Bronke Feb 2020

“ A man there was, though some did count him mad, the more he cast away the more he had .” —John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

I believe that everyone loves a good story. We sit around fires and dinner tables and tell tall tales; we reminisce about good times and watch movies, attend theatre productions, and read novels. I have always particularly loved stories of all kinds. In some ways, I used to think that I wrote my own story. As I prepare to leave for Africa this summer and begin a new story, “the author and perfecter” of my faith continues to show me that it is He who establishes my steps (Hebrews 12:1, NIV).

The Rafiki Classical Christian curriculum intentionally teaches students to analyze what they read through a Christian worldview. This shapes not only how they view a text but also their own lives and contexts. The students also read great pieces of literature like John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. As an allegory of the Christian life, the story is full of imagery of the Christian’s struggle with sin and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The main character, aptly named Christian, leaves everything he knows behind to seek after God’s kingdom. Both the students in the Rafiki PreK–12 schools and teachers in Rafiki teacher-training colleges read about Christian casting the world away and clinging to God.

As students read works such as The Pilgrim’s Progress along with the Bible every day, they become increasingly attuned to spiritual realities. The more they give away, the more they have. In Rwanda, high school students gave up their favorite meal served in the Rafiki dining hall and hand delivered it to patients at a hospital because hospital patients in Africa must find their own meals. Two twin Rafiki day students in the three-year-old class in Rwanda invited those in their village for a feast to “celebrate Jesus’ birthday” last Christmas, helping feed their neighbors and demonstrating how to honor God to them.

Missionaries Tom and Lusubilo Maggio in Zambia with teachers-college students in a book club holding copies of The Pilgrim’s Progress

Rafiki students in Rwanda sharing a birthday cake for Jesus with their neighbors

A Rafiki student in Kenya reading C.S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy

I have read many accounts of Rafiki teachers college students walking hours to get to class by the early morning. They often walk through mud and rain (especially during the rainy season!), but they manage to arrive at school on time, looking professional, because they value the work. They sit down and study the Word of God together, learning that whoever loses their life for the sake of Christ will find it (Matthew 16:25). Onlookers may think the students are mad for the sacrifices they make to be trained as classical Christian educators. Some may think they are mad for their faith in Christ, but I pray they see it as a worthy sacrifice.

I also pray that I am not hesitant to cast away life as I know it to join the work God is doing in Africa through Rafiki—and through the individuals Rafiki serves.

Want to join me? I pray to glorify God as I assist a dean in one of Rafiki’s teachers colleges or teach English in a Rafiki School. We can be a part of a great story God is writing in Africa, and He does not write on paper but human hearts.

If you have already given, would you consider giving again or giving monthly? Through the Rafiki website, you can set up a monthly gift that begins when I start my two-year term this summer.

Please also feel free to contact me should you have any questions. I am so grateful for your support. Through it, God reminds me that He will provide for what He wants accomplished.

To donate:

• Go to www.rafikifoundation.org.

• Select “Support a Missionary” from the drop-down menu in the upper right.

• Find my photo and enter the amount that you would like to give. (You can make a one-time donation or a recurring donation.) Thank you!

To donate by check:

• Send your check to the Rafiki Home Office at PO Box 1988, Eustis, FL 32727 with my name and missionary (#249) in the memo line.

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