major opportunity for expansion, so we are excited to make our first trip there.
All-African ECLEA training conferences
ECLEA’s name reflects what we stand for: we equip church leaders of East Africa so they can equip others. As a result, the vast majority of ECLEA’s work is done by the East Africa church leaders themselves! In 2024 our East African ECLEA teams kept moving forward, teaching at the different centers they established:
* Burundi: Rema Ministries (ECLEA’s teaching partner in Burundi) have done over 50 training sessions in the 7 training centers they have established around the country.
* Kenya: Kenya’s regional coordinators led approximately 100 ECLEA conferences.
* Rwanda: Under national coordinator Protais Nshogoza, our Rwandan ECLEA teams did approximately 50 all-African training conferences this year.
* Tanzania: Joram Ibrahim, ECLEA-Tanzania’s national coordinator, and the ECLEA-Tanzania team have led over 50 conferences.
* Uganda: Under Bishop Stephen Sempala’s leadership, over 300 all-African teaching conferences and follow-ups were conducted around the country.
Reports from the all-African training conferences are available on the individual country pages of the ECLEA website (www.eclea.net).
The Impact of ECLEA
ECLEA’s mission is: “Deep Foundations=>Healthy Churches=>Transformed Lives.” Here are some comments from East Africans I have received concerning the impact ECLEA is having:
* Barnabas Chihekwe (Tanzania): Frankly speaking you are doing great work of outsourcing and spotlighting best educative Christian spiritual balanced diet to us (East African Church Leaders).
* Bishop Julius Ceaser Nina Otim (Uganda): The ECLEA program is one of effective factors which has played huge Evangelical role to firstly equipped many different Pastors and Church Leadership with excellent theological materials for transportation of the community in East Africa. Through ECLEA training program most of the Pastors of different Denominations were able to come together regardless of their religious affiliations. The ECLEA materials is credible enough to enable a theological student perform very well in theological studies. Therefore, I want to thank God for you and the supporters of the ECLEA program, may the Grace and blessings of God Almighty be with you always.
* Paul Batambuze Wamuka (Uganda): Thank you for the great work you're doing to promote God's work especially among the very poor community church members in rural areas. Your Biblical training approach is unique, down to earth even to the least at the grassroot is timely. God bless you abundantly.
* Patrice Nduwimana (Burundi): I really appreciate the work that you are doing. to prepare tools for church Leaders. Pastors who went through ECCLEA books are really making a difference in their local churches. If you look at the way they lead people, the way they teach and preach, the way they organize things is really different from the way they used to.
Other ECLEA happenings
In addition to our multiple church leader training conferences all over East Africa, ECLEA has a number of other projects to increase our lasting impact and effectiveness. These include:
* ECLEA books and video lectures: In 2024 our ECLEA book on apologetics, Is Christianity True?, and the accompanying set of video lectures, was finalized. I am happy to say that Is Christianity True? was published at the beginning of November by Resource Publications (an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers of Eugene, OR). It includes a foreword by R. Fowler White, PhD and has been endorsed by Josh McDowell, Michael Newnham (the “Phoenix Preacher”), and OT professor Dr. Ingrid Faro (Northern Seminary). It has already been hailed as the “new standard” for conservative, evangelical apologetics (https://www.phoenixpreacher.com/is-christianity-true/). It is available in paperback, hardback, and a Kindle edition through Amazon.com and other online booksellers.
* ECLEA book translations: Translating our books into the major East African languages is a hugely important part of what ECLEA does, since few other good theological resources are available in the indigenous African languages. These books will continue to have an impact for generations.
Translations of several of our books also were completed in 2024. These include the KINYARWANDA translation of Galatians, the KISWAHILI translation of Esther, the LUGANDA translations of Biblical Eschatology, Christianity and Islam: The Essentials, and Esther, and the RUNYANKORE translations of 1 Timothy, Biblical Stewardship, Biblical Literacy, Forgiveness & Reconciliation, and Is Christianity True?
All of our books, translations, and video lectures are on the “ECLEA Courses & Resources” page of the website: http://www.eclea.net/courses.html. The video lectures (as well as videos of other matters pertaining to East Africa and ECLEA’s work) also are on the ECLEA YouTube video channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpN8YUjt8zpi9iKfcuozxJw.
