Africa’s First Military Chaplain School Trains 10 Doctors

Colonel David Wesley Lile (Retired) at Africa University in the eastern part of Zimbabwe.

It is a cold morning in eastern Zimbabwe as Lieutenant Colonel Reverend Doctor Samba Mosweu celebrates a moment he has long awaited.

His family has accompanied Lieutenant Colonel Mosweu from the Botswana Defence Forces to this monumental occasion, marking the culmination of years of hard work and dedication—not only for him but for hundreds of other graduates.

He is one of 10 military chaplains from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region who have just been awarded doctoral degrees in ministry from Africa University, a United Methodist Church-related institution.

This is the first programme of its kind in Africa.

“I enrolled in this programme to equip, empower, and strengthen myself in my line of duty,” Mosweu told this publication at AU, just outside Zimbabwe’s third-largest city, Mutare.

“However, I can attest that from what I have learned, perceived, and even through interactions with colleagues from different countries, I have gained a lot.”

Over the years, African militaries have turned to pastors from across the continent to join the army and provide spiritual, counselling, and moral support to service members and their families.

Previously, military chaplains had to enrol in schools abroad, such as in the United States, to pursue programmes tailored to the military, as most African universities only offered general theology programmes.

This programme traces its origins to 2017 when Colonel Dr David Wesley Lile (Retired) of the US Army discussed the possibility of establishing such a programme in Zimbabwe with US Ambassador Brian A. Nichols. At the time, Robert Mugabe was still president, and relations with the US were strained. Therefore, Nichols advised Lile to seek a neutral, non-military institution.

That led to the programme being introduced at Africa University.

However, it took a long time for the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE)—the body responsible for accrediting higher education institutions in Zimbabwe—to approve the course.

The 10 students ultimately pursued their doctoral degrees through a partnership with Wesley Theological Seminary, based in Washington, DC.

Lile, who was pursuing a similar Doctor of Ministry chaplaincy programme at Wesley Theological Seminary, says the programme at AU was developed based on what he was studying.

“If you're going to have a chaplain school that trains, you need professors to train them. You have 10 chaplains now who have doctorates. That doesn’t exist anywhere else in Africa,” says Lile, who served as US Army Africa chaplain in Italy in 2017.

“That’s the uniqueness of the programme: it focused on the context, the violence, and the trauma that soldiers endure on the continent.”

In 2017, Lile conducted a two-week training course on combat and deployment psychological support for African military chaplains. A general then encouraged him to develop an African-centric military chaplain school, rather than just offering workshops ending with certificates.

Africa has experienced numerous wars and conflicts, including civil wars and interstate conflicts. Insurgencies such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, M23 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ansar al-Sunna in Mozambique, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, and al-Shabaab in Somalia have caused displacement, instability, loss of life, and serious trauma and mental health challenges for soldiers.

Lile, from Kentucky, notes that Africa has at least five of the world’s most dangerous regions.

“Those are places where we sent UN peacekeepers. Most of the people we worked with as the US Army in Africa, we trained chaplains to deploy with those troops,” he says, adding that he once trained a group in which six people died in combat in the DRC.

Of the UN’s 11 peacekeeping missions globally, five are in Africa: MINUSCA in the Central African Republic, MONUSCO in the DRC, UNISFA in Abyei, UNMISS in South Sudan, and MINURSO in Western Sahara.

There are 105,000 peacekeepers worldwide, and nearly 85,000 of them—mostly from African nations—are deployed across the continent.“Africa has high standards for who can lead training.

To develop leadership models, they needed a programme. That’s the foundation,” says Lile.

“But they don’t have military training for chaplains. People die. Who takes care of their families? Do they have the skills for trauma care and supporting children? There are suicides.”

Despite disruptions caused by COVID-19, the 10 chaplains managed to complete the programme.

Lieutenant Colonel Mosweu says deployed soldiers return as changed individuals who need his support.

“If you take someone trained and place them behind enemy lines in operational areas, lives are lost. People are killed or injured. When they come to me, I use pastoral psychotherapy to engage, strengthen, and provide spiritual resilience—so they can become better individuals,” he explains.

Brigadier General Reverend Doctor Shadreck Mwale of the Zambian Army, a chaplain for 24 years, says the programme has uplifted his spirit.“Education is important. AU stepped in at the right time with training for chaplains.

COVID-19 caused a year-and-a-half break, but we continued,” says Mwale, who serves as Director General of Religious and Moral Services in the Zambian Army.

“I learned more about moral injury and stress issues among soldiers. Stress troubles soldiers the most. Everything is extreme. It’s important to have chaplains trained in these matters.”

James H. Salley, president and CEO of Africa University (Tennessee) Inc.—which disburses resources to Africa University Zimbabwe—says the chaplains’ programme has now been accredited by ZIMCHE and is ongoing.

“We now have not only doctors of ministry for military chaplains and other entities but four additional chaplains with doctoral degrees in ministry,” says Dr Salley.

“These are senior officials and officers who now combine practical experience with theory. In classrooms, you often get only theory. But it’s valuable to have both.”

Mosweu, now back in Botswana, offers counselling and moral support to service members.

“This programme will help me serve my colleagues and those I minister to — soldiers and their dependents. I encourage others to attend, too,” he says.