Theological Education in a Game Show – Is That Possible?

Healthy Competition Powers Truth X-Press

Studying Scripture is not just for pastors and teachers. Truth X-Press, a game show on SAT-7 ARABIC, is motivating young adults in their twenties to get into God’s Word. As the title suggests, Truth X-Press (in Arabic, Maarifa X-Press) is a fast-paced Bible quiz competition.

Contestants come from a variety of countries and careers. A photographer, a pharmacist, and a graphic designer are just a few of the contestants who have visited the SAT-7 studio in Lebanon to compete. This reminds viewers that a person does not have to work in ministry in order to know the Bible.

Each half-hour program begins with a report presenting a section of Scripture. A dose of healthy competition has contestants hovering over their buzzers. Each hopes to be the first to buzz in with the right answer when host Dany Boustany asks a Bible question related to the report. Only one contestant wins the competition.

The theme of the first season covered how to read and understand the Bible. The second season focused on Bible education. Since the first two seasons were so successful, a third season aired with the theme of spiritual discipline. Seasons four and five will air next fall, with the fifth and final season covering the Holy Spirit and Christian Living.

The heat of competition adds to the excitement, but Scripture is always at the center of the show. Dany (pictured right) began the first episode of the third season by reciting Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.” He reminded viewers, “Today, we are gathered in the name of Jesus. This means that Jesus, the Messiah, is in our midst.”

Truth X-Press is a part of The TEACH Project, Theological Education for Arab Christians at Home. The game show also encourages viewers to visit www.sat7.com/bounian, a written component of The TEACH Project offering free online courses. (To learn more about Bounian and The TEACH Project, click here.) Truth X-Press and other programs in The TEACH Project purpose to bring viewers to a deeper knowledge of Scripture and a more mature relationship with Christ.

Source: https://www.sat7usa.org/theological-game-show

Seminaries Continue To Attract Older Students

The latest enrollment figures for U.S. and Canadian theological schools show a decline or stagnation in every age group except 50- to 64-year-olds. Among these students are successful executives retiring early and eager for a second career.

After retiring from a career of managing TV stations, Will Davis wanted to study the biblical languages at the heart of his faith: Greek and Hebrew.

But soon after enrolling at Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Charlotte, N.C., campus, he realized his calling was to lead churches. At age 60, he switched to a part-time Master of Divinity degree program.

When he completes his degree next year, he expects to embark on his second career, as a pastor. He will be 65.

Davis is part of an older group of seminary students that continues to seek out theological degrees in growing numbers. The latest enrollment figures from the Association of Theological Schools show an overall decline or stagnation in every age group except 50- to 64-year-olds. Unlike other age groups, enrollment among this older cohort has risen steadily since at least 1991. In 2012, there were more than 14,000 men and women aged 50 to 64 enrolled in ATS member schools.

“It’s unclear what impels these students toward seminary and ministry,” write Barbara G. Wheeler and Anthony T. Ruger in a recent study on seminary enrollment published in the magazine In Trust. “It may be that changing cultural norms have made it respectable to retire fairly young from one occupation and begin another.”

Davis, a North Carolina native who worked as general manager, regional manager and vice president of nearly a dozen TV stations across the country, fit the pattern of a successful executive who planned an early retirement.

“Most people aren’t ready to sit on the back porch and watch the birds,” says Davis, now 64. “Most people are interested in second careers.”

A Baptist who married a Methodist and eventually found a home in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Davis says his Christian faith has always been a central part of his life. As an adult, he taught Sunday school, served as Sunday school superintendent and eventually sought ordination as a deacon and ruling elder in the congregations he attended.

He was nervous, he says, about going back to school and especially cutting his teeth on ancient languages, but he knew he wanted to give it a try.

“My feeling was, if I could get through Greek and Hebrew, I could do it,” he says. “I found an absolute love for both.”

