The vision for Christian colleges in Africa began in the hearts of Dr. and Mrs. John W. Chinchen. Having trained pastors in Liberia's interior for seven years, the Chinchens realized a Bible College was needed to meet the spiritual and educational needs of the new generation of African graduates. The Chinchens established Liberia's first four-year Bible College in 1976, bringing the vision to reality. The college was designed to hold the highest international university standards and meet the requirements for awarding a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies. As graduates in West Africa demonstrated the worth of high-quality Christian education, it became essential to offer this ministry to other regions of Africa. As a result, African Bible Colleges founded a second college in Malawi, an East African nation, 4,000 miles away, in 1988. Three missionary families had arrived in Lilongwe by November of that year to start construction on the new college. On December 12, 1989, the official groundbreaking took place. Two weeks later, Liberia's civil war broke out. ​ Early in the war, ABC Liberia was able to operate intermittently, but in 1992 the college was compelled to entirely close its doors for the following 16 years. The third African Bible College was established in the tropical nation of Uganda seventeen years later, in 2005. Then, in November 2008, the original Liberia campus was once more operational following two years of brush clearing and total refurbishment of staff residences, dorms, classrooms, offices, and dining hall. Today, there are almost 800 graduates of African Bible Colleges working in a variety of Christian ministries, from producing programs at TransWorld Radio to caring for orphans with Children of the Nations, holding executive positions at Campus Crusade (Life Ministries), working on HIV/AIDS initiatives with World Relief, and even starting churches in Mozambique, a former communist stronghold. The evangelizing and transformation of Africa are proving to be greatly aided by ABC graduates.