Jeyakaran “Jakes” Emmanuel with A3 says that in the next decade, ministries in Africa will need to invest strategically, as Christians on the continent are poised to do gospel work for several reasons. 

First, Africa has the youngest median age of any continent at just 19 years old.

(Image courtesy of A3)

Second, Africa has the fastest church growth of any continent in the world. Emmanuel says that it is projected that 40% of the world’s Church will live in Africa by 2050.

Third, Africa has shifted from being a mission field to becoming a mission force, with the continent already sending out thousands of cross-cultural missionaries.

Despite these blessings, there remains a critical leadership gap in the African church.

With the African church growing so fast and with regional issues of conflict and poverty, resources for theological training are spread thin.

“One of the greatest needs in the African church is church health and for the purity of the gospel to be preserved, because we are seeing rampant growth of the prosperity gospel and a whole lot of cults emerging all across Africa,” Emmanuel says.

Due to rampant false gospel start-up churches in Rwanda, last year, the president of Rwanda shut down churches across the country, including about 9,000 churches, because of the emergence of the false gospel and scammers in start-up churches, as well as the lack of theological education for the pastors.

“The false gospels, prosperity gospel being one of them, and a whole lot of heretical teachings that are rapidly gaining ground…” Emmanuel says. “There is again, the huge need for training of pastors and leaders and theological education, leadership development, and all of them become very critical needs for the continent.”

Emmanuel says doors are opening and church denominations are coming together to welcome A3 into lead church leadership in discipleship and training.

“A3 is poised to impact all of Africa, but the needs are great, and we pray that the Lord of the harvest will provide the needs for us to take his kingdom into this continent,” Emmanuel says. 

Please pray that God will provide the financial and human resources needed to do this coming work.

(Photo courtesy of Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke/Pixabay)

This trend highlights a growing need for biblical leadership development. However, getting theological training in the Middle East/North Africa region is challenging. Enter: Program for Theological Education by Extension, or PTEE.

“Not everybody can afford to go to seminary or access a seminary; some countries don’t have any,” a believer we’ll call Ben* says.

“[Sometimes,] they can’t take three years out to attend a seminary, even if there is one nearby.”

This m-learning graphic explains how Satan acts and contrasts it with what God does.
(Graphic, caption courtesy of PTEE)

PTEE makes theological training accessible. More about that here. The newest program provides education on the go through mobile- or m-learning.

“M-learning is for our discipleship level and certificate of ministry courses,” Ben says.

“We’re trying to break up the lessons into 15-minute chunks. If someone is waiting in line for something, they can whip out their phone and do the next part of the lesson. There are videos, interactive quizzes, and other things to keep the students engaged.”

PTEE needs your help to meet increasing demand. Support from believers like you allows the ministry to provide theological training at a minimal cost. Become a PTEE partner here.

“We see that this (m-learning) is going to be the future of PTEE,” Ben says.

“We’re trying to build a studio where we can create in-house content, videos, and audio material; please pray for the progress of that.”

*Name withheld for security purposes.

Header and story images courtesy of PTEE.

Founder Terry Ascott says,“Since COVID, we all know what it means to be at home and yet take part in a church service, or fellowship with others online. For many of the people that we’ve been ministering to over the past two decades, this has always been their reality.”

Some isolated believers may be the only Christian where they live or may not know another Christian personally. TV and online video programming by SAT-7 could be their only connection with the Body of Christ. Learn how a new program supports isolated believers in North Africa.

Even the leaders of small house churches often lack theological training. Responding to the need, SAT-7 formed the TEACH program, which stands for Theological Education for Arab Christians at Home.

“We take people through all the kinds of things they’d learn in a seminary because some of these house groups or little family Fellowships are led by people, of course, who would just happen to be the first person to come to Christ in their community, and they haven’t had any training,” Ascott says.

“Providing systematic fellowship and teaching is very important for this underground church, this isolated groups of believers in different countries.”

The ministry also offers counseling lines viewers can call and other ways to connect with their audience.

“We’re getting 1000 reactions from our audience every day. And trying to you know, process these and to respond to all kinds of needs, in a way that’s helpful to the viewers is quite challenging,” says Ascott.

If you speak Arabic, Farsi, or Turkish, SAT-7 could use your help. Get in touch at SAT7USA.ORG.

Header photo courtesy of SAT-7 USA.

Program for Theological Education by Extension (PTEE) spearheads a new theological training approach. Ben* says, “‘M-learning’ is learning on the mobile phone, and it can’t be done in the same way as regular online learning courses.”

PTEE is known for its accredited live and online programs. Now, they’re trying to make quality training accessible to the average believer. “All of our courses are designed to help people lead others,” Ben says.

“That (leadership) might be in an official church capacity [or] there are also lots of other ways. You might lead in a small group; you might lead a friend one-on-one as you read the Bible with them.”

PTEE recently hired two new staff members to work on the m-learning program. The courses they’re developing are best suited for new believers. “These discipleship-level courses can be used to grow spiritually and in service,” Ben says.

“As somebody learns to trust the Lord, they express their love for Him by loving and serving others. We hope that discipleship courses will equip [believers] to do that right from the beginning.”

You can help Christians throughout the Middle East and North Africa become strong leaders. Connect with PTEE here to learn how.

“We have a goal of developing 20 m-learning courses overall,” Ben says.

