Philosophical Foundation

God calls a wide variety of people into His ministry. Some have completed extensive education, while others have had very limited opportunities. Some have many years to serve. Others are beyond their “mid-life”. Some are articulate and outgoing. Others are reserved and lack confidence. However, God calls, and the Holy Spirit equips through the Church.

The God-called minister serves in a variety of settings. There is the small mud-walled church in the village deep in the rainforest. There is the 200-member congregation in the downtown area of the capital city. There are the emerging congregations in a mega-city. There are the uncountable villages along the various roads.

Is it possible to meet this variety of needs and situations?

“God calls; the Church equips.” This simple statement summarizes the philosophy of ministerial preparation and training on the Africa West Field.

“Appropriate” becomes the key word. “God calls; the Church equips appropriately. Appropriate for the minister’s background and life-situation and appropriate for the ministry setting.

For much of West Africa, this means equipping “in place”. That is, equipping the minister who is in ministry already. Most ministers, in the West Africa setting, are not preparing for ministry; they are preparing in ministry.

Thus these two foundational issues for ministerial training stand before us: God calls, the Church equips in ministry.

For God-called ministers to be appropriately equipped for ministry, the Africa West Field has been developing a multi-tiered approach for a course of study toward ordination. This process has included a curriculum development process led by Russ Lovett and Fred Otto among others. Fred Otto has also contributed much to assembling an administrative structure for delivering pastoral formation across the field. Numerous meetings and participants from all corners of west Africa over the past five years have contributed to this document. During this time, the thinking was that there was a need for programs in Portuguese, English, and French with each language group working on its own programs.

During 2006 there began a movement toward networking the field’s educational providers and standardizing its course of study toward ordination. After a Field Leadership Conference in May 2006 in Accra, Ghana in which leaders from every district were present, the process began informally to consider a base level of formation at the certificate level. In August 2006, the possibility of Portuguese-speaking Cape Verde joining this process strengthened the resolve to move this direction toward decentralized educational providers at the certificate level. This same month, discussions began formally to unite francophone and Anglophone efforts toward a unified course of study.

This course of study took shape in building a common certificate programme of study in a meeting held in Accra, Ghana in October 2006. Participants included Dr. Matt Price, Field Education Coordinator-French, Rev. Friday Udolfia (Field Educational Coordinator-English, Dist. Superintendent, Nigeria-Lagos District), Rev. Daniel Johnson (Ministry Coordinator, Liberia), Rev. Paul and Sharon Martin (Sierra Leone), Rev. Phil Carr and Monica Carr (Ministry Coordinator, Translation/Education Supervisor, Ghana), Sonya Price (Benin),  Rev. Daniel Odeme (District Superintendent, Ghana Coastal District), and Frank Mills (Ghana). Unable to attend was Rev. Cyrille Ebam (Togo). During this meeting, the approved course of study for francophone West Africa at the diploma level was adapted by Anglophone leaders for their districts at the certificate level. In December 2006, Dr. Matt Price become Field Education Coordinator and, with the helpful assistance of Monica Carr, began to edit the submission documents for the certificate level course of study.

This submission has been a work in progress coming from those actually involved in teaching and administering these field-tested courses during the past few months. In February 2007, Cape Verde officially decided to decentralize studies toward ordination at the certificate level using this program. The involvement of various African and missionary leaders involved these meetings but also went beyond these formal discussions into developing syllabi, gathering resources, and teaching these courses at certificate and diploma levels and ongoing informal discussions during the past year. Overall, these developments will create a strong programme of professional studies for God-called ministers on the Africa West Field.

Overview by Country

(Figures represent education system as of May, 2007)

Benin

Over 55 students are currently enrolled in courses  in seven different teaching centres.  Many do not qualify for the diploma- level instruction, but are accommodated via translation so that they can complete ordination requirements. A Teaching Resource Centres has been established in Cotonou, Benin. Ministerial Studies Board members for both districts are organizing teacher training and instruction for the satellite teaching centres.

Burkina Faso

Eight students have taken a handful of courses in the past few years. The structure and organization of the pastoral formation program will have to be addressed in January 2007. There are twenty-one potential students in a decentralized programme.  A district education coordinator has been identified by the District Superintendent and training will soon follow

Cape Verde

This district located on ten islands off the coast of Senegal sent the first Nazarene pastor to West Africa over two decades ago. Its seminary is nearly fifty years old and continuing to prepare pastors and lay people for ministry on these islands and beyond. It is hopeful that Seminario Nazareno de Cabo Verde with its the ideal location between four continents, and the maturity of the district and its leaders will be an example for the rest of the field in developing multiple levels of education for current and future ministers in the Church of the Nazarene.

Côte d’Ivoire

Currently over forty (40) students gather monthly for classes in Abidjan at Institut Biblique Nazaréen (IBN).  Classrooms, library space, and office facilities are assigned to the program at the Andokoua Church in Abidjan.  Ministry leaders in Côte d’Ivoire are currently investigating the use of facilities in other cities of that country, including a centre in Issia, so that more students will have access to training closer to their places of ministry. The district superintendent, an educational coordinator, and other ordained pastors teach courses. The quality of instruction is drawing students from other church groups.

Ghana

In the initial stage of forming the Church of the Nazarene in Ghana, ministers were sent to a sister denomination’s Bible College for a Diploma in Theology. Other ministers came into the Church of the Nazarene with a Diploma in Theology from another institution. These options were used from 1993-96.

