The Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll, an Episcopal priest, got the call to service away from his comfort zone at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA when he visited the small university in 1999 at the invitation of then Anglican Archbishop Livingstone Nkoyoyo. "I sensed God's call, went back to the U.S. and prayed about it. I consulted with my bishop [Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh], colleagues at Trinity and family, and finally accepted the call."

It was a defining and life-changing moment for the stay-at-home scholar. His life was about to change forever and so would his job description. He would teach less and administer more. From teaching biblical theology - with a specialty of angelology - to determining the best location for a sewage plant or student dormitory is a cosmic leap. He and his wife Peggy took the Year 2000 to prepare for what was to come. With his grown family of two sons and three daughters remaining in North America, the couple set out toward an uncertain future.

Now six years later, and into the first year of a second term, Dr. Noll is relaxed as he sits in his living room, sipping English tea with his wife, and reflects on his time in a country where he is a minority in more ways than one, but in a country that claims 9 million Anglicans - more than four times the corresponding number of Episcopalians in America.

The electricity has just gone down for the umpteenth time and an "inverter" battery kicks in to give light through a small naked neon tube close to the ceiling. Nobody notices; it is the norm of life here in Uganda. Mercifully the temperature is only 75 degrees and there is a cool breeze, quite a contrast to reports coming from the steamy States.

In the few short years he has been here, Stephen Noll has helped turn the small seminary of some 120 theological students into a university of 5,000, fully recognized by the government, with its own charter given to it by the country's president in 2004. With a projected 6,000 students by 2007 - the maximum the university can absorb with its present facilities - UCU is the most developed Anglican university in Africa and one of the fastest growing universities in Africa - no small achievement by any standard. And much of this is attributable to the grit and organizational skills of this shy scholar.

One major collaborator in this effort is Mrs. Diane Stanton, the wife of the Bishop of Dallas, who heads up "Uganda Partners," UCU's support society in the States, and who frequently brings teams of guests and potential donors to the campus tucked away in the hills of Mukono, a mere hour's drive from the buzzing metropolis of Kampala.

VirtueOnline visited the Nolls in their home on the campus of UCU where we interviewed him.

VOL: Before coming here you were a professor of Biblical Studies and Academic Dean at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pa. for over 20 years. As they say, 'you've come a long way' from home.

NOLL: Yes. I had worked under three presidents - John Rodgers, Bill Frey and Peter Moore - for 21 years. You might say I was a lifer. I expected to continue there to retirement, until I received this late-in-life
missionary call.

VOL: Did you know your full job description before you came here?

NOLL: I was to be President of a small university. Previously I had been an academic and dean, now I was facing a whole new dimension to my life as a CEO with quite different responsibilities.

VOL: How big was the university when you came?

NOLL: The 84-year-old Bishop Tucker Theological College, as it was called then, had expanded to become a university in 1997 shortly before I arrived. At that time the college had 120 students in the faculty of theology. When I came in 2000, there were 850 total students in the college. Now in 2006 we have 5000 students, still with about 120 seminarians training for the full time ministry. We have 86 acres of land with some historic buildings dating back to 1920. Now we are filling in the campus rapidly.

VOL: What does the university offer?

NOLL: Theology (our original course), business administration, social work and development studies, education, law, mass communication and information technology. We have just started a nursing program as well.

VOL: Where are your students coming from?

NOLL: All over Uganda and East Africa, including Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania.

VOL: And your faculty?

NOLL: UCU has over 100 full-time and part-time faculty. They include "ex-pats" from New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Canada, UK and ten from the USA.

VOL: Do you expect all your students to be Christians?

NOLL: We ask full-time faculty to affirm a statement of faith. Students must acknowledge the Christian character of the university. We have a few Muslim students who are expected to respect the Christian character of the university. Our worship is according to the Prayerbook of the Anglican Church of Uganda. On campus there is no mass or Muslim worship.

VOL: Do you have other campuses?

NOLL: We have another campus in Western Uganda called Bishop Barham College and they have 600 students. It is a regional college with a principal heading it.

VOL: Who's your boss?