Davis was also fortunate to be able to study at an extension campus designed for older students working full time and pursuing ministry as a second career. The Charlotte campus of the Richmond, Va.,-based Union Presbyterian Seminary is nonresidential and offers classes nights and Saturdays for students commuting from seven states. The average student takes two courses a semester.

Most of its 70 or so enrolled students are older than 40 and ready for a new career; in some cases, it’s a third career switch.

There are more such campuses catering to nontraditional students, says Daniel Aleshire, executive director of ATS. Unlike Union, evangelical institutions sponsor most of these campuses, but there are at least two Roman Catholic seminaries founded for older men wanting to enter the priesthood, Sacred Heart School of Theology in Wisconsin and Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Massachusetts.

And while many seminary leaders are wringing their hands about declining enrollments among younger students, faltering endowments and other economic challenges, students such as Davis are confident about their academic abilities and future working prospects.

“Older people have life experience that younger clergy do not,” says Davis. He points out that members of mainline congregations are also graying, so they may feel more comfortable with a minister their age.

Older clergy may have other advantages, too. Many no longer struggle financially; they’re not rearing children or building a nest egg — stressors typical of younger clergy.

They may also have better managerial and coping skills.

“By the time you’re in your 50s, most people develop techniques for dealing with stress,” Davis says.

Davis, who has lived in every region of the country, says he’s willing to pack up and move when the call comes.

“I don’t know where I’ll end up,” he says, but “10 to 15 years [as a pastor] would not be out of the ordinary.”

— Story by Yonat Shimron

Source: http://religioninsights.org/articles/seminaries-continue-attract-older-students

Midwifing What’s Next in Theological Education Together – Lee Hinson-Hasty

MAY 5TH, 2014

Whether you are reading news from the Association of Theological Schools, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, blogs on NEXT Church, seminary mission statements, or reports to the 221^st General Assembly on theological education one thing is clear, something new is being born.  No one really knows who or what exactly is next, but most who are in this conversation seem to be concerned.  Some have answers based on there research and others on the same volumes of research have completely different answers.

Wendy Fletcher, professor of the history of Christianity and former principal (president) at Vancouver School of Theology and chair of the board of the Forum for Theological Education (FTE) described how she sees the future of theological education as “much lighter on its feet.”[1]

If ever there was a day when its resources are needed in front of the change rather than behind it, that day is today.  Our context is one in which traditional models of Christian practice are in decline and one in which the Spirit of God appears to blowing manifold news forms of Christian practice everywhere on the ground of our culture. Only theological education that embraces this, not as crisis but as kairos, as the opportunity that God is giving us for faithful following in this generation, will thrive.[2]

With the Committee on Theological Education (COTE) chair, Kathy Wolf Reed, expecting her second child in late February, I prayed often that the delivery would be smooth, swift, safe, and soon!  I have been reminded how assuring it was for me to have medical professionals around when Elizabeth gave birth to our two children.  How important, health care is in general.  Although we did not employ a midwife, I cannot help but appreciate the courage, skill, insight, hope, and assurance that midwives’ must bring into the birthing process.

I wonder, if midwifery as a metaphor could frame what we are doing together as a committee and community in theological education in the PC(USA)?  Could we midwife theological schools, theological educators, church leaders and church bodies who are giving birth to what’s next in theological education? Nancy Ramsay, one our newest members, has reflected on the metaphor of midwifery in the art of pastoral diagnosis.  She notes,

In a culture anxious about both power and authority, (midwifery as a) metaphor offers us a way of joining caring, authentic presence and expertise while recovering the collaborative, differentiated authority … .[3]

She goes on to say, “Childbirth can be complicated.  It is never painless.  Babies are not always healthy or wanted. Infertility is painfully common.”[4]    Midwives sit with the woman in labor.  They are a coach to coax the baby, calm and comfort the mother by actively listening to needs and addressing them, sometimes before the mother asks or thinks about them.  In some countries midwives still visit the mother and child after the birth and help around the house doing jobs to support the mother and newborn like washing the laundry!

