December 2024 AIU Newsletter
December 2024 Newsletter
Training Africa’s Next Generation of Spiritual Leaders
Partner with AIU in 2025!
AIU faces growing financial needs as it welcomes the 2025 freshman class.
We are excited to welcome 20-25 new students who will be attending AIU as freshmen in 2025. These students are supported in their studies by the generosity of financial partners who share AIU’s vision. We need your help!
AIU is facing great financial needs for the year 2025, and we are asking for your prayers and support as we begin the year. Traditionally, the Voices of Zambia (VOZ) singing group has been AIU’s primary way of raising support for our students and the daily operations of campus. Each year, the VOZ travels throughout the United States, sharing their music and inviting churches to participate in the mission of AIU. This year however, the VOZ was unable to travel to the states to raise support for 2025.
First, please pray with us that God would open doors to cover these financial needs. As you pray, please also consider partnering with AIU by making a gift toward the student scholarship fund. Any gift, large or small, is a blessing in raising support for the university. Any gifts can be made using the link below.
Finally, please pray that churches in the United States would consider adding AIU to their missions budget and partnering with us for years to come. In our current fundraising model, many financial partners stop supporting AIU once they have seen a sponsored student through to graduation. As a result, support-raising has become an unending challenge for our university as we face pressure to find sponsorships for each freshman class. We pray that local churches in America will consider supporting AIU long-term as an extension of their discipleship ministries.
AIU students are excited to be equipped with the necessary tools for effective ministry; all they need is your support! After training at AIU, these students become the next generation of youth leaders, deacons, pastors, evangelists, and teachers across the continent of Africa. Upon graduation, these young men go out into a lost world and intentionally disciple those they encounter in ministry. We praise God for your prayers and generosity as we seek to advance His kingdom! The included photo shows AIU’s most recent graduating class.
PLanting Season!
Late rains bring uncertainty but develop dependence.
As AIU continues to pursue self-sustainability, gardening and farming have become a regular part of our campus life.
Our farming initiative is heavily dependent on the rainy season, which typically runs from November-March. This year however, the rainy season didn’t arrive until mid-December, posing challenges for our fields and the planting season. Despite the late start, we have planted corn in all our fields and we trust God will provide us with enough rainfall for our crops as the rainy season continues. This challenge impacts not only our campus and the surrounding villages, but it has also affected most parts of Zambia.
With that said, the rain that we have received so far is a blessing to our campus and many others. Producing our own corn helps us so we can process it into cornmeal for use at the main cafeteria (Zambia’s staple food, Nshima, is made from cornmeal). We grind our corn into cornmeal using hammer mills, which were installed on campus a few years ago. Additionally, we feed our campus chickens maize bran, a byproduct of converting maize into cornmeal. In all these ways, our agricultural initiatives help us reduce the cost of operating AIU’s campus and ministry.
We are looking forward to good growth of the corn in our fields, leading to an abundant harvest. As mentioned in previous updates, our new maize sheller will help us expedite our cornmeal production this year, making self-sustainability more attainable.
We ask for your prayers for AIU throughout this farming season. As the start of this year’s rain has brought uncertainty, please pray with us that we will have enough rain for our crops to grow.
Chifundo Clinic serves Community!
AIU’s Chifundo Clinic addresses physical and spiritual needs.
God’s faithfulness in the life of AIU is evident in a myriad of ways. One of these is the operation of the Chifundo Clinic. Members of the local community often express their gratitude for the quality medical services provided to them through the clinic.
The Chifundo Clinic is a huge blessing to the local community, since it gives patients access to local and reliable medical services, without having to travel long distances. As a result, Chifundo Clinic receives 50-60 patients each day on average. Chifundo Clinic is especially a benefit to expecting mothers, who can now receive necessary care in a timely manner.
Additionally, the Chifundo Clinic not only attends to the physical needs of patients, but also their spiritual needs. The clinic staff collaborates with our outreach department, working tirelessly to share the gospel and provide counseling to patients who arrive each day. We thank God that our clinic has continued to serve as a key avenue for sharing the gospel and blessing the surrounding community.
