 Stephen & Peggy Noll
Global Teams Missionaries since 1999
From
United States of America
Missionaries to
Uganda, East Africa
Currently on
Field Assignment
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Steve’s ministry as Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University in
Mukono, Uganda, is to head the Anglican Church of Uganda’s major institution
of higher learning. A significant achievement occurred in May 2004 when UCU
became the first private university in the country to be granted a charter
by the Government of Uganda.
The Nolls came to Uganda in September 2000 at the invitation of the
Archbishop of the Church of Uganda and the University Council for Steve to
become the first Vice Chancellor. UCU was opened in 1997 and grew out of
Bishop Tucker Theological College, the major Anglican seminary in the
country, founded in 1913.
The student population of UCU has grown from 120 to 3000 in seven years,
and we have added a second campus with 600 students in Kabale, western
Uganda. The University offers degree programs in theology, education, mass
communication, social work and social administration, development, business,
law, and information technology. In theology and several other fields it
also offers a Masters degree.
As Vice Chancellor, Steve is the chief officer of the University,
equivalent in the U.S. to a college president; the Chancellor is an honorary
position held by the Archbishop. Steve’s overall vision is to develop UCU as
a genuinely Christian university, integrating faith and learning in the
classroom as well as offering lively worship and fellowship and a safe moral
and physical environment for the students. Peggy came in a supporting role
consisting primarily of hospitality, communication with supporters, and some
teaching in the English department. Since arriving, she has also started a
staff wives’ and an international women’s Bible study fellowship and has
advised the student literary magazine, The UCU Signpost.
We got involved in this ministry through Steve’s teaching for 21 years
and helping to found the Stanway Institute for World Mission at Trinity
Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA. In addition, his membership
on the board of the American Anglican Council involved him in global
Anglican meetings, including a consultation held in Dallas and an assisting
role with the AAC at the Lambeth Conference, where he met and got to know a
number of Ugandan bishops. They grew to respect his role in the American
Episcopal Church and knew he was theologically orthodox. When the Archbishop
of Uganda visited the U.S., he had a meal at our house with other Trinity
staff and students, and that initial personal contact along with Steve’s
reputation eventually led to the invitation. We had not been planning to
leave Trinity, or the U.S., but felt God’s call when the invitation to come
to UCU was issued. Kevin Higgins had been a student at Trinity, so we went
to him and discussed the possibility of our being sponsored by Global Teams
as missionaries. We attended the Horizons mission training in Bakersfield
the summer before we moved to Uganda.
UCU is becoming a center for mission thinking and training. We have a
number of missionaries on staff. In
2003, UCU launched the Global South Institute for Mission, Leadership, and
Public Policy.
The challenges are great and include infrastructure needs (dorms, clean
water system, classrooms, science labs…), long-term planning, and short-term
crises (no water one week, power the next, or phone the following week…)
Steve feels the burden of the money needed for capital projects. When he was
first appointed he founded Uganda Christian University Partners in the U.S.
with the sole purpose of raising funds and other resources for the
University. He was President of that organization until February 2002, when
Mrs. Diane Stanton was hired to fill that position and moved the office to
Dallas. Trying to access government and NGO grants continues to be something
he feels we need to do, but he has not yet had success in gaining the large
amounts of money needed.
Steve made an initial 5-year commitment as Vice Chancellor. In June 2004
he accepted a unanimous call by the University Council and invitation by the
Archbishop of Uganda for a second 5-year term that will end in August 2010.
The job takes us back to the U.S. twice a year for meetings of Uganda
Partners and of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, for
which we are the first African affiliate and the site of the Uganda Studies
Program bringing CCCU students to the University for a semester abroad
program. We also use the time in the U.S. for fund-raising
and seeing our other four grown children.
- To support the Noll's ministry in prayer and receive updates about what is happening in
the field with a regular newsletter, email your name and address to newsletters@global-teams.org, or write or
call the office.
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In The Area
Uganda
Dan & Rosie Button
Stephen & Peggy Noll
Other Missionaries
Carolyn Bender
Rosalee Blond
Martin & Rose Bunsy
Dan & Rosie Button
Cathi Chrisco
Don Cox
Dean Christian
Charles & Barbara Dugnolle
Nancy "Rennie" Ernest
Vicki Gladding
David & Deborah Hamilton
Marc & Suzanne Jacobson
Sue McLain
Esther Miller
Stephen & Peggy Noll
Yvonne North
Katie Rhoads
Bryson Samboja
Mary Sherwood |
