SCALING UP THEOLOGICAL TRAINING IN AFRICA THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION CONSULTATION Scaling Up Theological Training in Africa Copyright © 2020 by Association of Evangelicals in Africa. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/4.0/. Published by Association of Evangelicals in Africa. AEA’s vision is evangelicals in Africa united in biblical theology and transformative mission for the expansion of God’s Kingdom. AEA’s mission is to mobilize and empower the church for the holistic transformation of communities and societies in Africa. For more information, go to aeafrica.org. 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All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Pri NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION: ITS POTENTIAL TO DEVELOP LEADERS IN AFRICA Dr. Christine W. K. Mutua As we reflect on the potential for non-formal and informal education to develop leaders in Africa, I am going to reflect also whether it can be scaled up to meet the training need for the 85–90%. This presentation is divided therefore into three sections bringing together reflections on those issues: first, laying the foundations, then explaining the potential for leadership development, and finally outlining strategies for engagement. Foundational Issues As we approach this issue of meeting the training need for the majority of pastors and church leaders in Africa with little to no biblical and theological training, we realise that just like God’s mission to reconcile the world back to Himself, God has already been at work. For that, we are truly grateful. The issues that we are reflecting on this week, including showcasing on what exists in the continent in terms of training and resources, are a testament that God has been at work. We therefore admit, as Dearborn would say in emphasizing on the need for humility in our approach, that ‘Remember, you are showing up late for a meeting, God has being at work among the people long before you arrived!’ (Dearborn 2018, 12). As we reflect on scalability, I submit to us that the African Church will need to deal with two foundational issues. The first is the 30 | NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION confusion about why theological/biblical education is important. Matthew 16:13-16 records: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” The question “Who do you say I am?” that is, Jesus’s true identity, was not just a verification process. It was a question about a truth that had implications – for their belief as well as practice. Just as there was confusion about Jesus’s true identity, there is what can rightly be perceived as confusion as to why theological/biblical education is needed in the African Church. One of the chief challenges facing the Church in Africa is biblical ignorance, which has implications for life and practice. The contextual realities (religious, social, political etc.) that we find ourselves in remind us of the need for theological/biblical education. We need to promote the truth that theological/biblical education is central to the life of a living and growing Church. This conviction will help us to differentiate between knee jerk reactions and truth convictions. Once we ascertain why theological/biblical education is important, we must ask who is responsible for the task. Although we have cases of parts of the African Church supporting theological/biblical education, we have not reached a point where we can truly say that the Church owns the responsibility. It is the African Church’s responsibility to own its own theological/biblical education. Allow me to use an illustration. Theological/biblical DR. CHRISTINE W. K. MUTUA | 31 education in Africa is the African Church’s child. We thank God for the brothers, sisters, uncles and aunties in the Body of Christ who have helped us and continue to help us in this endeavour. Nevertheless, we need to take full parental responsibility and support our child. How do we then deal with the issue of the African Church taking responsibility for and supporting theological/biblical training? It is not an easy task, but Bishop Peter Ole Mankura’s story illustrates that it can be done. Bishop Peter Ole Mankura is Presiding Bishop and Founder of Dominion Chapel Ministries International – Kenya, which has slightly over 400 churches in the vast Maasailand in Kenya and Tanzania. In a recent book, Maasailand Ablaze: Revival Fire across the Land, Bishop Mankura has documented how his ministry began and has since spread into the Maasailand in Kenya and Tanzania. As a high school student, Bishop Mankura got a vision of fire across Maasailand and a big harvest of souls. This led to the birth of an interdenominational itinerant ministry called SWEM (Soul Winner Evangelist Ministry) in 1992. SWEM was involved in evangelistic outreaches, missions, rallies, weekend challenges and later conferences. This lasted for 10 years. Despite strong opposition, other evangelistic ministries started springing up in different parts of Maasailand. In 2000, all 20 evangelistic ministries were incorporated into a movement called the Interministries Union (IMU). Under IMU, conferences dubbed Maasailand Ablaze have been held every August for the last 20 years. After IMU had been in existence for two years, in 2002, Dominion Chapel International Ministries was established as a church for nurturing believers (Mankura 2019, 19). To find out more about how the church has handled theological/biblical education as the church expanded rapidly in Maasailand in Kenya and Tanzania, I interviewed Bishop Mankura at his office at Dominion Chapel Ministries International on August, 27, 2019. I also wanted to know how they resource the formal, non-formal and informal leadership development for the rapidly growing church. 