* School partnerships: Our ECLEA teaching books provide some of the most in-depth teaching available. One of our goals is to establish partnerships or agreements with existing East African theological schools whereby our materials become part of the schools’ curriculum. ECLEA now has relationships with Lawrence Bible University in Rwanda, Bishop Kiguru Bible College in Tanzania (that endeavor is called the East Africa Theological Bible Institute-TZ), Nairobi Pentecostal Bible College in Kenya, and East Africa Polytechnic College Kyambogo in Uganda. There are also other, smaller schools who have adopted and utilized our curriculum around East Africa. We want to see this network of schools expand, since through them our influence will continue to be felt for generations.
* Bishop Sempala’s visit: Bishop Stephen Sempala of Uganda visited the USA earlier this year. He spent a week in Appleton, met with a number of ECLEA supporters, spoke at two churches, and even met with the president of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers baseball team about starting a baseball academy in Uganda! He is a forward-thinking man, and we are honored to have him as part of ECLEA.
* Nepal: Although Nepal is on the other side of the world, far from East Africa, ECLEA’s materials are being used even there. Earlier this year I was contacted by Roshan Adhikari, the founder and president of Alpha Bible College & Seminary in Kathmandu, Nepal. As a result of our material, he asked me to teach (via Zoom) a class of his students on Biblical Interpretation, which I did during the first half of the year. I will now be teaching two courses on Biblical Interpretation, from now until April.
* Expansion: I have always gone to Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. However, the East Africa Community has been officially expanded to now include Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and South Sudan. We have on several occasions been asked to teach outside of the five countries I go to. This December, Jake and Jamie Boldig, accompanied by Bishop Sempala and Protais Nshogoza, will be going to DRC to teach and establish an ECLEA organization there. Additionally, when I was in Kenya, I met with pastor David Njeru, our ECLEA-Kenya Nairobi coordinator, who would very much like to head ECLEA operations in places like Ethiopia, Malawi, and other African nations. We are very open to this. Our biggest hold-ups are obtaining the necessary funds and personnel.
Looking ahead
By God’s grace we will continue moving forward in all areas in 2025. We take seriously Christ’s commission to go “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Few others are doing what we are doing—none is doing church leader training and preparing and translating excellent books that go to the heart of what Christians and church leaders need on the scale we are doing it.
You can make a difference
* Giving opportunities: 100% of donations goes to the work of the ministry. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Your financial support is necessary (it enables us to go “to the ends of the earth,” translate our books into the indigenous languages, and also helps facilitate the all-African training conferences). It is paying great dividends (as I hope you see from the above report).
Tax-deductible giving can be done through the website (http://www.eclea.net/contact.html), automatic fund transfers can be arranged through your bank, or checks (payable to ECLEA) can be sent to the ECLEA office at 714 S. Summit St., Appleton, WI 54914.
* To contact ECLEA's treasurer: If you wish to contact Jacob Boldig, ECLEA’s treasurer, his number is 920-209-1477 and his email address is jacobboldig@gmail.com.
* We value your input and suggestions: Let us know what you think! If you no longer wish to receive these updates, please let us know, and I will be happy to remove you from the mailing list.
We wish you a joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thank you and God bless you,
Jonathan Menn (ECLEA, Inc. President)
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Jonathan Menn-ECLEA Director
Oct 2024: Uganda and Tanzania
I am currently in Mukono, having just completed out first teaching session in Ngora, where we did Biblical Interpretation with about 40 participants. Ngora is the home of my old friend Martin Odi. I had met Martin years ago when I was with EPI but had not seen him since then. Martin was the host of the teaching, and when we got together, it was like we had never been apart--the same banter, the same camaraderie, etc. (we both must still have the same writers!). It was great to renew an old friendship.
Martin and Helen Odi
The teaching itself went well. We covered the important hermeneutical principles one needs to know in order to interpret and understand the Bible well. We then covered multiple passages of Scripture in light of their genre, structure, and, most importantly, their context (both the immediate and broader literary context and the historical and cultural context). As one participant told Bishop Stephen Sempala, "This has been an eye-opener, to see what the Bible really means in its context." All in all, a very worthwhile meeting.
