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THE GRAND NARRATIVE IN A POST-MODERN AGE
(part 1)     
By Dr. Ken Turnbull, ACU Vice-Chancellor 

Civilisations are united, built and progress on vision. There must be a narrative that brings commonality to people through the past and unity to purpose in the present. The narrative must offer promise that carries forward to the future. The West was built on the Judeo-Christian narrative of the Bible. It brought commonality to people as created in God's image. It united people in purpose as those redeemed by the blood of Christ, reconciled to the Father and gathered into the church for the purpose of accomplishing God's redemptive mission in the present. It provides hope in the assurance of promises secured in the future narrative of the sovereign Creator and Sustainer. The Bible's grand narrative defines the church and the resulting civilisation that brought flourishing to humanity through the modern age.

That age has passed. We now find ourselves in a post-modern age where there is no longer vision. There is no accepted narrative that brings commonality from the past or purpose to the present. There is no narrative upon which promises can assure hope for the future. Any unifying narratives are deconstructed and relativised into truthless fantasies for the personal needs of the weak. Globalism seeks to assemble people with nothing to unite them in commonality, purpose or hope. It is a doomed experiment where the missing factor is truth. Where there is no truth only foolishness can result. As Paul declared in his letter to the Romans, truth was suppressed and they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

How does the church minister reconciliation in this age of truthless confusion and hopelessness? The church must offer the missing truth only found in reuniting with our past, created purpose: to glorify God. The church must reintroduce present purpose by proclaiming the truth of the message of reconciliation of all things to the Father through redemption in the blood of Jesus Christ. The church must be a glorious bastion of hope by guiding the foolish, dark-hearted sinner into discovering his place in the grand narrative of God's redemptive plan where promises can be assured in the future glory under the sovereign control of the Creator. In attempting to be relevant through the modern and into the postmodern era, the church has drifted into secular tendencies that have weakened the deep anchors to the beauty and truth of the grand narrative history upon which the church was built. To say in words that everything is about Jesus and what He said, and yet to abandon the very foundations and doctrines upon which the faith of His church was established, is the secularising trends that have neutralised the church in her redemptive purpose. That rich, nourishing history that connects the church of today through the grand narrative of God's redemptive plan since eternity past and carries on through eternity future must be recovered.

It is the Word of God which guides all that we are and all that we do as God's image-bearers into His mission work of redemption. It is the rich confessions and creeds of church history that give framework and depth to our thinking and our engagement. The foolish and dark-hearted sinners of this postmodern age must find a divine narrative in the church that opens the heart to the light of truth, the glory and comfort of being reconciled to their Creator, the hope of promises assured by the One who holds the future in His hand. The church must return to the historic expressions of the Scripture, the hymns, the creeds and the confessions that unite us with our true history, rooted in God's narrative of creation, our fall, His work of redemption, and His promise of the new heavens and the new earth as our eternal home. The lost world, wandering in the darkness of relativism needs the securing truth of reconciliation into God's narrative of truth through redemption in Jesus Christ.

ACU seeks to educate students in this tradition. The purpose is to root every student's knowledge in all academic disciplines of study in the grace of God that has guided the revelation and discovery of all truth throughout history. Graduates must be equipped to be ambassadors of Christ who can display and describe the historic truths of God's redemptive mission to this postmodern age through every vocation and sphere of their lives. Whether the student's vocation is in art, agriculture, business, engineering, education, medicine, science or theology, every student is to be equipped to display and explain the grand narrative which brings unity, purpose and hope through redemption by the blood of Christ. Support the work of African Christian University as a ministry of the church so that Africa might be guided through the darkness of postmodernism to the light of reconciliation of all things to the Father of hope and glory.
INTERVIEW WITH PASTOR RONALD KALIFUNGWA 
By Lisa Turnbull 

1. When and how did you first hear about African Christian University (ACU)?

 I first heard about the idea of the African Christian University in December 2008. I believe the occasion was when Dr Ken Turnbull phoned me from Nampula, Mozambique, where he lived then, to ask if I and Lusaka Baptist Church would be interested in joining hands with him to found a Christian university in Zambia. The name of the university was revealed at the initial meeting along with its present logo that we can see being worn around Zambia.

December 2008
2. What do you teach at ACU, and can you please explain its purpose?

