Leading Financial Sustainability in Theological Institutions

The African Perspective

Bellon

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781498291897
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The role of theological institutions in Christian mission is likened to the crucible that shapes the hearts and minds of those leading the charge to reconcile the world to God. Nevertheless, it is also the weakest link in the chain of Christian ministry, and efforts to sustain the unique contribution of institutions have been enigmatic. So why should we be concerned about theological institutions? What if there were no theologians, missiologists, trained pastors, or missionaries in Christian ministry? What if there were no theological institutions? What if the existing theological institutions collapsed, shut down for lack of resources? How effective would the witness of the Christian church be without theological institutions in a world in need of God? Over the centuries, various models for supporting theological training have been tried in institutions, but very few of these have been successful. Time, cost, and quality of education (among others) have been the driving forces behind the changing models, and yet financial sustainability has been elusive. Only informed leadership that draws insights from historical, biblical, and practical wisdom is necessary in achieving this goal. This book is your faithful companion in the quest to achieve financial sustainability in theological institutions.

PART One

History and Financial Challenges of Theological Institutions

Chapter 1

The Historical Initiatives

In Africa, the focus upon theological education to develop leadership capacity has been a hot topic for decades. Through time, different initiatives aimed at achieving quality scholarship were established. Yet, more than eighty years after the debate began, the prognosis under various prescriptions is that endemic financial challenges will continue to negatively impact theological education in Africa. The carcasses of struggling institutions littering every corner of the continent bear witness to this prognosis. Yet, these ailing institutions are still hopeful that somehow a contextually relevant remedy will emerge to set them on a path to financial sustainability.

It is noteworthy that theological education in Africa has always been at the heart of African ministry since the era of early recipients of the gospel. African Kings sent their children abroad to study theology in the early 1800s. King Naimbana of the Koya Temne of Sierra Leone was one such king who sent his three sons abroad, sending one specifically to pursue Christian theology. However, it was not until 1814 when the Christian Missionary Society secured a plot in Leicester Mountain, Freetown that the first Christian Institution was built. Unfortunately, five years after its inception, the school was closed; although, later it was converted into a seminary of higher education in 1820.1 Regrettably, in 1826 the two remaining students were dismissed and the institution shut down for lack of teachers and a lack of interest among the population.

This remained the case until Rev. Charles Haensel opened an institution at Fourah Bay in April 1827. Among reputable theologians trained at that seminary was Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther.2 The institution was later renamed Fourah Bay College and thrived for almost a half-century before it was upgraded into an institution of higher learning. That was the beginning of African theological education as we know it. There are earlier models of theological education in Northern Africa that date back to the first century. However, for this discourse we will focus on sub-Saharan Africa, and use a snapshot of the Fourah Bay model, which has been replicated in many places across Africa.

In 1938, the International Missionary Council held at Tambaram described theological education as the weakest element in the entire enterprise of Christian Missions.3 Although significant gains had been made over the years, the prevailing situation at that time left much to be desired. Even many of the resolutions at Tambaram remained dormant until after World War II when research published between 1950 and 1962 gave hope to the dreams and aspirations of the council. Specifically, research regarding the mission field was published and provided an impetus for the International Missionary Council meeting which was held in Ghana in 1957–58. The Ghana meeting established the Theological Education Fund (TEF) with resources of $4 million USD and a schedule of mandates designed to strengthen theological education in the developing world over a specific period of time.

The first mandates focused on ways to better train and educate ministry workers to meet the demands of the growing African church. The goal was to educate African Christian leaders to embrace scholarship for academic excellence in ministry.4 “Major grants of more than $2,800,000 USD were distributed to twenty-five strategically situated institutions. These schools were considered the best options for qualitative growth in the future. Over $1,000,000 USD were eventually spent towards the development of school libraries and the publishing of theological textbooks.5 Unfortunately, that mandate period—the first step in transforming the landscape of Africa’s theological education—ended in 1964 with marginal progress.

The second mandate lasted from 1965 to 1969. At that time a number of scholars were intently focused on the nature of ministry and the constituencies theological education sought to serve. The question posed was Can theological education effectively address the pertinent needs of the church, given the dangers posed by the proliferation of religions? The answer gave rise to a popular idea to describe the aspirations for Africa’s system of theological education. The idea was “Rethink.” Nevertheless, this second mandate ended without conclusive or comprehensive resolutions; although, it did pave the way for a third mandate.6

The third mandate, which caught the attention of the world was not without its critics. It lasted from 1970 through 1977 and focused on contextualization. As a form of renewal, contextualization was meant to shape theological education into a training platform focusing on the following issues: the urgent need of renewal and reform confronting the church, the role of justice in human development, theology that is authentic and appropriate within the context of prevailing needs, and dissecting non-authoritarian elitist pedagogy devoid of practical application.7

Following the end of the third mandate, a number of sporadic and uncoordinated initiatives and models of theological education sprang up across different regions in the developing world during the 1970s with the aim to upgrade and popularize theological institutions in the region. Asia Theological Association was established to advance theological education in Asia as theological education by extension gained significant steam. The Association of Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar was formed to provide accreditation to post-secondary theological institutions. These initiatives, which were financially supported by Western churches, contributed to getting the wheels of theological education rolling in Africa and other parts of the developing world. Nevertheless, the fundamental challenges on how to sustain theological education over the long haul remained enigmatic.

