Mwansa Mbewe, son of pastor and author Dr. Conrad Mbewe, has died suddenly at the age of 32. Mwansa served with his father alongside Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr. at African Christian University (ACU) in Zambia.
“Our 32 year old son Mwansa has gone to glory. He breathed his last at 14.40 hours (Zambian time),” said Conrad Mbewe on Sunday, Nov. 19. “Thanks for your prayers and support during his few hours of illness. All who knew him can testify that he exemplified the words of the apostle Paul: ‘For to me, to live is Christ.’”
Our 32 year old son Mwansa has gone to glory. He breathed his last at 14.40 hours (Zambian time). Thanks for your prayers and support during his few hours of illness. All who knew him can testify that he exemplified the words of the apostle Paul: “For to me, to live is Christ.” pic.twitter.com/FNvuVBO5d4
— ConradMbewe (@ConradMbewe) November 19, 2023
The father and pastor did not elaborate on the cause of his son’s death beyond the statement, “his few hours of illness.” Many people responded with their condolences, including Tom Ascol, president of Founders Ministry; Darrell B. Harrison, director of digital platforms at John MacArthur’s Grace to You; and Dr. Owen Strachan, provost and research professor of theology at Grace Bible Theological Seminary.
Mwansa Mbewe’s Sudden Passing
Mwansa Mbewe was director of the Student Labour Program (SLP) at African Christian University, a college founded under the purview of the Reformed Baptist Church Association of Zambia with the purpose of spreading the gospel in Africa through higher education. According to ACU’s website, Dr. Conrad Mbewe was one of several leaders involved with the university’s founding, and he became its first chancellor in 2013. He currently serves at the institution as a lecturer and director of international advancement.
Since 1987, Conrad has pastored Kabwata Baptist Church (KBC), a Reformed Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia. He is an author, editor and itinerant preacher whose work has been featured on The Gospel Coalition (TGC) and Desiring God, and he has also been a speaker at Grace Community Church’s Shepherds Conference.
Mwansa Mbewe’s work is featured on TGC Africa and his personal blog. In September 2022, Mwansa posted on Instagram about a chapel service at ACU. “Today’s chapel at @african_christian_university had @voddieb preaching from Psalm 19,” he said, “@kunda_jeffrey leading us in worship, the Baucham mini orchestra playing for us and I closed things off with a Student Labour Program presentation about why our students will never be unemployed a day in their lives. Just another glorious day at ACU.”
According to an ACU brochure, the Student Labour Program seeks to address the “serious need for Africans to experience and develop an indigenous approach to industrialisation.”
“The relatively young African church is only beginning to live out of a Biblical worldview which transforms culture,” says the brochure. “Discipleship that equips and models fulfilling the Cultural Mandate from a Biblical worldview in African culture is a key purpose for ACU and the whole-life education envisioned. The SLP is the key programme intended to bring that to fruition in a very practical way.”
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