We are also thankful to all the sponsors who continue to give generously, enabling Chifundo Clinic to be a blessing to so many people every day. The gifts of Gospelink partners truly sustain the mission and ministry of Chifundo Clinic.
Please pray that God would continue to provide for the clinic and Chifundo’s staff would be filled with God’s wisdom and strength as they work tirelessly to provide quality medical care, preach the gospel, and provide counsel to those in need.
AIU Outreach teams!
SENT teams continue to make disciples and serve local churches.
Students and staff on AIU’s SENT teams have continued proclaiming the gospel, seeing many come to faith in surrounding villages. Since October, our outreach department has been on a partial break, with staff continuing ministry while students have returned home. During this break, ministry has primarily happened on Sunday mornings through local church services.
Intentional outreach has led to many opportunities for evangelism. Our teams have seen a continued thirst for the Word of God among many of the surrounding villages. Additionally, local churches are excited to have our students and staff partner with them in preaching the gospel to the lost and in discipleship programs.
Our outreach programs not only bless the surrounding communities, but they serve as opportunities our students to have practical ministry experience to apply the knowledge they gain in the classroom. AIU students also develop critical leadership skills as they work alongside experienced pastors from local churches.
These local pastors, along with AIU staff and students, are overjoyed at the testimonies of many who have come to faith through the different ministries of our outreach department. We praise the Lord for His work to draw the lost to Himself!
Please continue praying for our students and staff as they minister in these local churches and share the gospel in surrounding villages.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT!
SAMUEL KANGUSU
Academic Assistant and Receptionist
Samuel Kangusu is a 2024 graduate of AIU. Originally from the Misisi Compound of Lusaka, Samuel is the youngest of six children. Despite being raised in a Christian home, Samuel did not know Christ as his Lord and Savior until he attended a Bible study class in 2013. The Bible study focused on John 3:1-16 and emphasized that salvation is individual and only through faith in Christ. This message softened Samuel’s heart and he believed in Christ and was saved that very day.
By God’s grace, Samuel was able to begin studying theology at AIU in 2021. Upon his graduation last year, Samuel joined AIU’s staff as a receptionist and academic assistant. His daily routines include managing logistics and paperwork for the offices of the dean of theology and the director of quality assurance. Additionally, he is the receptionist at the H.E. Wyatt administration building on campus, helping students and staff with office supplies, managing printers and meeting guests’ needs. Samuel counts it a blessing to be able to provide these services to AIU staff, students, and guests.
“Serving at the front desk helps me connect with people and share the love of Christ with them. I am learning to serve others and work together for God’s kingdom. I look forward to being used by God in my roles at AIU and making an impact for his kingdom.”
Please pray with Samuel that he will be able to serve the Lord faithfully, helping more students with academic challenges and seeing success in both offices he assists.
STudent SPOTLIGHT!
MOSES SAKALA
Senior
Another Lusaka native, Moses Sakala is a senior at AIU, set to graduate at the end of 2025. Although Moses was not born into a Christian family, his parents became Christians when he was only two years old.
Moses was saved in 2018, after his dad was involved in a serious car accident. As he struggled with fear of losing his dad, a friend at school preached the gospel to him, urging him to place his trust in Jesus Christ. Since Moses first trusted Christ, the peace of God has ruled in his life, triumphing over fear.
“Learning theology at AIU has transformed my life. It has helped me to view everything in the light of who God is. It has also helped me to see how sinful I was, and this has helped me to appreciate the salvation Christ has offered to me. Finally, this knowledge has helped me to properly relate with God through Jesus Christ.”
After graduation, Moses plans to be a teacher of God's word. He desires to help people understand the Bible clearly. In Africa, many people are led astray by various false teachings. Moses’ goal is to teach the truth.
As he begins his final year in school, Moses is thankful for those who have enabled his studies by sponsoring him and praying for him. Please continue to pray with Moses that he would finish his studies well and be able to teach others faithfully.