32 | NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION He alluded to the fact that much teaching had to be done among his people to deal with this issue: Our people do not know how to give; I had to teach them how to give. In Maa land, they got used to handouts. For example, a gentleman with hundreds of cattle will even go to get free food from the government . . . The Maasai are not used to giving; the ‘spirit of harambee’ [literally ‘pulling together’, but referring to a form of giving which is enforced rather than voluntary] was ingrained in them especially after independence. I had to teach them to give the Bible way. Today churches are sponsoring their pastors and leaders for leadership training. We need to deal with these twin issues of why we need theological/biblical education and whose responsibility it is. Other issues that hinder scalability, such as lack of or limited resources and non-formal concepts of training, derive from these two. The Need for Leadership Development? There is a great need for the Church to give priority to the leadership development of its leaders. Leadership can potentially hinder the African Church from effectively carrying out her mandate of theological/biblical education. James Engel is the cofounder of Development Associates International, a Christian NGO involved in both formal and non- formal leadership development of church leaders to enhance their integrity and effectiveness. He stated on the organisation’s website: ‘If we don’t break the yoke of power-motivated, controlling leadership and unleash the resources of the Body of Christ, there is little hope that the world can be evangelised. This is the central challenge of the Church.’ As we do non-formal or informal training, it is helpful to define what leader/shepherd issues are and highlight what constitutes leadership development. Almost 30 years ago, Elliston identified the DR. CHRISTINE W. K. MUTUA | 33 following as the leadership problems commonly found throughout the African Church, edited slightly here into a table format (Elliston 1988, 204): Issue Implications Growth Growth places unmet demands on leaders in some areas. Over-functioning leaders Leaders who try to do everything and decide everything frustrate the church in some areas. Non-functioning leaders Leaders allow churches to die. Undertrained leaders Leaders do not lead at their full potential in many churches. Overtrained leaders Leaders are discouraged and discouraging as well as frustrated and frustrating to the churches. Inappropriately trained leaders Leaders do the wrong things in the wrong places at the wrong times or in the wrong ways. Dropout leaders Leaders continue to fill the ranks of government bureaucracies, development agencies, and private businesses. Overextended leaders Leaders try to meet all of the pastoral and sacramental functions of multiple congregations and seek to uphold the artificially high Western standards of ministry but deny the priesthood of all believers. Springboard leaders Leaders use church leadership training programmes to jump into suitable positions in business, government, and para-church agencies. Although Elliston researched these issues several decades ago, we continue to witness these issues affecting our African Church. Two distinguished professors, Dr James F. Engel and Dr David Fraser, undertook nearly three years of research in various parts of the world to identify key areas that needed to be addressed for Christian leaders in the majority world to be effective and positively impact their communities. Programs for training were then developed on the basis of their research, a 2008 survey titled “Defining Leadership Development” administered by Development Associates International. Two questions from that research give us insight into the internal and external threats to leaders: 34 | NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION Question 10: What would you say is the most frequent cause of failure in Christian leaders to ‘finish well’ as a Christ-centred leader in the nation where you are currently working (check your top three from the list below)? Abuse of power 41.1% Burn out 40.1% Lack of growth in their Christian life 37.5% Inordinate pride 36.0% Sexual sin 32.9% Inappropriate use of finances 32.8% Family issues 25.2% Emotional/psychological wounding 22.2% Lack of learning posture 21.3% (Overstreet 2011, 120) As we consider these statistics let us reflect on what the issues are facing the shepherd today and how we can we deal with these issues. In addition to issues facing the shepherd, the next table also helps us to see the contextual issues as we deal with leadership development. Question 24: From the questions below, choose up to five of the most pressing issues facing