I teach a course called Christian Reasoning and Rhetoric. The course is divided into three parts, namely Christian Worldview, Critical Thinking and Rhetoric. It is designed to help students think biblically about the world in which they live as well as to fulfil all of God's mandates-whether they be spiritual or cultural-in the whole of their lives. It is also designed to encourage Christian logical reasoning and to help develop the art of Christian expression, communication and persuasion within an African context.

3. How do you manage to volunteer your time to teach at ACU in your very busy schedule?

I don't find it easy at all. My pastoral work and other demands do keep me very busy indeed, and I find that time so often eludes me in my bid to realise all that I wish to accomplish for the people of God at Lusaka Baptist Church. Consequently, I have sometimes been tempted  to give up the ACU work for the sake of creating more time for God's flock at LBC. I have not done this because I am buoyed up by a desire to fulfil a vision that I believe will ennoble and serve the spiritual and cultural interests of our nation and continent once fully realized. I have therefore committed myself to ACU believing that God has called me to do it and praying and depending on him to grant me the strength and the grace to do it faithfully. 

4. How do you see the interaction between the churches and ACU?

The churches own ACU and so in a sense, through their leaders, they are always thinking about it. Furthermore, they have committed money, personnel and other things besides (however small) as an expression of their commitment to a cause that they would like to see prosper into the very distant future. Nonetheless the churches still have a lot to learn and a long way to go. Having never championed a project of this magnitude before and still trying to come to grips with the philosophy, management and practice of higher Christian education, the churches have fallen short at many points including failing to adequately support ACU and to clearly communicate her mission to the churches. I am however hopeful that as the churches grow (which they have been doing) in their knowledge and appreciation of the vision of their elders as well as that of the board and management of ACU, that they will in time be 'competent for these things' and propel the university forward through a supportive community of elders and churches, an efficient board of directors and a skilled management team. Those of us that have a better idea of how these things are done must not give up on churches that are still crawling in the corridors of higher Christian education but have a desire to one day walk and run. Rather we must continue to pray for them and to walk this path with them until at length they are able to establish THE AFRICAN CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY. 
  
SCHOLARSHIP FUND 

By sponsoring a student, you can make a direct investment in his or her life and future. Equipped with a degree from ACU, our graduates will be better able to care for their families, and as ambassadors for Christ, to revitalise their communities for the glory of God. A one-year sponsorship can help ensure that a student succeeds at ACU and ultimately graduates. Any amount will help make a difference. 


SEEKING HELP 

If God has gifted you as an artisan of excellence in any aspect of the construction trade, consider discipling colleagues and students with ACU. Please contact us if you believe God is calling you to serve His kingdom
wor
k in this way. Email: info@acu-zambia.com

Current Faculty Needs:   
Theology, Education, Business and Agriculture  
with future expansion to cover  
all humanities and sciences

GIVE TODAY! 


A Christ-centered higher education in all of the humanities and sciences can best guide the saint toward seeking God's will and His kingdom mission for life, avoiding the typical pragmatic education that simply conforms one to this world. These Campaigns was initiated as a means for individuals to take personal ownership in partnering to bring about this paradigm shift in African higher education.
* Please pray for the first of eight Faculty Development Workshops beginning 10 June to familiarise qualified, potential faculty from the Zambian stake holding churches with the education philosophy and scholarly particulars of classical Christian education at ACU.

* Please continue to pray for the completion of the ACU constitution with wisdom so that the Christian foundation of ACU's establishment will remain intact for generations to come.

* Pray for the necessary financial support for the advancement and running of ACU.

* The students are now half-way through the second term. Please pray for their stamina in their course work, and more importantly, pray for their spiritual development.

* A second siting survey for water has been completed at the Chisamba campus. Please pray for a successful borehole drilling.

* Zesco (Zambia's electric company) has a 6 month window to install the purchased transformer and power lines. Please pray that they would be efficient so that construction can commence very soon.
* The ACU-USA Board continues to assist with ACU developments from the USA. Thank God for His guidance and provision. Pray for their Strategic Planning meetings later this year as ACU prepares to internationalise.

* Dr. Voddie Baucham, as the ACU International Advancement Director, led a workshop of professionals from the Zambian stake holding churches for coordinating advancement efforts from Zambia. 

* A previous borehole (well) had sufficient water flow to support the Chisamba caretaker and his family. A pump is being installed for that purpose.

* The Higher Education Authority (HEA) continues to make progress in organising themselves for evaluating registered Zambian universities towards accreditation.
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A Letter From Kabwata