Stephen and Violet Sempala
Another interesting personal event occurred. Twenty-three years ago, Bishop Sempala's cousin married a man, but Stephen was not at the wedding, because he was out of the country. In fact, he had never met his cousin's husband. It turns out that the husband, Andrew Okalebo, was the manager of the hotel Stephen and I were staying at in Ngora, and also was friends with Martin Odi! He is a very accomplished person, and it was nice to have dinner with him one evening.
Andrew Okalebo and Stephen
There has been a change in my itinerary. I was going to be going to Bavuma Island next, to teach the book of Ruth. However, in addition to being the bishop overseeing the Evangelical and Pentecostals of Mukono Distict, Bishop Sempala is also the head of Prince Joseph Academy, a highly regarded secondary school. There is going to be a commemoration ceremony in Tanzania, commemorating the late Julius Nyerere (first president of Tanzania) and the 25th anniversary of the founding of the East Africa Community. Stephen is leading a delegation from Prince Joseph Academy to the commemoration. PJA is the only Ugandan school invited to take part, and Stephen has invited me to also attend. So we will begin the journey to Tanzania tomorrow night. I am honored to be going.
Prince Joseph Academy
The bus trip to Butiama, TZ was only about 350 miles but took 25.5 hours. We spent 5 hours at the Kenya-Tanzania border where, I was told, certain alleged "fees" had, as if by magic, gone up. When we arrived (2:30AM) we walked about a mile to our quarters. My room, one might say, was rather spartan (no shower or running water--see photos).
My room in Butiama Bathroom
We were staying in Butiama, where Nyerere was from and saw a museum dedicated to him, where he was born, and his grave. At the main program, the students of Prince Joseph Academy performed a wonderful poem which they had written and choreographed themselves. There were also some good speeches.
Commemoration ceremony PJA students performing
However, the kicker was that, the organizers in Kampala had chartered a plane to fly some big people to the event. They did not hire busses to take them back to the airport in Mwanza. Consequently, the airplane people took our two busses to go back to Mwanza (a 4 hour trip each way). Hence, we all spent the night in Butiama. BUT, no provision had been made for us to spend an extra night, so there was no place to sleep and nothing to eat. The manager of the place where we had been congregating was kind enough to lay out a couple of mattresses for some of the students to sleep on. As to rest of us, someone made a campfire (it gets cool at night), and about 20 of us spent the night around the campfire! People took a collection, and we had some tea, bread, mandazi (like African donuts), and porridge in the morning. Someone had a small speaker which played music from her phone, a few people danced, an old man told some funny stories, and it ended up being a once-in-a-lifetime night. The busses returned in the early morning, and we made it back to Kampala.
Around the campfire Old man telling funny stories
Because of the extra day in Tanzania, I only ended up having one day in Mbiriizi (Masaka region) to teach on Christianity and Islam. Nevertheless, I think it went well: I focused on Jesus in the Quran and making the Trinity understandable, as well as a couple of other things. On Friday, there was a graduation ceremony for 30 people who had spent 2 years going through our ECLEA courses. It was a great ceremony. There was a band; the band and graduates marched through the town; and the mayor spoke. It really showed me (again) how important ECLEA is and what a difference ECLEA is making in the lives of thousands of church leaders, other people, and churches throughout East Africa. This is very humbling to me--and ultimately, all of this is because of your faithful support.
The band at the graduation The graduates
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Jonathan Menn-ECLEA Director
I had a very interesting experience last week, on July 27. The langham Partnership had been founded by John Stott several years ago. My former professor, Greg Scharf, has beeen involved with Langham for a number of years. He connected me with Angela Kumar-Shirley, who heads up Langham in Trinidad and Tobago. She had been reading by book Biblical Eschatology, 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: Resource, 2018). She thought that my take on eschatology and the book of Revelation was exactly what the pastors and theology students affiliated with Langham in Trinidad and Tobago needed to be exposed to.
As a result, we did a full day of teaching via Zoom to about 60 students. I had two 1 hour, 45 minute teaching sessions in which I taught on interpreting prophecy and apocalyptic literature, gave and overview of the biblical view of eschatology, focusing on the "two ages" eschatological structure and the significance of the second coming of Christ, and then gave an overview of the different sections of the book of Revelation. There was quite a bit of Q&A. Then the group divided into small groups and looked at Rev 11:14-19, regarding the end of the "trumpet" judgments. After approximately two hours of working in their small groups, they each gave reports, and I made some comments. The students were exposed to much new material and several have said that they want to look into these things in more depth.
