By Jennifer Johnson
Uganda has the youngest population of any nation in the world, but tens of thousands of its young people have been unable to attend college because there aren”t enough schools.
LivingStone International University students attend daily chapel services that encourage spiritual growth and unity among the student body.
An enterprising team of missionaries and native Africans launched the Messiah Theological Institute several years ago to train village pastors.
“But they saw an opportunity to look further down the road and begin influencing the culture in a deeper way,” says Craig Smith. “In 2006, leaders from both the Christian churches and the churches of Christ developed a partnership to create a new school in Uganda.”
Today Smith serves as executive director of LivingStone University Partners and oversees LivingStone International University, an accredited school with degree programs in communications and media technology, business administration, information technology, and Christian ministry. The school opened in January 2011, and this fall the first senior class began their final year of study.
“We had 26 seniors, and 23 of them had just completed summer internships,” Smith says. “Part of our focus on equipping is helping students get real-world work experience, and then we want them to leave our doors ready not only to get jobs but to create jobs.”
LivingStone is unapologetically a Christian university; students attend chapel each day and participate in mentoring programs. And the school”s investment in technology would be an advantage even in the States; every incoming student receives a new Kindle, and the computer lab offers one computer for every two students. Future degree options may include health professions, education, and agriculture.
“We want to train both vocational ministry leaders and future business leaders,” Smith says. “We”ll see the real fruit of this work decades from now as these students begin to transform their country.”
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ALSO, Read Jennifer Johnson’s related column, “Lesson Learned.”
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