Andrew Connally School of Preaching

A brief history of the school

In the 1990s, Connally recruited Cy and Stephanie Stafford to move to Tanzania. After he died, the Staffords committed themselves to continuing his dream of helping local congregations to mature. They presented a plan to the Kensington Woods Church of Christ in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and they agreed to take the lead in helping the Arusha and Moshi (Kilimanjaro) congregations to reach maturity.

One need was obvious and urgent, however. Preachers needed to be trained who could work with local congregations and also spread the gospel throughout their communities. To address that need, Cy established a school of preaching in Arusha and named it after his mentor, Andrew Connally. The school began in 2001, and initially it met in the Arusha Bible School building. In 2005, it moved to newly constructed facilities on twenty acres of land in the village of Kisongo, west of Arusha. In addition to classrooms and offices, the school has two dormitories that can house up to 48 students when at full capacity. To date, 179 students from Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda have graduated, and 19 students currently enrolled are scheduled to graduate in November 2021. students from Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda have graduated.

In early 2010 the school of preaching entered a new and exciting phase of work. For the first ten years only English-speaking students were admitted to the school. The goal was to train these men with the hopes that one day the top students would be able to return to the school to train men in their own language. That day arrived in February 2010 when the Swahili program began. The number of men who could now be trained to share the gospel of Christ in East Africa had expanded exponentially. In 2016, the school’s administration was transitioned to the Tanzanians. These were huge steps toward the goal of handing over the entire work to the oversight of Tanzanian churches. Another goal on the horizon is for the school to be completely self-supporting financially, and we’re enacting several programs now to make that a future reality.

How can you help spread the gospel in East Africa?

It takes just $200 per month to support, house, and feed one preaching student. We’re searching for individuals, families, and churches who are willing to support these students while they’re in school. Some agree to fully support one or more students during their academic careers, while others partially support a student. Regardless, we would love for you to consider supporting these preaching students as they learn to share Christ with their fellow East Africans. We believe that God is using the Andrew Connally School of Preaching to do incredible things as our graduates take the simple gospel of Jesus throughout East Africa.

If you’re interested in contributing, please click below. Thank you so much for your support!

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