Gospel Derived Education

ACU has a four stage approach to proclaim the Gospel, disciple students and produce ambassadors for Christ to work and serve in Africa to the Father’s glory.

(1) In a preparatory year students, churched and unchurched, interact with the full narrative of God’s plan for man’s redemption in Christ from the whole Scripture. The Gospel message is reinforced through preparatory work in communications and critical thinking to assure student preparation for the rigors of undergraduate-level coursework. Discipleship begins through a student labor program where existing worldviews are routinely confronted through practical application of God’s Word to daily living in relationships, hardships and successes, thoroughly exposing student’s to a Biblical worldview.

(2) Through undergraduate courses taught in a mentor-cohort setting,¹ maturing in the understanding and handling of the word of righteousness is nurtured through biblical studies and theological preparation. Biblical discernment is constantly practiced through the study and critique of classical through contemporary literature across all disciplines and cultures to sharpen the student’s discernment between good and evil while developing their skills in the classical trivium of grammar, logic and rhetoric.

(3) A student labor program incorporating all aspects of industrial arts, trades, crafts, businesses, technology and agriculture not only develops a self-sufficient, financially viable institute while training students in multiple life-skills, but more importantly, is the vehicle through which discipleship and mentoring can most effectively occur. It is here that renewal of the mind and moral transformation to Biblical standards is practiced. The mentor demonstrates living out faith for the student in practical application to one’s whole life through God-glorifying labor.

(4) All aspects of education focus on benevolent application to address existing challenges in Africa. From service programs to student-team thesis projects, every student applies their talents and learning to group projects that facilitate the demonstration of Christ’s love in concern for the needs of others – eternal, firstly, and temporal, correspondingly. Such projects afford opportunity for an honor’s degree awarded to student-team benevolence projects considered worthy to actually be seeded through incorporation of necessary outside support structures allowing students to initiate new approaches to meeting existing challenges in the African context.

The entire purpose of ACU is securing the Gospel as the foundation of every aspect of student learning and development. It is by this avenue that the Reformed Baptist Church of Zambia seeks recreation in Christ of Africa to God’s glory.

¹Mentor-cohort setting – This is the term used at ACU to designate the style utilized for teaching and learning. It is believed that a small group of students who remain together for their studies over an extended period of time will develop stronger relationships with one another and their professor/mentor and these group associations will enhance the teaching and learning process for everyone involved. Significant historical application of this model in Africa and many traditional cultures, including Hebrew, Greek and Roman, would affirm the effectiveness of this model as opposed to the more recent trends toward Western student fluctuation through various lecture-style classroom approaches.