What’s next? What is being birthed in theological education is a complicated process involving multiple powers and associations, not the least of which is accreditors.  The context in which the birthing is taking place should be considered as well as the health of the mother and the child.

The story of Shiprah and Puah, the midwives for Israel, may be helpful here.  Their courage and respect for God over the authority of Pharoah defined them and allowed them to foster the birth of a new generation and people that they recognized as able to multiply and become “very strong.”  I also like that there were two, not just one midwife who was named.  They worked together.

As we read the business before COTE, we considered how we together could give birth to what God wants to live, multiply, and be strong in theological education in the days, months, years, and generations to come.  Maybe we could do the same for the church and the world as we consider the business before the 221^st General Assembly being posted now to be considered June 14-12 in Detroit, MI.

Lee Hinson-Hasty is coordinator for Theological Education and Seminary Relations and a lead staff person for the Committee on Theological Education of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Ordained in 1995, he has served as a campus minister and pastor in Virginia and as director of church relations at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in North Carolina.  Hinson-Hasty actively engages in dialogue, study and initiatives that foster relationships and leadership development in the church and academy including on his the blog, “A More Expansive View: Encounters with Presbyterians and our Seminaries.”  A graduate of Wake Forest University (BA-History), Louisville Seminary (MDiv), and McCormick Theological Seminary (DMin), Hinson-Hasty is interested in leadership in a multicultural world, serves as Vice Chair of the Fund for Theological Education, is a member of Lectio Jubilate, and is married to the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty.  Elizabeth and Lee are parents of Garrison (13), Emme (7), and a four month old puppy, Basci.

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[1] Fletcher, Wendy, “”Lighter on Our Feet into the Wide Open Arms of God” on A More Expansive View: Encounters with Presbyterians and our seminaries. http://www.pcusa.org/blogs/seminaries/2013/12/18/lighter-our-feet-wide-open-arms-god/ (December 18, 2013).

[2] Ibid, emphasis added.

[3] Ramsay, Nancy, Pastoral Diagnosis: A Resource for Ministries of Care and Counseling, p. 120

[4] Ibid., 121.

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Source: http://www.ecclesio.com/2014/05/midwifing-whats-next-in-theological-education-together-lee-hinson-hasty/

Union partners with IMB to provide deaf theological education in Brentwood

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – May 2, 2014 –

Union University is launching a program to provide theological education for deaf missionaries and church planters.

Through the partnership with the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, the Southern Baptist Conference for the Deaf, Brentwood Baptist Church and Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church, deaf believers can receive customized theological training for missions and ministry and earn a Certificate in Theology Education.

“A significant number of the world’s unreached people are deaf,” said Carla Sanderson, Union’s provost and executive vice president for strategic initiatives. “The CTE is giving deaf missionaries the tools they need to share the gospel through story-telling techniques so that deaf people can know the good news.”

An estimated 35 million people in the world are deaf, and each day 750 of them die without knowing Jesus. With no deaf-centric theological education available, some deaf Southern Baptists called to reach those who share their heart language have been unable to meet IMB requirements for career missionary status.

The launch of a Deaf Theological Center near Nashville, Tenn., April 14 marked a historic day for reaching deaf globally. From April to August, three IMB couples who already have been working with the deaf in Southeast Asia and South Asia will receive the training they need to meet IMB requirements and continue their service.

Through the partnership, IMB provides financial support for missionaries and their families; Union provides a customized academic program, academic oversight and credit hours at a special rate; and Brentwood Baptist and its Deaf Church provide meeting space, housing and other services.

Sanderson said she believes God will use the center “to reach those millions of people … who need to hear the gospel story.”

The six students are enrolled in five classes taught in American Sign Language by fluent ASL signers: Old Testament, New Testament, biblical doctrine, biblical hermeneutics and missions/church planting.

For years, Brentwood Baptist’s vision has been to become a global equipping hub for deaf missionaries, church planters, pastors and other men and women who want to receive deaf-centric theological training for missions and ministry. During a special service at Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church April 13, representatives of the partnering institutions gathered to sign a formal agreement and celebrate the launch of the center.

