Avera Clinical Pastoral Education in Africa

When Ndongndeh Godlove Nkwain sought a place to complete a doctoral degree in ministry, he chose the North American Baptist Seminary (now Sioux Falls Seminary) in part because of its proximity to the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program offered at Avera. Now Avera has an international affiliate of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) in Cameroon, Africa.

For his doctoral project, Godlove will implement a CPE program for the Cameroon Baptist Convention, a Christian health organization affiliated with the Baptist Health Systems of the Republic of Cameroon, Africa. The three main hospitals of the organization are recognized treatment sites for HIV/AIDS and centers of prevention for mother-to-child transmission of the disease. The project includes writing a training handbook and supervising CPE candidates in Cameroon.

The hospital where the CPE program is taking place is in a hilly province about 200 miles north of the commercial capital Douala. Avera’s Director of Clinical Pastoral Education Peter Holland recently returned from a site visit to Cameroon where he observed Godlove’s supervisory work and assessed its conformity to ACPE standards. He also attended the official launch of the CPE center.

View "Peter's Trip to Africa" »