East Africa (MNN) — When Jesus walked among men, people like Nathanael thought, “Surely nothing good can come from Nazareth.” Yet that was the hometown of our Lord and Savior.
We can’t name the place in East Africa where Set Free Ministries works for security reasons. However, this location has a reputation much like Nazareth. “The area we’re building in is very impoverished,” Set Free’s Dave McIntyre says.
“It’s a very spiritually dark place with witchcraft [and] cannibalism.”
Typically, when children in this area turn 13 years old, “girls get married off, and boys will go into subsistence farming or some other kind of menial labor because they don’t have the educational skills to get better jobs,” McIntyre says.
Jesus is the Light of the world, rescuing people from spiritual darkness. Light Academy, Set Free’s Christian high school, carries the same mission in this Nazareth-like region.
(Photo courtesy of Set Free Ministries)
Light Academy began as an extension of Set Free’s 14 primary schools. “It made no sense to disciple kids from kindergarten [to] 13 years old, and then say, ‘Be warm and well fed; good luck on the rest of your education,’” McIntyre says.
“We built a high school to continue that discipleship and quality education until the kids are young adults and able to enter the workforce.”
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“Right now, we have 150 kids enrolled at Light Academy, and we plan to add about 200 more every year until 2027,” McIntyre says.
“The goal is to have 2,000 kids at the high school, so this is no small undertaking.”
Header image is a representative stock image courtesy of Michele Ferrari/Pexels.