In 1996, the field instituted the Africa Nazarene School of Extension program (in parallel with Institute Biblique Nazaréen (IBN)). This program used a teach/re-teach concept. Ministers with higher basic education were brought into a Teachers’ Training Conference (TTC). Two TTCs were held each year. Four subjects were taught, two subjects to two “teachers” from each centre. These ministers would return to their centres and teach “their” subject to their fellow pastors. In this way, those with previous educational opportunities advanced, as well as those with fewer privileges.

After 2001, the field reduced the number of TTCs. The civil war in Liberia caused some stability issues. Ivory Coast became partitioned. Classes in Ghana subsided in 2003, but resumed in 2006. Twelve courses were taught in Ghana at three different locations this year.

Liberia

A layman from the United States came as a contractor to construct a road in Liberia. He started home studies. The Church of the Nazarene in Liberia was started through these efforts. By 1988, the field leadership identified a national leader who was then sent to Swaziland Nazarene Bible College. Before completing his program, the national leader returned to Liberia.

In late 1989, the civil war broke out. Some Nazarenes fled to Ivory Coast and started churches. Others remained in Monrovia. Though the church was expanding during the next few years, the field could not provide theological education, due to the civil war and a shortage of personnel.

In 1995, missionaries taught two intensive classes. They soon observed that these classes did not meet the needs of the ministers. The missionaries had difficulty bringing the content to the level of many in the class, while others excelled.

Since these needs paralleled those of Ghana, the Field Director combined Liberians and Ghanaians into the teach/re-teach program described above.

Classes continued, even during times of civil unrest. In January 2006 a sizable group of Liberians who had completed the Theological Education program were ordained.

Niger

This country has only one small congregation in the capital of Niamey. Nonetheless, it has become a satellite teaching location from the teaching centre located in Parakou, Benin, which itself is less than one year old. The teaching level is very basic not in terms of educational level but in terms of basic knowledge of the Bible and basic Christian beliefs. There is very little previous knowledge or experience in either of these subjects for these new believers in a largely Muslim country.

Nigeria

The beginnings of the Church of the Nazarene in Nigeria are rooted in events that started as early as 1946. From this time until the union with the International Church of the Nazarene in 1988, ministerial preparation was extremely limited. Many pastors felt a call, used their Bibles, and proceeded to lead their people. A few were able to attend different Bible Colleges. At the time of the union, less than one fourth of the ministers had formal training.

Soon after the union, a Nigerian graduate of Nazarene Theological Seminary returned to Nigeria. The Field Director and Regional Education Coordinator appointed him to lead the preparation of ministers. The challenge was to train all existing pastors, as well as train those who were entering ministry. This was the beginning of Nigerian Nazarene Theological College in Abak.

NNTC enrollment was good. Funding from the International church subsidized the budget of the college. After some time, NNTC assigned graduated Diploma students with “A’s or B’s” to teach some entry-level courses. In addition, there were pastors with limited educational opportunities. The graduates were encouraged to teach these pastors in the local dialect. Enrolment fell because international funding levels dropped, the church did not recognize training that was not at the Diploma level for ordination requirements, and the existing pastors completed their program thus reducing the number of incoming students. By 1995, these changes led to a significant shift in ministerial education.

As new pioneer areas opened, the missionary started teaching courses in “intensive” formats—one week per course. Thus, NNTC was the “umbrella” for three “centres”. The existing syllabi were adapted to fit the one-week format. Financial problems and an unforeseen change in missionary personnel caused the frequency of courses to drop. When funding was restored, NNTC again was able to present 10 courses per year through the extension centres.  Graduates of NNTC and ANU along with qualified teachers in the general education courses form the teaching staff.

Senegal

At the present stage of development in Dakar, there are at least nine Senegalese students meeting in weekly Wednesday discussion sessions. They are not formal courses, but the result of a need for those starting new cell groups to meet and discuss common issues. Many are high school graduates and may be ready for degree level work.

The church and nascent district facilities, which have undergone recent renovation and expansion, could offer classroom space for ministerial education.  Instruction is informal and is led by two pastors in Dakar.

Sierra Leone

The Church of the Nazarene officially entered Sierra Leone with the assignment of a missionary couple in March 2004. Before this, an NGO associated with a Nazarene layman from Olathe College Church had been working with war victims. Through his contacts, several independent ministers became interested in the possibility of their church joining the Church of the Nazarene.

Initial meetings with these pastors revealed a broad range of education backgrounds. This was not only apparent with the level of education, but also the source. Overall most pastors had training from institutions related to Pentecostal denominations. It was also obvious that popular theologies related to the Prosperity Gospel and Calvinistic expressions were common in the group. Most held a “works” view of holiness, with limited emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, it seemed best to not plan on any of the first group of ministers to enter ordination with their previous training, but to plan a complete course of study leading to ordination. Approximately 24 courses have been taught in the last 2 years.

Togo

Around 20 students have been involved in courses during the past year. A change in leadership has helped the ministry in this country to expand beyond the capital city of Lomé, into the central parts of the country. Several new ministerial students are young professionals with either a BACC or licence—far beyond the certificate level but capable of teaching at this level. Yet in villages less than an hour apart there are pastors with little to no formal education. Even with its divergent needs, it is possible that Tchévié, a mid-size town north of Lomé, will become a major teaching centre in the next few years.

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