On Providing Engineering Students with Ministry and Culturally-Appropriate Design Experiences in Developing Countries

The Bible gives mandates to subdue the earth and to make disciples in ―all the nations.‖ This paper describes our pilot program for engaging undergraduate engineering students to enable and encourage African believers in their ministry of meeting humanitarian needs and propagating the gospel in Liberia. This program helps undergraduate students discern God’s call on their lives as they complete engineering projects targeted for a developing country. Important components for the program's success were: 1) infrastructure and culture at the academic institution, 2) relationships with appropriate intermediaries, and 3) a receptive national host that needs engineering services. These components were similar to those identified by others in recent literature. A case study is presented that evaluates our pilot program which took a team of students and faculty to Liberia, West Africa in May 2007. ELWA Ministries comprises a Christian radio station, a Christian hospital, and a Christian school; the 134-acre campus is also home to many families and provides housing for Non-governmental organizations. Four projects were selected focusing on ELWA’s physical plant that provides mechanical services. The team successfully installed a student-designed cooling system for diesel-powered generators and built a medical waste incinerator for the hospital. Students also prepared CAD drawings of the campus and documented the water system by taking many measurements. An additional project helped rural pastors; the students designed and distributed solar-rechargeable reading lights. Overnight trips to remote villages provided engineering students and faculty an opportunity to see how the rural dweller lives. These experiences provided the students intercultural worship opportunities and insight how to develop engineering solutions which blend into the culture. The ELWA services personnel and Liberian pastoral leadership expressed profound gratitude for the team’s ministry; student assessment also confirmed the value of the experience.