An Evaluation of A Theological Education by Extension (TEE) Programme: A Case Study of Oldonyo Sambu TEE Programme of the Diocese in Arusha Region of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania

Abstract

Training of church leaders has become an urgent need in many churches, par- ticularly, in developing countries. Different churches have adopted different ways of training their church leaders, for example, through residential Bible schools and Theological Education by Extension programmes. Their main goal is to try to overcome the existing problem of a shortage of trained church leaders. Although different people have shown their willingness to serve God, it is however impor- tant to equip them with knowledge and skill in order to enable them to minister better. They will be in a position to help other people to understand the word of God better and help them to grow spiritually. Spiritual growth leads a Christian to an eternal life which is the ultimate goal of Christian faith. Theological Education by Extension (TEE) programmes have become more popu- lar in many churches today in the effort of training church leaders as compared to residential Bible schools. There are different reasons for this, but the main ones are the possibilities which TEE offers for training a large number of church leaders in a given period in comparison with residential Bible schools, and the other one is the advantage which TEE offers of training church leaders where they are. They can, therefore, study while they are continuing to perform their day to day church ministries. The TEE students have, therefore, an opportunity to practice continu- ously their theoretical knowledge. They can relate what they learn in theory to their day to day church ministries. In order to know whether this TEE programme has so far achieved its goals a study like this one had to be conducted. The research findings of this study are expected not only to help the Diocese in Arusha region of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania to know whether or not it has achieved its goals in relation to this TEE programme, but it is also expected that the conclusions and recommen- dations of this study will act as a guideline on how this TEE programme will offer its services more effectively.