Here are pictures captured from Zoom of the participants:
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Jonathan Menn-ECLEA Director
I just returned from Burundi. Although I always try to send a report from the field, on this trip there was no wi-fi or internet access the entire time I was there. The trip itself was interesting and worthwhile.
It got off to a peculiar start. The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was cancelled because of an oil leak. They couldn't find a replacement plane, so I had to spend the night in Minneapolis. The rebooked flight got me to Nairobi after the plane from Nairobi to Bujumbura, Burundi had left. There was no other flight that day, so I didn't end up getting to Burundi until Tuesday afternoon. Hence, we had to begin two days late. But we retooled matters, and all worked out well. I taught The Church: Its Nature, Mission, and Purpose in one venue and the book of Jonah in three venues. They all went well, and the participants were particularly impressed at the depth of the book of Jonah and how it deals with some of the most fundamental issues of life, including: the nature and character of God; our relationship with the world and things; our relationship with people who are different from us; and our relationship with God.
I also spoke at four graduation ceremonies. The government of Burundi now requires that anyone who wants to preach or be a pastor has to have evidence of a theological education. I am happy to say that our ECLEA courses meet the government's requirements. The 31 graduates in Rutana, 42 in Muzye, 38 in Mishiha, and 47 in Cankuzo received diplomas after having studied 15 ECLEA books over a period of 3 1/2 years. Many were accompanied by their spouses when they came up to receive their diplomas. In fact, the President of the Burundi national Senate attended and spoke at the graduation ceremony in Cankuzo. So what we are doing is important and will make a difference that will last.
Graduates in Rutana (Francois is on right) Our team: Patrice Nduwimana, Ferdinand Graduates in Muzye
Haberimana (legal rep.), Francois Nitunga
At each of the graduation ceremonies, a number of the graduates gave testimonies of the impact of the ECLEA courses. One graduate said that she had always been afraid to speak to Muslims; however, as a result of what she learned in our Christianity & Islam course, not only does she no longer feel intimidated, but actually has led one Muslim to Christ! Another said that, as a result of our Biblical Stewardship course, he is now planting various vegetables and is supplementing his income from sales of the produce. Another graduate said she used the techniques outlined in our book on Forgiveness & Reconciliation to reconcile two people who had hated each other for six years; they are now "like sisters." Another said that, until he took our Biblical Theology course, he had never seen how Christ is present in typological form throughout the Old Testament. Several of the graduates testified how Rosemary Nelsen's Biblical Literacy course has made a big difference in their understanding of the Bible, and they recited the different biblical books in their proper categories (e.g., historical books, books of poetry, major prophets, minor prophets, etc.).
In Mishiha I was given a chicken! Burundi Senate President & wife Beautiful Burundian dresses
In short, this was very inspiring to me and renewed my enthusiasm and drive to prepare more and more ECLEA books. (Spoiler alert: I have completed a book on apologetics entitled Is Christianity True? which has been accepted for publication here in the US; I will be posting the ECLEA version on the website after I do the video lectures that will accompany it.)
Teaching group in Muzye Kids in Cankuzo
One other thing: as you may know, Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world. That poverty currently is compounded by the fact that they are facing a huge fuel shortage. In Bujumbura, I saw taxis lined up for blocks because they lacked fuel. In Cankuzo, one fuel truck came to a petrol station one night. A large crowd gathered. Several policemen armed with automatic weapons were there to keep order. I saw three men filling large buckets with gasoline directly from pipes on the side of the truck. I took some pictures of this, but the police made me delete them from my camera. Fortunately, they did not impound my camera. Please pray for Burundi. The people I met and work with there are so dear, and the church can be the instrument for transformation in that small but strategic land.
Trafffic jam between Mishiha and Cankuzo Typical African meal: rice, beans, ugali,
sweet potato, avocado
I hope you get some idea of the value of your prayer and financial support of ECLEA: both are making a big difference, and I am very appreciative and thankful for your continued involvement in this crucial mission. I am now scheduled to be home until the last half of August, when I will be going to Tanzania. Here are some photos from this trip. Enjoy!
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