“We are kind of pioneering this; our big hope is that our work will enable others in the region to put their theological education onto mobile devices as well.”

*Name withheld for security purposes.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Wendy Wei/Pexels.

And what a chaotic 60^th year it has been. Elie Haddad, President of the school, says, “We had the economic meltdown in Lebanon with the hyperinflation, the social and political uprising, the pandemic, and then the big Beirut explosion in August. We’ve been through a series of crises.”

All this, especially COVID-19, has caused ABTS to rethink its residency program and adjust programs accordingly. Find out more here.

Civil war

These aren’t the first trying times ABTS has been through, Haddad says. The Lebanese Civil War that raged from 1975 to 1990 also caused havoc for the school. “Towards the end of the Civil War, in the late 80s, the leaders then, the American missionaries, were forced to move the operation to Cyprus for a couple of years. Then it moved back. At that time, there was a transition from missionary ownership to local Lebanese that took ownership.”

Join a Facebook live stream on November 12 to learn more about the curriculum at ABTS. (Photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook)

Elie first arrived at ABTS in 2005, and by that time the school had been fully revived after the war.

The founding of ABTS

American missionaries first founded the school as an aid to church planting. Haddad says, “They started the school to train the pastors that were assigned to these new church plants. So, they came in, created the need, and met the need. It was an amazing thing for something like that to happen in 1960.”

The seminary originally trained leaders for churches in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt.

To the future

Looking to the future, Haddad says ABTS needs to be aware of the challenges in the region, such as poverty, unemployment, and the fallout from COVID-19. ABTS always seeks to train church leaders for the real situations they will face.

Haddad says, “It is not logical,” that a small school like ABTS should survive for 60 years. Praise God for His faithfulness, and pray He will continue guiding ABTS into the future.

Curious about how the ABTS curriculum works? On November 12, ABTS faculty members will hold live streams in English to explain how the school prepares the Arab Church for engagement in their context. Join the streams on the ABTS Facebook page.

Header photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook.

Rather than holding its annual Middle East Consultation, ABTS is hosting a series of monthly webinars about matters that relate to Christians in the Middle East. Read more here.

This month, the topic will be theological education during the pandemic. Loulwa El Maalouf says people who sign up can expect to hear Middle Eastern voices on these topics. “We’re talking about how theological education is affected during this crisis. Of course, in the Arab world, there is a need for theological education and leadership formation for the Arab church. So we’re having to ask about how we can respond in a way that [leads] to enduring change.”

The ABTS poster for the July 16 MEC2020 webinar. (Photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook)

Changes ahead

As reported here, one way ABTS is adjusting to the pandemic is changing its residency program. The seminary will be able to provide education to more students under the new program, but the students will stay on campus only a short time each semester.

El Maalouf says Christians can pray for ABTS as they continue to navigate what theological education will look like in a world after COVID-19. “We need to make sure that we are hearing God’s voice as he guides us. These changes are not easy. They’re not straightforward. This has the potential to affect the theological education in all the regions of the Middle East and North Africa.”

Keep in mind, ABTS will be putting on another webinar in August and will continue monthly with MEC2020 until the end of the year. Next month, ABTS will talk about the changes to local churches during COVID-19 from a Middle Eastern perspective. What does it mean to worship as the body of Christ, but without a building?

You can also still watch the June webinar on YouTube. It addressed the topic of how the pandemic will change us. El Maalouf says Christians can simply wait for the crisis to end, or we can embrace the transformation that this time can bring. “Think of what a caterpillar is [like], how they emerge as a butterfly. We can emerge from this crisis or this pandemic as a butterfly. If we are thinking in a transformative way. We have to be intentional about it.”

The header image shows a view of Lebanon during winter. (Photo courtesy of ABTS on Facebook)

AWBE and Cornerstone University currently partner together in what’s called the Asia Baptist Theological Seminary based in Singapore.

This joint commission will be celebrating the upcoming 25th anniversary of their partnership, identify the best curriculum and delivery system for theological education in Asia for the future, and recommend strategies for theological education in a rapidly globalizing world culture.

ABTS offers courses in Hong Kong, South Korea, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand. About 250 students from nearly 20 countries are enrolled in the program where they may earn either a Masters of religious Education or a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies.

President of Cornerstone University Doctor Rex M. Rogers says, “Things are changing. So, what should we do tomorrow to be most efficient and most effective and how we bring Bible instruction in international theological education to those who are in different countries?”

While countries like China seem to be more open for this type of education, Rogers says ABWE and Cornerstone University could have an incredible impact. “If we can prepare people to go in there it’s unbelievable what can happen in terms of salt and light, in terms of evangelization, (and) in terms of the development of the church,” he says.

Accredited theological education is needed in this area of the world as thousands of people are turning to Christ. Without trained leaders, discipleship and further church planting is difficult.

The eight member commission consists of Chair — Dr. Dale Marshfield, (ABWE), Dr. Wyne Haston, (ABWE), Rev. Kent Craig (ABWE), Dr. George Collins (ABWE), Dr. David Livermoore, (CU), Greg Yoder, Mission Network News (CU), Prof. David Kennedy, GRTS (CU) and Dr. Robert Rapa, ABTS.

The joint commission will begin meeting soon and will make recommendations by January 15, 2008.