“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

- Nelson Mandela

Support for Schools

COFA believes that providing students with the opportunity to attend quality Christian schools provides them with the educational and spiritual tools to reach their full potential and become effective and compassionate leaders of their families, communities, and nation. Such private Christian educational institutions either do not exist in low-income communities or require significant structural improvement. The inability of indigent families to afford private tuition at these schools adds an additional challenge.

COFA has helped schools in Mhluzi, South Africa and Kamwenge, Uganda. Churches in other rural communities have approached COFA for assistance in opening their own Christian schools. We hope to provide that help in the near future.

St. Peter Christian College

More than a decade ago, Pastor Mandla Khumalo and St. Peter Confessional Lutheran Church opened a preschool in Mhluzi, Middelburg, in Mpumalanga province South Africa. Mhluzi is the formerly segregated residential neighborhood outside of Middelburg. Parents soon asked for a place where their children could continue their Christian education. Pastor Khumalo and the church met that need in 2011 with the opening of St. Peter Christian College for lower grade students. With the help of COFA it has steadily added new classrooms for its students as they progressed through their education, eventually becoming a K-12 school with facilities capable of teaching 600 students.

Good to Great Initiative

While St. Peter Christian College has provided students with a good Christian education, the leaders of that school have realized that merely offering a “good” education does not equip students with the tools they need to reach their full potential. Instead, the school must provide them with a “great” education that adds cultural, sports and spiritual programs to a modern curriculum that includes a high-quality STEM education.

The Good to Great initiative envisions investing more than $5 million in facilities and staff over a five-year period.  The Good to Great budget for 2024 is $88,841 on staff resources and development and $882,844 in capital projects, for a total of $782,787.

Some of the components of the plan have already been put into place.

• The school has already added a youth pastor to the staff. Pastor Given ensures that Christian values are made a part of the entire school experience.

• The school has added a music director, who has initiated choir and dance programs, inspiring students to develop their talents and participate in local competitions.

• The school has also added a reading program.

• The robotics program has begun, with a partnership with TechnoAfrika Academy. The next step is to expand the facilities available for the robotics program and make it available to the entire community.

•  As can be seen below, the construction portion of the Good to Great plan has already begun.

Use this link for a more detailed information and five year budget for the Good to Great initiative.

New Good to Great Programs

 Good to Great Construction Program

An important component of the Good to Great initiative is adding facilities to the school campus to provide STEM education courses and offer students the opportunity to develop their musical and sports talents. Work is almost complete for the new science laboratory and computer center, with both facilities due to be available for the new school year in July 2024. Work on a new administrative building is also progressing. Photos of the administrative building construction and timetables can be viewed here.

Student Scholarship Campaign

Many families are unable to afford tuition at Bethel Pre-School and St. Peter Christian College, so COFA has been funding scholarship for needy students. Recognizing the need to provide stable funding for scholarships, COFA has initiated a campaign to obtain $250,000 in donations annually over the next five years, with $50,000 designated to annual costs of scholarships and $200,000 toward an endowment for St. Peter Christian College scholarships. Earnings from that endowment can be used to provide scholarships indefinately.

Use the links below to see our Scholarship Page to see details about the Scholarship Program and profiles of the inspiring students that have benefitted from the generosity of COFA’s supporters. Click the buttons below to see the video and brochure supporting our Scholarship Endowment Drive.