Curriculum for Training PCEA Elders for Ministry in the Church

Abstract

Little attention has been given to training lay leaders to better play their role in the ministry of the church. To create an well-organized curriculum for the training of elders in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA), a process was modeled of participatory curriculum development. This process involved 1) a survey of the existing teaching methods 2) a study of the topics and materials used, and 3) the participation of elders, pastors and qualified educators/curriculum developers in the development of appropriate teaching methods and content. The process included informal organized interviews with church elders to ex- plore their concept of the role they play in church leadership and the kind of training they require to equip them for this ministry. Some pastors were also interviewed to explore how they train lay leaders in their churches and five educa- tors/curriculum developers were involved in giving suggestions for creating an appropriate curriculum and an effective learning process. A twenty eight-lesson proto-type curriculum was written using the commonly used topics in the training of lay leaders in some mainline churches. An experi- mental implementation was done with the elders of PCEA Tumutumu Presbytery in Nyeri District. In this presentation, I have documented the development pro- cess as a model. Chapter one examines the need for this project in the church and lays down the theoretical framework. It also points out the limitations of this project. Chapter two reviews the literature and resources available in mainline churches. Chapter three explains the method that has been followed and its justification. The actual curriculum is designed in Part II of this project as a self-contained unit. The curriculum will form part of the lay training program of the church.