Mark Sauter, who with his wife Vesta serves with IMB as an affinity global strategy leader among deaf peoples, said the center is not just about helping deaf believers meet the requirements IMB trustees have set for theological education among missionaries.

“This is an opportunity, I believe, to prepare personnel for effective, practical church planting, evangelism and the reproduction of indigenous leaders,” Sauter said. “I really don’t know how much better it gets than where we are today, and I’m very excited about the opportunity to help launch this.”

Vesta Sauter said she had waited for the day for 47 years. She recounted how, as a teenager, she watched her deaf father go forward after a worship service to tell the pastor he felt called to full-time ministry. The family went home dejected after the pastor told him deaf people couldn’t serve in formal roles because there was no theological training available to them.

Vesta decided then that she would stand in the gap between the hearing and the deaf and work toward solving the problem.

Grant Lovejoy, IMB’s director of storying strategies, said the Sauters helped IMB staff “realize that deaf people are part of a deaf culture that is unique and distinctive.”

“You really need teachers who understand deaf culture well [and] teach in the way that deaf people learn best, through stories and through lots of interaction and dialogue, through role-play and through active learning — learning by doing,” Lovejoy said.

Aric Randolph, pastor of Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church, said through an interpreter, “To be totally honest, we’re starting with five classes, but my vision is that we could become a four-year college.”

“That’s my goal, my dream, my passion, for deaf people to have the opportunity to receive the training they need, that they could be church planters, they could be pastors, leaders,” Randolph said.

Conversations are underway with the North American Mission Board to add a deaf church planting residency next year so that deaf church planters can receive training at the center and then extend their time at Brentwood Baptist for additional church-planting instruction.

By Erin Roach

- See more at: http://www.uu.edu/news/release.cfm?ID=2272#sthash.1t8GNyPc.dpuf

Auburn Theological Seminary Announces Bold New Strategic Plan

New York (PRWEB) May 01, 2014

Auburn Theological Seminary (Auburn) announces today a new strategic plan aimed at achieving a single, clear goal: to equip leaders of faith and moral courage to work for social change in order to heal and repair the world.

The Auburn Strategic Plan honors the seminary's nearly 200-year old legacy and long-standing commitment to addressing great social issues of the day -- from abolition to suffrage to economic equality. The plan also honors Auburn's deep connections to the world of theological education and to faith communities in America and abroad. Auburn's new strategies and goals infuse into this tradition and network the entrepreneurial energy necessary to meet a bold, new moment of service.

Auburn equips leaders of faith and moral courage with skills not commonly developed in traditional seminary curricula or in their congregations. The result is bridge-builders who work across divides to share their vision for a world that could be, bringing a faith perspective to the public square.

"As we face forward, Auburn will begin to implement a strategic plan that responds directly to America's urgent need for bold, resilient leaders of faith and moral courage who can 'make the impossible possible' in creating a more just world. Auburn is committed to aligning our entire organization and its resources to the development of a deep bench of leaders of faith and moral courage who can rally their communities and congregations for change," said the Rev. Dr. Katharine Rhodes Henderson, president of Auburn Theological Seminary. "These leaders are challenging assumptions about faith and communicating shared values such as human dignity and equality."

Auburn identifies, equips and supports the game-changing faith leaders of our time; provides the platforms to help leaders reach broad audiences; and applies research to ensure that Auburn and others dedicated to leadership formation are achieving impact.

This plan represents both work in progress and aspirations for improving existing Auburn programs over the next five years. Core strategies include:

• Dynamic Experiential Learning Opportunities: Teaching a Core Curriculum that builds the necessary capacities for 21st century leaders who are spiritually grounded, intellectually rigorous, justice pursuing, able to bridge divides, entrepreneurial, wise about money, courageous in the face of conflict, media savvy and resilient.
• Platforms to Advance Public Leadership: In equipping leaders of faith and moral courage for work in social change, Auburn will provide a range of public platforms offering leaders the opportunity to speak and act in the public square while learning to navigate these platforms independently and effectively.
• Applied Research and Knowledge Building: Auburn's research will tell us how best to equip leaders to succeed in these challenging times and strengthen our understanding of emerging needs in a changing religious context in America and globally.

