Accreditation
And Jesus said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10:2)
On the eve of the celebration of Reformation in 2024, the Lutheran School of Theology received a congratulatory letter from the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA). It stated that the Lutheran School of Theology (LST) now meets the requirements for an accredited institution and has been awarded its provisional recognition for accreditation.
When people learned that the LST had been accredited, they posed two questions:
- The first question was, why did we seek accreditation?
- The second question was, what does accreditation entail?
Here, we hope to answer those questions.
The first and most straightforward answer is that we applied for accreditation at the request of the Lutheran bishops on our board.
There are several African countries, including Rwanda and Burundi, where the government requires pastors to have an accredited diploma to keep the churches open. Closing the churches has already happened in Rwanda, where over 8,000 churches were closed this past year for not complying with government regulations.
Many in America might think that this is an oppressive action taken by the government. However, some good and solid reasons exist for the government's involvement. In Kenya, the government sought to adopt similar regulations for churches, but several protests from Pentecostal churches blocked this. They did it because many Pentecostal preachers have little or no training. This is bad for Christians because untrained pastors bring on the dangers of false doctrines and heretical teachings.
A sobering example of devastation brought by heretical teaching was the mass death of hundreds of people in Kenya who followed their pastor's teaching and fasted for too many days. The government does not enforce a particular doctrine but simply requires pastors to have formal and recognized training.
So, this was the most urgent reason for us to seek accreditation.
Secondly, as Lutherans, we would hold to the accreditation or formal training principle because it is part of Article 14 of the Augsburg Confession. The Article says no one should preach, teach, or administer the sacraments without a rightly ordered call. A rightly ordered call requires a man to be trained, examined, called, and ordained. Therefore, we also follow the proper order for the formation of pastors.
The third reason we sought accreditation is that many candidates who come to the LST do not qualify to enroll at an accredited university. Their high school grades are pretty low, and thus, they only qualify for a vocational degree such as a certificate or diploma. These are the two programs that we offer at the LST. Upon successfully completing the accredited certificate and diploma programs, students qualify for admission to any university worldwide. Further studies are necessary because the Lutheran church in Africa needs more professors to train more pastors. Professors need to gain a higher academic level to train future pastors.
The accreditation assessment reviews five areas of a teaching institution: admission standards, faculty compliance, academic programs, library resources, and administration, which includes finances, staff, and facilities.
When reviewing the admission standards, the accrediting agency wants to ensure that all students have appropriately applied and followed the guidelines set by the Department of Education and any additional requirements for theological institutions. This procedure would be similar to any higher education institution in America, where students must submit their high school transcripts and fill out an application. Schools must have a student handbook and academic policies. Without these, there is no order.
Additionally, our admission policy requires all students to have a recommendation from their bishop and a second recommendation from their local pastor or congregation president. Again, this is similar to the conditions of the LCMS for its universities and seminaries. Lastly, all students have a mandatory health exam before enrolling. Knowing if the students have any medical needs is helpful since most do not have regular annual checkups.
Regarding the faculty, all the faculty must submit their CVs, appointment letters, and diplomas to show that they are qualified academically to teach at the institution. The faculty is required to have a director, a dean of students, an academic dean, and a registrar.
Each academic program or curriculum must have the minimum required course hours. Each course must have a syllabus with a class schedule and an established set of evaluations, including quizzes, exams, or projects.
The institution must have a minimum number of books in its library, which must be cataloged and organized to make the library functional. The books must also be relevant to the programs. For instance, at a theological school, essential books include Bibles, commentaries, history books, archaeology books, and books teaching doctrine and biblical languages. We were also required to hire a librarian to teach the students how to research books to write course papers and sermons.
Regarding administration, an essential but often overlooked area by theologians, schools are mandated to have budgets, audits, and tax compliance. They must show financial viability and not over-dependence on foreign entities. This has been a problem for many Bible schools in Africa because they have been overly reliant on foreign donors. When the donations dry up, these schools often close. We are still working hard to improve our self-sufficiency, but our work-study program is already helping us achieve self-sufficiency and viability. As you can see from our pictures, our school is well equipped with facilities such as dormitories, classrooms, a chapel, a cafeteria, and a library. We also have a staff that includes a business manager, a site manager, a catering staff, and other support staff.
As the LST has entered this first phase of accreditation, the process continues with a three-year period of further monitoring. During this time, the school needs to maintain the accreditation requirements. Then, the next step is obtaining full accreditation.
Getting to this point of being recognized for accreditation was not a one-man job. First and foremost, this milestone was willed and worked by our good Lord. He guided several people to pour their skills and effort into this endeavor. We want to thank ...
- Director James May
- Former Academic Dean Harold Ristau
- Current Academic Dean Gregory Schulz
- Registrar Lucy Koisaba
- Librarian Caroline Jepkosgei
- All other LST staff and students
- LIA/LST board members
- Dr. Tarus, Dr. Muteti
- Several people who donated books for the library
- Those who volunteered to catalog and organize the library (especially Rev. Schultz and his sons for the enormous final effort to push the library past the minimum accreditation requirements)
- And all other volunteers.
Thank you for letting God use you to further His kingdom in Africa.
Soli Deo Gloria!
- a one-year Certificate in Evangelistic Training (CET)
- and a three-year Diploma in Theology (DTh) with one year of vicarage.
Rev. James May
Contact: +254 710660670
Email: director@lutheransinafrica.com
Lucy Koisaba
WhatsApp/Call: +254 798454270
Email: assistant@lutheransinafrica.com
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