“Steadfast Love” based on Psalm 138 and Luke 5:1-11

Our nation’s oldest colleges and universities were created to educate clergy. In terms of undergraduates, that isn’t the goal anymore, and when it happens it is accidental. This is probably good, because many ways of serving God and building the kindom require education, and we definitely want people who can do their work well.

Africa University, founded in 1992, offers 7 faculties or colleges:

• theology,
• education, agriculture & natural resources,
• management & administration,
• humanities & social sciences,
• health sciences,
• the Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance.1

I have to admit that I’m so interested in this list, first that it still includes theology (which most of the graduates I know from Africa University focused on), but also how broad it is and how it seems to be responsive to the needs of the students who attend. It is very clear that leaders of nations are being educated at Africa University – with attention to the many kinds of leadership nations need.

It is said, “When Africa University students and graduates express their hopes and dreams, they often speak about changing the African continent – making a difference in their world.”2 I have to say, this dream feels bigger than most institutions of higher education I know in the USA.

There is a phrase I hear sometimes, “a God-sized dream.” It is used to encourage people to dream bigger, vision more broadly, take risks with what is possible. I have to say, I think that when African Bishops Emilio J. M. Carvalho of Angola and Bishop Arthur F. Kulah of Liberia challenged their colleagues at the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) to support the establishment of a university in Africa”3 that they dreamed a God-sized dream. Perhaps it fits then, that their motto is “The Dream is Alive!”

Today, there are more than 10,000 alums in 32 countries, 92% of whom are still in Africa. In 2020, there were 3010 students, 57% of whom were female. 57%! The university has teaching halls, administration buildings, student residences, faculty residences, and guest housing – which is about to house our four beloveds!

From Africa University “About- History and Development” Website, accessed 2/6/2025 https://africau.edu/about/history-development/

I am, I’ll admit, star struck by Africa University. It is one of the best things I think the United Methodist Church has ever done, and every alum I’ve ever met has blown me away. Some of this may be that I was raised in the United Methodist Church, and I heard about the development of Africa University when I was growing up, and about fundraising to make it possible, and about church members who went on trips to see it, and about what impact it could make in the world. And then, as a seminary student, I was suddenly in classes with Africa University alums, and I realized that how big that dream had become, and how tangible it was in the world.

Both the former Troy Conference (which this church was a part of) and the former Wyoming Conference (where I grew up) were huge supporters of Africa University, and Bob is well known for riding his bike to Annual Conference to raise money for Africa University. (And, by the way, the Africa University development office called this church this week to thank us for our support of Africa University!)

So this week, when I hear the beginning of Psalm 138:

I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;

I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted your name and your word above everything.

On the day I called, you answered me; you increased my strength of soul.

I hear it in the context of the dreams of Bishops Carvalho and Kulah, and the wonder in the world that is Africa University. It resonates. We give thanks to God for the dreams that were dreamt, and for the willingness of the institution to listen, for the affirmation of General Conference, and for the willingness of God’s people to fund the University. We give thanks for faculty and students, for alums and supports, for scholarships and networks, and for the ways that students from 28 countries get to learn from each other and alongside each other. There is a lot there to sing praises for! There is a lot of God’s faithfulness seen in the creation and running of Africa University, a living proof that people called out and God answered – often through other people.

Now, dear ones, I’m aware that the US news cycle contains a few things that some of us have found upsetting this week. I’m not being intentionally obtuse in ignoring them, but I don’t think they need more of our attention when we are given the great gift of sending our siblings in faith to Africa University for the first time! I think the story of the creation of Africa University and the continued story of its impact in the world is awe-inspiring, hope-filled, and quite worthy of our attention. And, it deserves to be said, our souls need to be fed by the Good News of God.

Because I fear that in parts of some days, we feel a lot like the fishers who had fished all night and caught nothing. We have these deeply held values, we have these kindom building dreams, we have these movements in our souls to care for all of God’s people – and yet our efforts may feel like fishing all night with nothing to show for it.

But the truth is that kindom building isn’t really a whole lot like fishing. Because kindom building is long, slow, careful work – and quite often what we do doesn’t have any visible impact – UNTIL all of a sudden, it does.

I’ve mentioned that Bishops Carvalho and Kulah called on GBHEM to establish AU in 1984. However, the timeline of Africa University doesn’t start with them. It starts 86 years earlier when “Bishop John Hartzell stood on Mount Chirembe above Old Mutare and looking down upon the valley, envisioned hundreds of young Africans with books in their hands, running to school.”4 That’s a long time, from the first dreaming to the calling for action. But, it strikes me that Bishop Hartzell’s dream must have been remembered and reflected on, since it wasn’t lost to history. His dream was planted, and it took a rather long time for it to start to show growth, but when the call came, all of the pieces were ready to go. Bishops Carvalho and Kulah called on GBHEM to establish AU in 1984, it was affirmed by General Conference in 1988, and only 4 years later the first students matriculated.

Our kindom building work matters in the now. The people we find patience for, the ones we listen to, the ones we find ways to express concern and care for all matter. Furthermore, the ways that we act now are part of that invisible growth of God’s dreams – the parts that are happening slowly and quietly and invisibly, like a seed preparing to break out of the soil.

Take heart, dear ones. God ensures that the good work of sharing love and hope in the world doesn’t go to waste. It matters in the now, and God is able to work within what’s possible to amplify the good into the future. As the Psalm says as it ends, “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.”

And, truly great things can happen. Africa University is one piece of proof, and this trip that Upper New York is taking that allows those who have worked for Africa University for decades to see it with their own eyes is another.

God’s roots are deep, and they soak up goodness. God’s roots are deep, and God’s steadfast love endures forever. God’s roots are deep, and God is at work in the world. Thanks be to God! Amen

1 Africa University Fund “Four Areas of Focus” Brochure.

2Ibid

3Africa University “About- History and Development” Website, accessed 2/6/2025 https://africau.edu/about/history-development/

4Ibid