Solusi University - Africa

[1]

Philippians 2:1-2 New International Version

Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

 

 

Solusi: First founded in 1894, almost 130 years ago, as Adventism’s first attempt at reaching people who had never known Christ.

Solusi: Long a symbol of mission, Adventists, progress, adventure, sacrifice. Adventism’s flagship university in Africa.

Solusi: I first visited there in 1948 and remember nothing. We moved there 1954, 60 years after its founding, C. Fred Clarke, my Dad’s mission was to found a university to train Christian leadership for an independent Africa. Solusi became home for me as a teenager. Years later I enjoyed working with a Solusi graduate in Tanzania in 1969 and 1970, where he was my principal. I last visited Solusi a few weeks ago.

Solusi: The only university in Zimbabwe to remain open during the worst of civil war and raging riots in other universities of the land.

Solusi: The graveyard of saints, almost since its beginning. My mother, “She loved much,” rests here since 1974, 80 years after its founding.

Solusi: Surviving decades of tribalism, which generates hatred between people.

Christ wept bitter tears when he lamented Jewish rejection of his mission to save all tribes, not just Jews: “Look, your house is left to you desolate,”[2] as He turned His back on them.

Paul lamented, “Oh Foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth;”[3] as their church was being torn apart by Judaizers who insisted on circumcision and that all believers become members of the Jewish tribe.

Atlantic Union College (AUC) was gutted by a president who forcibly replaced his faculty by his fellow islanders, his fellow tribesmen. Founded in 1882, many of its graduates went as missionaries to the world. His tribalism forced its demise in 2011. It was reopened in 2015 but couldn’t recover and was sold in 2018.

Solusi: You have long battled tribalism. In 1956 your acting president had himself deputized to take major action when students of one tribe threatened to murder those of another tribe. But what riotous students couldn’t do in the 1950s, the actions of those above you are destroying you now. Will 2024, your 130^th anniversary, be your last?

Solusi: I plead as Paul did with the Philippians: “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”[4]

Lord, I pray that Your Spirit may so fill Solusi constituents that they may be one as You and Your Father are one,[5] in spite of our varied human backgrounds. Lord, Save Solusi!

 

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[1] Solusi University ©2023 Uni Clarke

[2] Matthew 23:38

[3] Galatians 3:1 NIV

[4] Philippians 2:1-2 NIV

[5] John 17:21-23

Enough for Every Good Cause

 

[1]

2 Corinthians 9:8 Good News Translation

⁸ And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause.

 

For many years we lived like the poor. During our graduate study years, we had to borrow against future service just to pay the rent and eat. A bit later we went on food stamps for a while. In Africa, we were often living hand to mouth. For five years we couldn’t afford a car. At Atlantic Union College I took on a moonlighting job to enable us to buy a house—the cheapest we found on the market. During this time, we paid a full tithe, and never went hungry or naked or homeless.

Since then, God has increased our allowance steadily. When our last child finished college, we were able to channel that tuition amount into a retirement savings account. When we paid off our house, we were able to channel the house payment into the retirement account. In this fashion, although we had been unable to save for retirement initially, when we retired, we had a nest egg that has seen us through the first ten years of retirement without embarrassment.

Since retirement we have stepped out in faith at the Spirit’s urging and supported Bible translation in an ever-increasing amount. We have not shirked our tithing responsibility. Last year our charitable donations totaled over 50% of our adjusted gross income. Never before, even in our wildest imaginings, did we ever think God would make us capable of achieving this goal.

This year we have expected that Satan would redouble his efforts to stop our giving. In January we totaled our car and bought a newer one; inflation is making our retirement savings stretch over fewer of our needs. In spite of this we are relying on God’s promises, like this one in 2 Corinthians 9:8, and God’s amazing grace to meet our needs.

We are grateful, Lord, for Your promise to give us “enough for every good cause.”

 

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[1] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/may/together-for-gospels-bible-translation-unity-illuminations.html

If You're Not against Us--You're For Us

 

[1]

Mark 9:38-40
Good News Translation
³⁸ John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man who was driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop, because he doesn't belong to our group.”
³⁹ “Do not try to stop him,” Jesus told them, “because no one who performs a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say evil things about me. ⁴⁰ For whoever is not against us is for us.

 

In 1979, we had just joined Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts. When we went to church on Sabbath, an elderly gentleman approached to me and asked, “Are you Wil Clarke?”

“Yes indeed,” I admitted, somewhat puzzled.

“I’m delighted to meet you in the flesh!” he said and threw his arms around me. “I’m Elder X and am retired here in South Lancaster. It’s wonderful to have another missionary from Africa here!”

It never ceases to amaze me how a person’s brain can process surprise information extremely rapidly. Within less than a second, my mind was flooded with memories.

Eight years earlier, we had been at Ikizu Training School in Tanzania for 5 years, and it was time for my salaried nine-month furlough. In June 1971, I had received a letter from Pastor X, treasurer of a division of the General Conference. It stated categorically that I had no furlough coming since I had only worked for the division for a year and a half. The Tanzania Union (TU) had been transferred from the another division to this division a year and a half before.

I showed this letter to Pastor Y, treasurer of the TU. Ikizu was a TU institution. He told me, “Don’t you worry. You have earned this furlough, and we’re not going to let him take it away from you!” Letters went back and forth between X and Y. I never saw those letters, but Pastor Y kept me informed as to progress. He sighed several times as he told me that the responses he got from X were not even Christian in spirit . Finally, a committee overruled him, and I got my furlough.

Here he stood with his arms around me. I felt like throwing up. I had the overwhelming urge to tell him what I thought of him.

By God’s grace, I returned the Christian embrace and said with all the enthusiasm I could muster, “Brother. It’s great to meet you!” We chatted for a few minutes, catching up on our African experiences.

Thank You, Lord, that friends are better to have than enemies; and we won’t have any enemies in heaven.

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[1] https://www.amazon.com/Avinu-Apparel-Love-Your-Enemies/dp/B093QYKGVN