For more information about the Auburn Strategic Plan, its programs and vision to "trouble the water and heal the world," please visit http://www.auburnseminary.org.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1890735#ixzz30r4UY9eE

Свіжа статистика кількості церков в Україні

На початок 2014 року кількість релігійних організацій в Україні сягнула 37209, з яких 1653 релігійні громади діють без створення юридичної особи.

Такі дані наведені в Звіті про мережу церков і релігійних організацій в Україні, затвердженому Міністерством культури України за підсумками минулого року.

В Україні зареєстровано 89 (+2) центрів релігійних об’єднань та295 (-2) управлінь, єпархій, дієцезій тощо.
Функціонує 369 (-1) місій, 83 (+2) братства, 206 (+4) духовних навчальних закладів. Недільних шкіл стало менше на 53 і дорівнює 13104.

У 500 (+19) монастирях чернечий послух несуть 6917 (+83) ченців. Релігійними організаціями видається 380 (-4) періодичних видань.

Загальна кількість релігійних організацій протягом року зросла на 214, що майже дорівнює рівню, на який зменшилась кількість незареєстрованих релігійних громад.

Згідно офіційної статистики, на сьогодні релігійними справами опікуються 32456 (+1143) священнослужителів, з яких іноземцями є 760 (+1) осіб.

PS Дякую за інформацію, Sergiy Gula!

Богословское образование - это не работа и не рабочее место

Выдержка из интервью для http://www.word4you.ru/interview/22694/. Несмотря на политический и социальный эвроклидон внутри Украины, и между Украиной и Россией, по милости Божьей мы учимся работать даже в таких сложных обстоятельствах: проповедовать и преподавать, поклоняться Богу и выполнять домашние задания по предметам. Это время слез, время молитв, время сострадания, но это также и время возможностей позволить Богу изменить свое мышление относительно "униженных и оскорбленных" и научиться видеть в них людей, сотворенных по образу и подобию Божию. Эвроклидон является диагностикой и для богословского образования - испытанием на качество программ, проверкой на содержание программ, тестом на последствия нашей образовательной деятельности, независимо от того, что мы преподаем или что мы НЕ преподаем (избегаем или боимся). Давайте сейчас особенно хранить свое сердце от ненависти. Ведь ничто так не разрушает нас самих (не врага, а нас), как ненависть. Ненависть и духовно-образовательный процесс, как формирование IQ & EQ церковного служителя, - несовместимы. Ливанский философ Халиль Джебран как-то сказал, что "выйти к рассвету можно только пройдя по тропе ночи". Современный французский писатель Гийом Мюссо: "Там где любят друг друга, никогда не наступает ночь" [из его книги "Потому что я тебя люблю", которую прочел на одном дыхании в полете из Стамбула в Найроби]. Молимся. Солим. Светим.

ВОПРОС: На что надеется христианин, получающий богословское образование: перспективную работу, духовный рост или на что-то иное?

ОТВЕТ: Наверное, сколько существует христиан, желающих получить богословское образование, столько и надежд. У каждого свои цели и мотивы как и для чего получить богословское образование.

Пока что ситуация с нашими богословскими ВУЗами сложилась так (надеюсь - временно), что богословские дипломы не признаются законодательствами стран бывшего Советского Союза (за отдельными исключениями в Молдове) в силу того, что эти законодательства все еще отражают советский подход к религиозному образованию. Поэтому надеющийся на то, что диплом семинарии откроет двери в мир светского образования, приходит не по адресу. Также богословский диплом не означает, что церковь с радостью поставит выпускника пастором или служителем в своей церкви. Ведь церковь - это община, и чтобы в ней жить, нужно не только образование (IQ), но и EQ, т.е. эмоциональное качество, способность строить отношения с людьми, чтобы не вести их за собой, а направлять ко Христу как духовный лидер. Есть и такие, которые поступают в семинарию, чтобы перекантоваться до свадьбы, найти спутника жизни, закосить от армии, убежать из церкви или от родителей, начать новую жизнь и пр. Таких не много, и это не означает, что Христос с ними не работает по ходу образования и не меняет их мотивацию, и потом не использует в качестве служителей Церкви...

