By Manuel
My name is Manuel de Oliveira, I am married to Pamela Jill and we have 3 daughters and 8 granddaughters. Our association with African Christian College goes back to a time when the college was known as Manzini Bible School, before the Tree of Life existed and we used a huge diesel-driven engine to supply our electricity. Then we were a preachers’ training school and our only security concern was the number of snakes nesting under our porch.
We are now a community of about 100 people, including the Tree of Life staff, who just recently obtained the Global GAP certification for the 14,000 macadamia nut trees, and a multi-million dollar Christian college that is often described by visiting professors as the Garden of Eden.
We strive to make real the vision of Isaiah 2: to make ACC a place where people of all nations come to learn God’s word and to live in peace with each other; where the hearts of the fathers are turned to their children; where husbands love their wives with a Christ-like love; and where young people respect their elders.
It is not an easy task. Most times it seems like mission impossible, but for now – through the power of the Holy Spirit – it’s becoming more and more of a reality.
Our students are a melting pot made up of many African ethnicities with rich cultural backgrounds. This makes for moments of great praise and times of glorifying God in many unknown tongues (unknown to me anyway) reminding me of the moments of praise in the book of Revelation.
Our faculty is also varied: Africans, Europeans, and Americans of all colours, ages, and both genders.
What we all have in common at African Christian College is a desire for our Father’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and to be counted among the faithful at the coming of our Lord Jesus. To Him be the glory, now and forever more.