Christian leaders in your nation. Personal pride 75.7% Integrity 72.5% Spiritual warfare 50.8% Religious conflict 34.7% Corruption 33.8% Lack of infrastructure (training) 31.8% Ethnic conflict 27.5% Poverty 26.5% Political instability 9.9% (Overstreet 2011, 130). If we do not pay attention to leadership development issues for the Church in Africa, our plans for scaling up theological/biblical education for the 85–90% will be greatly affected. We will be like people allowing an ill-prepared medical doctor to be on the operating table. Strategies for Engagement What are our sources for leadership development as we look into non- formal and informal theological/biblical education? To engage these challenges, we need to listen to two areas: the Bible and our contexts. DR. CHRISTINE W. K. MUTUA | 35 Biblically based reflections on theological education must be a priority. These must inform the who, why and what of that practice. When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, the world was in the church to the extent that the standards of the world had infiltrated different aspects of the church life. The world was influencing the way they viewed worship and even leadership issues. We must first and foremost listen to the Bible. It is our authority in matters of doctrine as well as practice. Secondly, we must listen to our contexts. In an interview on August 5th 2019, Dr. Daniel Muvengi, WorldVision’s Eastern Africa Regional Director for Faith and Development, explained to me how the organisation has been listening to the different contexts that they work in and responded with appropriate programs or partnerships for theological/biblical training. World Vision is an international Christian development and relief organisation serving in more than 100 countries, including 26 countries in Africa. They are seeking to strengthen partnership with churches to promote spiritual and social transformation of communities. Sensing the need of untrained pastors and churches, they partner with one of the Christian universities in Kenya to offer non-formal and informal education to rural pastors. Every two to three years, they equip more than 400 pastors and church leaders for holistic mission through basic theological training blended with community development. They also partner with Biblica and Oasis International to access scriptures. Another approach to their development work is a training model, The Empowered Worldview, which helps people understand their own worth and how they can utilise their full potential by employing their talents and the resources available to them in their contexts (WorldVision 2017:68-74; Mosaic Creative 2016). This model has proven effective, especially in helping individuals within their contexts ask critical questions like: Who am I? What is God’s vision for individuals? Why do we do what we do? 36 | NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION As we seek for strategies for engagement, it is important that we reflect on the question of who comprises the grassroots church. One strategic aspect is young people. According to the African Union, Africa has about 420 million young people aged 15–35 and this number is expected to increase to 830 million by 2050; approximately 46% of Africa’s labour force will be young people aged 15–34 by 2063 (African Union n.d.). One implication of these statistics is that a sizeable number of the leaders for the African Church will be in that age group (it is already happening). It would not be surprising that in another few years, you could have a 20-year-old pastor. We need fresh eyes and a heart conviction to move beyond acknowledging the commonly cited statistics to appropriate action. What implications does this have for designing non-formal and informal theological/ biblical training? What are the implications for leadership development? Conclusion Our context in Africa has many leadership challenges, such as the large number of untrained leaders. However, biblical teaching and awareness of our contexts can help chart the way forward. We have many resources we can contribute to the Church’s growth, including a young and growing population. If we realise that we are responsible for this training, take ownership, and adopt an empowered worldview, we can begin to see fruit. God has been at work; let us listen and join in the task. Bibliography African Union. n.d. “Reaching 1 Million African Youth with Development Opportunities by 2021.” Accessed October 27, 2020. PowerPoint Presentation. https://au.int/sites/default/files/pressreleases/36534-other- 1x21.pptx. Dearborn, Tim. 2018. Short-Term Missions Workbook: From Mission Tourists to Global Citizens. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. DR. CHRISTINE W. K. MUTUA | 37 Elliston, Edgar. J. 1988. “Designing Leadership Education. Missiology 16, no. 2 (April): 203-215. https://doi.org/10.1177/009182968801600207 Mankura, Peter. 2019. Maasailand Ablaze: Revival Fire Across the Land. Dominion Chapel Ministries International, Kiserian. Overstreet, Jane. 2011. Unleader: The Surprising Qualities of a Valuable Leader. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity. WorldVision. 2017. Breaking the Chains of Poverty: With Empowered Worldview. 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