Students and staff work together to unload the container.

On November 18, African Christian College was blessed with another shipment of supplies and needed equipment. A container from the United States arrived and was quickly unpacked by faculty, staff and students.

Containers such as these are great blessings to our campus providing equipment for the Tree of Life Project, furniture for housing our students and families, and other supplies to help accomplish our mission in God’s Kingdom. ACC partners with Global Samaritan Resources, a nonprofit ministry in Abilene, Texas. Global Samaritan stores our items until we have a full load, recruits volunteers for packing the container and works with our staff to coordinate shipment to our campus.

ACC's 2011 degree candidates

On November 18th the graduates were hosted in a pre-graduation evening with the staff and faculty of ACC.

Each graduate was singled out for special reflection and encouragement. Prayers were offered by staff members for each graduate for their future work after returning home and for their safe travel to reach home.

Many of our third year students have not returned home since their arrival at ACC in 2009. They eagerly anticipate the completion of their studies and their return home. Each of these fine men have made significant contributions and have grown in their faith and leadership.

African Christian College graduation is scheduled for December 8, 2011.

Church leaders and students attending side-by-side

African Christian College was honored to host our second annual leadership retreat for church leaders and preachers from throughout Swaziland. This year’s retreat was held November 4-6, 2011 with the theme “How to Make a (Jesus) Difference.”

Retreat topics included: forgiveness, holiness, prayer, giving, planning and preaching like Jesus. ACC faculty, staff and church leaders were among the presenters for the retreat. Staff and students provided hospitality for the event and attendees enjoyed watching a “Saul of Tarsus” on the big screen.

Church leaders are sorely disappointed that we only do this once a year and requests for change varied between asking for a repeat of the event on a monthly basis to hosting it twice a year. ACC is sincerely thankful for the church leaders who attended and provided contributions to make the event the success that it was.

Nick Dekker (ACC's first teacher; right) and Elias Simelane (an early student) in front of house Nick built forty years earlier.

In June, 1966 Nick Dekker travelled with his family, from Benoni in South Africa to Matsapha in Swaziland. His church commission was to establish a school at which to train men for the preaching ministry of the churches of Christ.

Bro. Dekker leased a farmhouse from Mrs. Nxaba, next to the property which was purchased as the site on which to establish Manzini Bible School (later African Christian College). He established a local congregation which started meeting at the Dekker home. In 1967 construction of the Round House began and it was completed in 1968.

Nick Dekker and Jesse Brown taught classes from 07:00 to 12:00 and the land was farmed from 14:00 onwards. The team raised maize and groundnuts as cash crops that were sold in order for students to be supplied with other foodstuffs. Growing beans was difficult because the Reedbuck in the area usually ate the bean crop, until they were given permission to hunt Reedbuck.

In 1967 David Makhubu arranged for king Sobuza Dlamini II’s advisor to put Bro. Dekker on the roll to preach to about 5,000 people. The ruling was that the preacher was expected to preach and answer questions until such time that the king asked him to sit down. That day Bro. Dekker preached and taught in fluent Zulu for eight hours. The king gave Bro. Dekker permission to walk into and preach at any church in Swaziland. Only the Roman Catholic Church and the Assemblies of God refused to comply with this arrangement.

The Dekkers and their co-workers worked tirelessly and by 1972, fourteen Manzini Bible School students preached to 26 congregations every Sunday. Bro Dekker and his family left Swaziland in January 1972. Nick Dekker continued to serve the Lord until he was called home on 20 September 2011. The event that brought him great joy during his final moments here was the baptism of his youngest grandson Hennie Dekker.

Texas volunteers loading container for ACC - Sept 2011

Last week, a container was shipped from Global Samaritan Resources, our US based partner in shipping. The container includes over 250 boxes of religious books and a full pallet of textbooks along with various furniture items that will be used in student housing and the new library.

Also included is a flail (a type of mower) for the macadamia orchards.  This new piece of equipment will be a great help in keeping the grass and weeds down in the orchards.  It will also cut down on tractor operation expense as it covers the entire space between two rows of trees while the current mowers only cover about half the space.

The shipment also contains medical supplies to be distributed to local hospitals or clinics that always are short on supplies. Other items will be distributed to benevolent organizations in Swaziland.

The women from the Swaziland Churches of Christ hosted this year’s Christian Ladies’ Retreat in Manzini on September 2-4, 2011. Over 400 women came from Swaziland, South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, and Botswana to the lectureship.

Under the theme “Christian Women as a Pillar in this Changing World”, speakers inspired, renewed and challenged attendees in living and leading as Christian women in every aspect of their lives.

Wendy Platt, ACC Registrar, served on the steering committee of this year’s retreat and worked tirelessly in making sure everything was in order for the event. Many other ACC students and staff attended the retreat, participated in the program, cooked and served meals, provided childcare, and helped with set-up and clean-up for the event.

In July 2011, a team of ACC supporters from Phoenix, Arizona, USA, came to campus for four weeks to begin construction of the new African Christian College Library. The library, to be completed in 2012, will house the growing catalog of books, commentaries, videos and periodicals and also offer students a place to complete projects and study.

The new library is being constructed to the west of the current Administration Building where classes are currently held, and where the library’s volumes are currently kept and used.

Funding, design and construction for the new library will be completed by supporters from the United States. Visit www.AriseandBuildLibrary.org for more information.