Богословское образование - это призвание, духовный дар. И как не каждый в Апостольской церкви молился на языках или пророчествовал, так и не каждого призвание к богословскому образованию. Богословское образование и духовный рост взаимосвязаны, но я бы не сказал, что они взаимозависимы. Есть люди, которые после получения богословского образования еще более разочаровались в своей духовной жизни и хождении с Богом. Но есть и те, кому богословское образование послужило стартовой площадкой для совершенно новой по качеству духовной жизни и служения Богу. Именно поэтому в приемных комиссиях богословских семинарий должны быть не только зрелые преподаватели, но и зрелые пасторы поместных церквей, руководители христианских организаций, чтобы Божьей мудростью определить: кого отправить обратно домой, кому дать шанс, несмотря на низкие оценки в школе, а кому дать шанс, несмотря на какие-то трудности в своей поместной церкви или в семье, а кого максимально поддержать в получении богословского образования и помочь ему и дальше развиваться как служитель. Богословское образование - это не работа и не рабочее место, это состояние души (перефразируя "классика").

Несколько дополнительных мыслей. Обучение – это систематическое изложение, а изучение — это овладение знаниями, навыками и умениями. Естественно, что без готовности изменяться ни о каком эффективном процессе образования не может быть и речи. Ученик, не готовый к изменению, может овладевать только фактами, которые могут привести его либо к гордости, либо к отрицанию знаний. Только готовый к изменению ученик может овладевать навыками и умениями. Процесс же образования начинается не в богословском учебном заведении, но еще в поместной церкви, членом которой является абитуриент. Какими могут быть последствия, если в христианское учебное заведение поступает абитуриент, не готовый изменяться? Во-первых, поместная церковь, отпустив в христианское учебное заведение неподготовленного к изменению абитуриента, вероятнее всего получит обратно “учителя”, владеющего лишь знаниями и идеями, но не навыками и умениями, которые он мог бы передать другим в христианском служении. Во-вторых, такой ученик является затруднением для самой школы. Преподавателям необходимо тратить драгоценное время, чтобы убедить такого ученика в том, что ему действительно необходимо быть готовым к изменениям, если он хочет получить качественное образование (т.е. сформироваться в определенный образ). В-третьих, такой ученик является затруднением для своих соучеников, так как отвлекает других в процессе образования-изменения. И церкви, из которых приехали соученики или, в которые они поедут, также подвергаются опасности получить “не образованного (т.е. неизмененного)” служителя. Ответственность за качество христианского образования несет не только учебное заведение, но и церковь в лице ее пастора, других служителей и членов церкви. Она заключается в том, чтобы подготовить абитуриента к процессу образования-изменения.

Какие факторы влияют при выборе кандидатов для обучения в христианской школе? Наверное, самым первым фактором является возраст, как физический, так и духовный. Второй, не менее важный фактор – мотивация абитуриента. Здесь хочется отметить два аспекта мотивации – мотивация внешняя (т.е. нужда церкви в служителе, миссионере, проповеднике или др.) и мотивация внутренняя (личное посвящение) Третий фактор – готовность абитуриента изменить в процессе образования (обучения-изучения): а) свое мировоззрение и убеждения согласно процессу обучения-изучения; б) свою систему ценностей, которая непосредственно находится под влиянием убеждений и влияет на внешнее поведение человека; в) свое внешнее поведение, которое обычно свидетельствует о его убеждениях и системе ценностей.