Three years ago, Christophe traveled from the Central African Republic to attend a pastors’ conference in Cameroon where Dr. Dieudonné Tamfu, Director of the Bethlehem Seminary extension site, taught. It was his first time hearing Scripture preached with such exegetical rigor and theological clarity. A fire was ignited in his heart.
Today, Christophe is one of the twelve M.Div. students at our extension site and among the four who are primarily French-speaking. Despite not being fluent in English, he is working hard to learn Greek, develop exegetical skills, and grow in spiritual knowledge and maturity. His hope is to return to his country to plant a healthy church where the true gospel can be proclaimed. He also aspires to train biblically faithful pastors who can combat the encroaching darkness of false gospels.
Christophe told me his story when we met in Cameroon this past January. Not only was I encouraged by his aspirations, to hear how God spurred him on his journey at the same conference I attended three years ago was particularly sweet. I, too, was in Cameroon then, to fulfill the missions practicum requirement for my M.Div. at Bethlehem Seminary. The visit simultaneously became my vision trip.
Since then, I have joined the team as an academic coordinator and adjunct instructor and serve our extension site from a distance while working on my Th.M. in Minneapolis. My fluency in French (I grew up in Montreal) enables me to support the French-speaking students—Brice, Daniel, Innocent, and, of course, Christophe—with advising, teaching, and translation. In particular, I have been teaching English for Theological Students this summer, to equip them with strategies for how to read better in English, particularly in the field of theology. I have also been translating our own Dr. Beckman’s excellent Hebrew class material into French—not a small feat!—with plans to co-teach the class with one of our Cameroon graduates this fall.
Why teach English and translate materials into French at the same time? French theological resources are scarce. In fact, the majority of theological works in the evangelical world are in English. It is therefore a standard practice of all serious French seminaries to require their students to know some English (similar to how Ph.D. programs often require their candidates to learn French or German). On the other hand, learning the biblical languages in a language not your own is doubly challenging. In light of the above, we believe these twin enhancements in our Cameroon-specific curriculum will serve our French-speaking students during their studies and beyond. By extension, we believe it will benefit French-speaking Africa. Indeed, we pray that God would be pleased to use our seminary in Cameroon to strengthen the church across languages, tribes, and countries in Africa, as we prepare our multilingual students to master the biblical languages and make good use of a wider range of scholarly resources.
Being a student in Africa is not easy, however. I was surprised to learn during my trip in January that people earn on average $200–300 USD a month in Cameroon. This means that a $50 textbook can represent 25% of a student’s monthly income! With the Alex Steddom International Student Fund now focused on in-country education, we have been able to create a work-study program for our students through which they can gain ministry experience and income to support their families, pay their tuition fees, and obtain required resources. We would not be able to sustain twelve students (and prayerfully more in the future) if it were not for your generous contributions to the fund. However big or small, every gift makes an enormous difference, and the students are very grateful to you.
Join us in prayer as the team and the students gear up for another semester:
- Lord willing, three of our professors—Professor Timothée Davi, Pastor Tom Steller, and myself—will travel to Cameroon in August and September to teach portions of our respective classes in person. Pray that we would be able to impact our students more intentionally during this time in person and for traveling mercies, especially for Pastor Tom.
- Pray that the students will continue to be equipped to exegete, preach, and shepherd faithfully and courageously amidst poverty, social pressure, and spiritual attacks.
- Please continue to pray also for our site director, Dieudonné, and his family as they press on in their ministry.
Hernan Wu, M.Div. ’23
Academic Coordinator and Adjunct Instructor