NOLL: The chancellor of the university is the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of Uganda. The province has 31 dioceses and about 9 million members out of a total population of 27 million people.

VOL: You are in the first year of your second term. What do you want to achieve in the next four years?

NOLL: UCU has two distinctive characteristics. It seeks to be an authentic Christian university, modeling itself on Christian colleges in the USA like Wheaton College, Illinois or Eastern University in St. David's, Pennsylvania. It was the first African affiliate of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. Secondly we want it to be and become a "center of excellence in the heart of Africa." I want the university to have high academic standards and be recognized as a world-class university.

In particular, we are seeking now to develop a science and technology curriculum. We started with "soft" subjects, now we are adding more programs like technical assistance, IT, nursing, science teacher education and engineering. Finally, our growth in numbers is stretching the infrastructure. One looming need is for a new library. The existing
library of 70,000 books is too crowded. We have plans for a new central library. The first stage would cost $2.2 million.

VOL: What is the budget of UCU?

NOLL: It's about $7 million dollars, which may seem a lot, but as in most educational institutions, the money is in and out. We are a nonprofit organization. Any surplus goes straight into the infrastructure.

VOL: What is the long-term goal of UCU?

NOLL: By 2015, UCU should educate up to 14,000 students including up to 6,000 at its main campus and up to 2,000 at each of 3 constituent colleges and an inner-city campus in Kampala, the capital city. I am hoping that UCU will develop distance learning programs to meet additional educational demands.

VOL: What would you like to see history write about your work here?

NOLL: I would, I suppose, be thought of as a founder of Christ-centered university education in Africa, both by laying a firm foundation in the faith and raising a high ceiling of academic excellence.

VOL: How would you define your own faith journey and where you stand theologically today, after a lifetime of being an Episcopalian?

NOLL: I am basically an evangelical Anglican in the John Stott tradition with an appreciation and openness to charismatic renewal and liturgical worship.

VOL: With its British origins, is the Anglican Church of Uganda seen as a church for the elite, much like the Episcopal Church is seen in the U.S.? Is that a fair rendering of the situation?

NOLL: Actually, no. The Anglican Church of Uganda serves all sorts and conditions here. Although many political and cultural leaders are Anglican, the main strength of the church is at the village level. The Roman Catholic and Anglican churches - the two biggest and most prominent churches in Uganda - cut across all strata of society. The Anglican Church in Uganda is the greatest success story of Anglican mission. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) came in 1875 and mobilized national evangelists to spread the Christian faith over the entire country. The East African Revival kept the flame alive.

VOL: For my readers who may not know; what is the East African Revival?

NOLL: It is a work of the Spirit, which began in Rwanda in 1935 and has continued to the present. It emphasizes the call to be born again, to repent from sin and to "walk in the light."

VOL: Is it cross denominational?

NOLL: The Anglican Church found ways to keep the revival flame alive within the church, although recently the Pentecostals have offered competition.

VOL: What is your missionary vision?

NOLL: I have a vision for "higher education as mission," forming tomorrow's leaders for Christ. Giving to this mission is one of the best investments of energy and money and expertise that those outside the country can make.

VOL: You left the Episcopal Church at a momentous time.

NOLL: Personally, my call to leave the Episcopal Church for Uganda came as a kind of deliverance, from fighting rear-guard actions to building something constructive for the Kingdom of God. Being here has increased my appreciation for the global character of the church and our common bond in the Body of Christ. Ministry today goes in a north-to-south and south-to-north direction.

VOL: Do you have a final word for the church?

NOLL: I thank God for calling me into his service - and for giving me a wife with a generous and grateful heart. The Church of Uganda through its archbishop and bishops are supporting those who are standing for the Christian Faith. They will not abandon you. Pray for them as they pray for you.

END

FOOTNOTE: If you would like to support this ministry and enter into a dynamic partnership with UCU you can do so by sending your tax deductible gift to:

UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY PARTNERS
PO Box 38333
Dallas, TX 75238
www.ugandapartners.org

The Nolls can be personally supported by sending a tax deductible gift to:

GLOBAL TEAMS
P.O. Box 490
Forest City, NC 28043
www.global-teams.org