Part of the third mandate to contextualize was also to determine the viability of theological education in the developing world. As Zorn noted, the question of viability itself was a complex but central part of the discourse concerning theological education:

1. Can theological education as it has developed in the Third World—with encouragement from the Theological Education Fund and others—be self-supporting in the areas of finances and personnel if working in conjunction with local or regional resources?

2. If theological education in its present form is financially unviable, what are the alternatives?

3. To become regionally viable, can theological education continue to depend on stultifying foreign assistance or find substitute resources?

4. How can theological education be viable in those areas where poverty and sparse populations make full-time ministry financially unsustainable?

5. Is it possible that Third World theological education is an unsupportable method of producing an unsupportable and/or irrelevant ministry?8

One may like to know whether plausible answers were found to these questions or whether they generated any debate that resulted in positive breakthroughs over time. However, it is difficult to find resolutions or deliberated initiatives that respond to these questions arising out of the third mandate. After several decades, reflecting on these questions even now spawns more questions, but few great answers. So, is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Are there contextually relevant solutions to which we can address ourselves?

This is the pathway of our discourse from a biblical as well as contemplative standpoint. In reality, theological education in Africa can glean profitable lessons from what is working and what has not. Ultimately, collective experience can provide a framework worthy of active deliberation as we move toward more comprehensive approaches.

The Role of Theological Institutions

Theological institutions serve as training organizations primarily devoted to the advancement of theological education. They are established to educate individual Christian leaders with biblical, theological, and ministry skills necessary for effective service in both church and society. Yet, there are myriad perspectives regarding what theological institutions should be doing based on theology, traditions, doctrines, and preferences.

There is a need to provide adequate technical skills within historically familiar skillsets for those who wish to serve as pastors. Graduates will endeavor to meet the needs and demands of congregants as they seek to individually achieve both desirable societal transformation as well as spiritual growth. Leaders must be formed in their dedication to religious life and witness in the community. Therefore, a theological institution is the place where the formation of intellectual, practical, and professional leadership skills must happen to ensure that Christians grow deeper in their relationship with God and fully grasp biblical truths.

The four main areas of theological education have been Bible, Church history, theology and practical application of dogma for engagement with society. Edward Farley, outlined four historical types of theological education as follows:

1. The life wisdom or habitus model (the earliest model exists in the monastic movement);

2. The scientific model (science developed from philosophical schools in Alexandria and later developed in the Middle Ages);

3. The university model (the “crown of science” in which theology becomes the focus of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century theological faculties);

4. The “professional” training model (the inner ecclesiastical needs of the Christian community in terms of ministerial formation).9

David Kelsey perceived the role of theological institutions as following a twofold core mandate: the paideia and Wissenchaft. Paideis, modeled after the ancient Greek vision of education, emphasized formation. The Berlin university system approach in the nineteenth century was named Wissenchaft, which referred to mastery of a body of knowledge and demonstration of core competencies.10 Kelsey discussed the advantages and disadvantages of paideia and Wissenchaft and demonstrated the difficulties in keeping the two in dynamic balance.

Another dual perspective has been the pure education versus the pure vocation model introduced by Alison Le Cornu. Pure education is characterized by communal, face-to-face mentoring/learning; whereas, pure vocation emphasizes training. Pure education emphasizes content and knowledge proficiency in order to gain mastery of the “truth.” Pure vocation focuses on informing and performing to develop skills for ministry tasks.11

Kelsey and Le Cornu are on the same page with regards to using these two paradigms to define the role of theological institutions. However, it is noteworthy that there has been an on-going tension between both of these ideological perspectives for decades. Theological training at advanced levels is geared toward preparing student scholars for research and for the ministry. However, a standing preference in many African institutions has been to focus predominately on the vocational aspect of ministry. Very few African institutions advance a purely academic line.12

Although a vocational focus has been the norm for some time, the need for balanced instruction cannot be overemphasized. Africa needs to allow more vocational ministry leaders to develop as scholar leaders, too. Therefore, the issue is not just an either/or argument. Rather it is an issue best served by both approaches. Consequently, how Africa will develop leadership capacity to address multiple areas of need is still to be discovered.

Ultimately, developing leadership capacity is to equip an army of men and women with advanced vocational and scholarly research skills and competencies in order to influence church, society, and academia. The role of theological institutions will be meaningless if they fail to prepare men and women with the necessary knowledge and skills to be quality leaders needed in this era. To adequately meet this objective, theological institutions must engage in biblical values-based leadership training, because leader...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part One: History and Financial Challenges of Theological Institutions
• Part Two: Biblical Foundations for Financial Sustainability
• Part Three: Toward Financial Sustainability of Theological Institutions
• Bibliography