Jesse Penna | EFC-MAYM, Director of Student and Young Adult Ministries
Supporting leadership development within the yearly meetings of Rwanda, Burundi and Congo.
Great Lakes Leadership Training (GLLT) programs are theology and leadership training courses in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa. It serves men and women pastors and church leaders in Burundi, Rwanda, and Congo. The yearly meetings in these countries have been growing rapidly in recent years and many of the new pastors are graduates of these much-needed courses. This program is equipping Friends women and men leaders for ministry in Burundi, Congo, and Rwanda with formal Bible school training and informal classes as well as ‘on the job’ training.
Each of the yearly meetings develop and oversee their own autonomous GLLT-supported programs, which has been the case since the centralized GLST closed years ago.
GLLT IN RWANDA: EFC-Rwanda had created a thriving RFTC program (Rwanda Friends Theological College) which provided blocks of intense classroom study followed by release for local church application. This school was not government recognized/accredited. EFC-Rwanda has adapted recently in response to strict government requirements for pastors to have a bachelors degree from an accredited school. So RFTC has been closed for now and GLLT financial support has been used to provide scholarships to pastors who are completing their theological studies from accredited institutions in Rwanda.
- EFC-Rwanda Praise:
- EFC-Rwanda praises the Lord for its leadership that is united and committed to the ministry in spite of many overwhelming challenges from government requirement building codes which has recently closed most of the churches of all denominations in Rwanda.
- EFC-Rwanda Prayer Request:
- Please pray for the church of Rwanda so that it gets favor in the eyes of our government to open churches that already have met their building code standards requirements
- Please pray for EFC-Rwanda’s plan to send missionaries to South Sudan.
GLLT- CONGO EFC-Congo created an institute called ITGL (Institute Theological Great Lakes). They have three ITGL centers in two different quarterly meetings, and average around 24 students. The Pastoral Formation program takes two years to complete, and they also have a second level of training available. The students are hosted by local churches when they are in-session for classroom teaching. The classroom intensives are three times per year for one month. The students/leaders are released back to their local churches for practical application and ongoing service to their church when not in session.
- EFC-Congo Praise:
- Now all leaders in EFC-Congo have gone through ITGL, including pastors, elders and deacons as well as many members, and it is providing much fruit in the church. ITGL has also been able to train leaders in other church families outside of EFC.
- They have been able to work on expansion of the ITGL building in Abeka.
- Much thanks to EFM for 18 years of funding support to ITGL.
- EFC-Congo Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for the communities and churches in this challenging area to live and serve. They are accustomed to working around occasional rebel attacks, including the most recent wave of M-23 rebels.
- Please pray for EFC-Congo church as they seek out options for further education and degree work, including their dream of an EFC college/university extension campus in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Please pray for the EFC-Congo church planting mission in DRC, including in the far-away capital of Kinshasa where they have a mission, as well as other provinces.
GLLT- BURUNDI: EFC-Burundi created a private EFC high school in each of their two yearly meetings (Kibimba and Kwibuka Yearly Meetings). They have the Kibimba Willard Ferguson Seminary and the Kwibuka Willard Ferguson Seminary. These high schools provide quality ministry-focused education that allows EFC-Burundi to have the government-recognized education competencies in order for the church to send ministry-minded students on to college for further theological studies.
In 2025, Kwibuka Ferguson Seminary has 68 students and Kibimba Ferguson Seminary has 95 students.
EFC-Burundi Praise:
- Students serve by weekly fasting and collecting meals to donate to underprivileged patients at Kibimba Hospital.
- Student lives reflect the love of Christ, are known as peacemakers, and respond well to the school’s spiritual guidance.
- Graduates are serving faithfully in local EFC churches, including as teachers, elders and pastors.
- Graduates have created an association which supports the school’s students with love packages of soap, pens, notebooks and toiletries
- EFC-Burundi Prayer Requests:
- Please pray that the Lord would continue to meet their needs as the school sustains itself and seeks to expand facilities in a challenging economic environment.
- Please pray that the Lord would give them the ability to continue their theological studies in universities in the region of Central Africa.
- Please pray for wisdom and means for church leaders as they dream of their own EFC university in Burundi.
Graduate Testimonies – 2025 Run for Missions
Testimony of HAGABIMANA Jean Baptist
Graduate of Kibimba Willard Ferguson Seminary
“My name is HAGABIMANA Jean Baptist from Rugombo Monthly Meeting. I entered the seminary in September 2015 and completed my studies in 2018.
Here, I learned leadership, daily reading of God’s Word, prayer, and living in harmony with others. The theology I studied now helps me guide young people to live a true Christian life. My meeting is preparing me to become a pastor in the future. I currently help teach children and participate in many church activities.
I could not be who I am today if I had not studied at Willard Ferguson Seminary.”
Testimony of Jean Paul Nduwayo
2021 Graduate of Kwibuka Willard Ferguson Seminary
“Studying theology at Ferguson Seminary was not just an academic pursuit—it was a transformative journey that reshaped my understanding of God, humanity, and my calling in the world.
From the first day, I realized this was no ordinary seminary. It was a place where rigorous scholarship met deep spiritual formation. Our professors were theologians and pastors at heart—men and women who lived what they taught. They challenged us to think critically, pray deeply, and live faithfully.
Through biblical studies, I learned to engage with Scripture not merely as text to be studied, but as the living Word of God that speaks today. I encountered the richness of the Christian tradition—its triumphs and its tensions—and was encouraged to wrestle with difficult questions rather than fear them.
One of the most powerful aspects of my time at Ferguson Seminary was the community. Though we came from different denominations and backgrounds, we found unity in Christ. Our conversations—in class, in chapel, or over coffee—were often as formative as the lectures themselves. We prayed for one another, carried each other’s burdens, and grew together as disciples.
What I appreciated most was that theology at Ferguson Seminary was never an end in itself. We were constantly reminded that all learning should lead us toward love—for God, for the Church, and for the world.
Now, as I enter ministry, I carry not just a degree but a deeper sense of purpose and conviction. Ferguson Seminary taught me that theology belongs not only in the classroom, but also in the pulpit, the streets, the home, and the heart.
To God be the Glory!”
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