{"id":10404,"date":"2023-06-24T11:09:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T11:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/?p=10404"},"modified":"2025-03-24T11:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T11:49:11","slug":"eswa-awards-its-first-degrees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/eswa-awards-its-first-degrees\/","title":{"rendered":"ESWA awards its first degrees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Evangelical Seminary of West Africa (ESWA), a close partner of SIM Liberia, has awarded its first degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The seminary\u2019s inaugural cohort of Master\u2019s degree students was inducted in September 2019. In early 2023, the first five of these scholars completed the rigorous requirements for their degree, including an oral doctrinal exam and defense of a research thesis. They graduated in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Rick Calenberg, along with his wife Carol, has been serving as the president of the seminary during its first years, recruiting and hosting many outside instructors to provide a robust curriculum. The Calenbergs spent 10 years at Jos Evangelical Theological Seminary in Nigeria and at Moody Bible Institute, then at Dallas Theological Seminary in the US. SIM Liberia workers Dr. Dee Grimes and Gene Brooks also teach and mentor at ESWA and two other families are \u201con the runway\u201d to join them if housing and children\u2019s schooling become available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52952651008_b3114bdb01_c.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rev. Ugo Peterson receives his graduate hood. Photo by SIM Liberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52952635543_c9010c8483.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The seminary fills a critical need of the church in Liberia: to deepen Biblical knowledge and understanding within the local context and guard against false teaching. Master of Divinity degrees are offered with a specialisation in either pastoral and theological studies or educational administration and management. The testimony of Rev. Ben Suah, the top pastoral theology graduate, articulates the impact of ESWA for the church in Liberia. He says, \u201cI now have a gospel lens through which to view all things including the culture around me. The congregation I pastor is now hearing the gospel preached and taught with rich applications for their lives\u2026The entire Bible is now understood as one major story with intercanonical themes that find its ultimate fulfilment and resolution in Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another graduate, Rev. Ugo Peterson, is passing along his learning to undergraduates at a local seminary. He also coordinates the \u2018Paths to School Improvement\u2019 programme at ESWA to train leaders of Christian schools in Liberia, in association with the Association of Christian Schools, International (ACSI) and SIM West Africa. The programme will bring international trainers to Liberia to help schools build curricula based on the Christian worldview and to improve academic standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The motto of ESWA is \u201cLight your heart, impact your world.\u201d The graduates will surely strengthen the church of Jesus Christ in Liberia as they lead churches and schools into deeper knowledge of God, and a clearer understanding of the gospel both through their example and their teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52952651008_b3114bdb01_c.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rev. Ugo Peterson receives his graduate hood. Photo by SIM Liberia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These first years of operation have revealed the potential impact of a graduate level seminary in Liberia, but to continue operation the institution needs ongoing support to fund student scholarships, facility development, and essential operational expenses. For more information, explore their website at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.esw.africa\/\">https:\/\/www.esw.africa\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pray<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022For the new graduates to apply their gospel-focused training in leadership of churches and educational institutions<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022For new faculty to be able to begin service in Liberia soon<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022For financial provision for scholarships, operations, and a new facility for the seminary.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Evangelical Seminary of West Africa (ESWA), a close partner of SIM Liberia, has awarded its first degrees. The seminary\u2019s inaugural cohort of Master\u2019s degree students was inducted in September [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[82],"ppma_author":[104],"class_list":["post-10404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liberia","tag-liberia"],"authors":[{"term_id":104,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"henry","display_name":"Henry","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b0ad8873b14843537f512e74bf3fb9bfb3216c00b59239b1201b9250b3055042?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10408,"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10404\/revisions\/10408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10404"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sim-wamo.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=10404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}