Cy Stafford Leadership School and Library

Cy Stafford realized that in order for the church in East Africa to reach spiritual maturity and independence, it would need to equip deeply spiritual Christians with the leadership qualities that would enable them to lead local churches. Shortly before he died, Cy cast a vision for the creation of a leadership school in Arusha that would accomplish those goals. By God’s grace and the generosity of many of His faithful servants, Cy’s dream is about to become real.

In 2020 we began construction on the Cy Stafford Leadership School and Library on the same property as our preaching school in Arusha. It is a beautiful, multi-purpose facility that will give us the space to accomplish incredible things for God’s glory in the years to come.

The goal of the school is simple: to assist the congregations of East Africa to reach full maturity with biblically qualified elders, deacons, and ministers. In Ephesians 4, Paul urges the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (4:12-14).

A crucial aspect of spiritual maturity—and something that is often missing from churches everywhere, but especially on the mission field—is to have biblically qualified men who can serve local churches as elders and deacons. Leadership within local churches is crucial to the long-term growth and success of the church, and yet so many mission works have not adequately addressed this need.

The Cy Stafford Leadership School will be the first of its kind among Churches of Christ, and we are excited about its limitless potential to change the landscape of the church in East Africa for generations to come. We plan to use various teaching and experiential strategies to work with men throughout East Africa in developing them as church leaders. We will invite men to come to campus twice a year for two-week seminars where they will be taught by men with decades of leadership experience. In conjunction with these seminars, we will incorporate real-life learning experiences to give these men opportunities to put into practice what they are learning in the seminars. In other words, we will help these men learn leadership by doing it, and we will walk beside them as God matures them into the leaders he has called them to be.

An important aspect of this leadership training experience will be a library stocked with books and resources where Christians who are on campus can glean from the teachings of others. We envision a library filled with volumes about Scripture, biblical leadership, and spiritual growth that will be available to students at the school as they study and grow.

After two years in our leadership program, these men will graduate with the tools that they need to serve their home churches more effectively. We believe that God will then use them in beautiful ways to begin leading local churches, and they will in turn take what they have learned and help younger men to grow into leaders as well, establishing a pattern that will bear fruit for decades to come.

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