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

Fellowship or Communion?

 

 

 [1]

2 Corinthians 13:14

King James Version

¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

 

I looked up this text in a number of English translations. The vast majority of the translations of the Greek word koinonia use “fellowship” where the King James uses the word “communion”. I asked myself what the difference between fellowship and communion is. Obviously, fellowship comes from the word “fellow” which indicates a person, in particular a friend, a companion. On the other hand, communion comes from “union” which indicates a much more personal, intimate, relationship.

When we think of Jesus Christ, the New Testament writers want us to think of a human being, so He would be a friend in a very real sense. In 1 Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,” the word fellowship is translated from koinonia because Jesus Christ is indeed our friend or brother.

When we think of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, we do not think of Him as a human being, but rather as a spirit. As such He would not be a fellow or a human friend, so His relationship with us is much more intimate, much more that of a true union. Paul is hoping that He will become a part of us. Therefore, the King James version probably captures Paul’s intention more accurately than the rather mechanical substitution of the majority of translations that I consulted.

Dear Lord, may Your grace and love and communion be mine today. Amen.

 

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[1] http://goministries.net/koinonia/

Women Ordination

 

[1]

Galatians 3:28

King James Version

²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

 

1 Corinthians 14:34, 35

King James Version

³⁴ Let your women keep silence in the churches. For it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. ³⁵ And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

 

Paul is the great doctrine maker of the Christian Church. Christ brought the gospel, the good news, to the world; and Paul told us how to apply it. My mother felt that he must have had a very unhappy marriage at home. This is why he writes such things as we read about women in his epistles. At times, in fact she branded him as a woman hater. 

My church, the Seventh-day Adventist church, is divided in its own interpretation of how to view women. Ellen White was probably the most influential of the founders of our church. She was a welcome speaker at many churches, camp meetings, and conference meetings. The General Conference viewed her as a wise counselor and yet feared her to the point that they banished her to Australia for over a decade to get her out of their hair. They offered to ordain her, and she turned them down flatly; yet today they are literally dividing the church because some women have been ordained by some entities in the church, and yet other entities refuse to even consider doing such.

Paul insisted that deacons and bishops (or elders) be the husband of one wife—clearly defining the leadership role to be male. The church followed Paul’s directions for roughly a century. However, throughout our history, women have been welcome speakers as well as Sabbath School and educational teachers and leaders. My paternal grandmother was a Michigan Conference departmental secretary of the Sabbath School Association[2] in the 1890s. Then they decided that these positions could only be held by ordained pastors. For decades pastors had to be men, so those positions have been strictly restricted to men.

Adventism finds itself in the unfortunate position of professing to be people of the Book, the Bible, but being inconsistent in its application to the extent of splitting the church. The Bible insists that elders and deacons must be men, and the church has officially chosen to ignore this principle and ordains both men and women to these positions. Yet on the other hand, it demands that only men can be ordained as pastors where the Bible says nothing in relation to this.

It appears that the church has only three choices on this issue:

1.   Return to the biblical definition that both elders and deacons must be men. Declare that when Paul wrote Galatians 3:28, he was only speaking about salvation’s being equally available to all people no matter what their earthly state is. This would make 1 Corinthians 14:34,35 consistent with Galatian 3:28.

2.   Apply Galatians 3:28 to all church posts, including pastors.

3.   Drop our profession of being people of the Book.

Whatever the eventual choice of the church on this issue, it is essential that we return to our original mission: to preach that Christ is coming soon and that He will be looking for those who are so anxious for His return that they are keeping His commandments.

Lord, please keep your mission for us ever before our eyes. May we strengthen and support anyone whom You have chosen to deliver that message.

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[1] https://rabbimoffic.com/are-you-part-of-the-bible-family-tree-5-ways-to-decode-the-biblical-genealogies/

[2] Mary Sally Evans SDA Yearbook 1894, p. 22

Encourage One Another

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1 Thessalonians 5:11 

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.

Once upon a time I was asked to visit high schools loosely affiliated with the university where I was teaching. I visited them and chatted with the teachers of mathematics there. I asked what they were doing and what training they had for the teaching of mathematics. I found that most of the teachers had no real training in mathematics and wished they did. They all indicated that if we had a master’s degree for teaching mathematics, they would come and take it. Their schools had a program that paid for them to take further studies in their fields each summer if they wished to do it.

I presented this request to my department. There was a favorable reception to the idea, and I was encouraged to look into the matter further. I got in touch with the Mathematics Association that was connected with college math teaching and preparation of mathematics teachers. They had a program that looked really exciting, and I spent hours adapting it to what we did at the university.

When I presented this as a possibility to the department, everybody seemed to be opposed to the very idea. I was accused of being non-professional, of undercutting what the university was doing, of causing everyone in the department to have to do more work, of working against the university’s policy of excellence. I received no encouragement whatsoever. The attacks turned personal. Finally, after months of discouragement, I dropped the whole idea.  

Apparently Paul felt this way in Thessalonica. He was chased out of the city by disgruntled people. Later he wrote a short letter to the church there. Eight times in this letter he mentioned encouragement (in the Holman Christian Standard Bible); that is more than in any two of his other letters.

Lord, use me to encourage those I associate with in their walk with You.

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[i] https://relentlessgrowth.wordpress.com/2017/07/07/encourage/