Lee-funded Ugandan Bible school celebrates a year of studies
Training takes place in the South Sudanese Bible school, located in a refugee camp in Uganda. Photos courtesy of Lee University Office of Public Relations.
In 2018, Lee University’s School of Religion (SOR) faculty raised money to start a Bible school in a South Sudanese refugee camp in Uganda. September 2019 marked the first year of studies taught by the new school.
Dr. Rickie Moore, associate dean of the SOR said, “We are pleased to see this vision come to fruition.”
Moore said the school reflects Lee’s early beginnings as a small Bible institute.
“What better way for Lee to reflect with gratitude upon its humble beginning than to help bring about the birth of another school,” Moore said. “We saw this as an opportunity to pay it forward, you could say, from the harvest of one humble beginning to the promise of another.”
Dr. Carolyn Dirkson, distinguished professor emeritus of English, introduced the idea to the SOR leadership after visiting Kenya in 2017. During her visit, she met Dichi Joseph Levi.
“Dichi was my student in a course I taught in East Africa a couple of summers ago,” said Dirksen. “His dream is to train people in the Bible so that, when they go back home to South Sudan, they can take the message of the gospel with them. He asked for very little to start this Bible school, and I knew this project would be close to the hearts of the leaders of Lee’s School of Religion.”
Class photo of the inaugural Bible school students.
Levi was a previous student enrolled at a Bible school in Kenya before he decided to lead his own Bible training camp. This project comes in addition to the three churches he established in refugee camps.
The projected start-up cost for the school was estimated at $1,400. Lee's faculty, staff and students exceeded that amount and raised a total of $1,875.
The Bible school began with 12 students and two courses. In the future, the school plans to enroll more students and add three courses in January 2020.
“It is always an amazing thing when more people get the opportunity to learn about Christ and the Word of God,” said junior pastoral ministries major Blake Nunnery. “I pray this Bible school in Uganda will grow and be successful so that many can hear the amazing news of our loving God.”
For more information about the Bible school, contact the Department of Theology at 423-303-5110 or theology@leeuniversity.edu.
