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Past Articles
►TEE
Centre in British Columbia Closed - An Update
The Bishop of Caledonia of the Anglican Church in Northern British Columbia,
Canada shocked many recently when he closed the diocese portion of the TEE Centre after more
than 17 years of service. Click here.
November, 2004
►Planning for TEE in Angola: A Report
with Pictures From a Recent Visit by Dr.
Adrian Chatfield.
Click here. November, 2004
►The
Question of Accreditation and Academic Standards in TEE by Rev Dr
Adrian Chatfield Click here.
October, 2004.
►Leading Distance Education Associations
in the United
States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, and
other African countries. Get news and resources by subscribing to
their free newsletters.
Click here.
September, 2004
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TEE, Cultural Diversity and the Indigenous Church:
Some Insights from Roland Allen
From a Presentation Made by Dr. Paula Sampson
to the TEENET Steering Committee, August 9, 2004
Roland Allen
was a mission strategist, born Bristol, England, 29 December 1868,
and died in Kenya, 9 June 1947.
He was
educated
at Oxford and Leeds and became an Anglican
priest in 1893. In 1895 he went to North China with the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel. He survived the Boxer siege and
following furlough and marriage returned briefly to China. He
resigned from parish ministry in 1907 and worked in association with the
Survey Application Trust and World Dominion Press. His classic
Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or ours? and other writings argued
for independent indigenous churches. He influenced Pentecostal missions
and a new generation of missionaries from the 1960s.
The following are some of his quotes:
"I am persuaded that the apostles understood how to
establish the church better than we do, and they did not appeal for
pastors to the home church, and they did not begin with a theological
college. The church grew its own theological colleges later."
(Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours? Grand Rapids, Mi. :Erdman 's
Publishing Co., 1962)
"They [established churches] have preached payment of
ministers as part of the Gospel, and have insisted upon a training that
they alone can give. They have controlled the whole movement, and that
is the true mark of the imperialistic spirit of which [Asian] people
accuse them." (A critical Review of 'The World Mission of Christianity')
''All teaching to be permanent must be intelligible and
so capable of being grasped and understood that those who have once
received it can retain it, use it and hand it on. The test of all
teaching is practice. Nothing should be taught which cannot be so
grasped and used." (MM)
"It is essential that the people should recognize that the school is
their own school."(MM)
"These [foreign] priests have often under them many excellent and
devoted catechists who cannot be ordained solely because they have not
had a college education." (MM)
"The young men [sic] so educated are sometimes, by their
very education, out of touch with their congregations .... They are not
even the best teachers of people from whose intellectual and spiritual
life they have long been absent. They do not know how to answer their
difficulties or supply their necessities. They know so much Christian
doctrine and philosophy that they have forgotten the religion of their
country (emphasis added). The congregation has not grown with them, nor
they with the congregation. They come, as it were from outside." (MM)
"Alien believed that the church can be the community, and the community
can be the church in a very specific cultural milieu, and that those
expressions are particular to themselves and stand upon their own value,
rather than being compared to the western church." (Linda Johnson,
Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, in Ministry Development Journal,
1988#15)
Comments from the TEENET Web Director: Other
quotes from Roland Allen can be found at
http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/Roland-Allen/1/
| Books by and about Roland Allen
include: Allen,
Roland. Mission activities considered in relation to the
manifestation of the Spirit. London ; New York: World Dominion
Press, 1927.
Allen, Roland. Missionary
methods : St. Paul's or ours ; a study of the church in the four
provinces. London, 1912.
Allen, Hubert J. B.
Roland Allen : pioneer, priest, and prophet. Cincinnati, Ohio,
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Forward Movement Publications; W.B.
Eerdmans.1995. |
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CATI POLICY STATEMENT
The Conference of African
Theological Institutions (CATI) having met with representatives of
Theological Education by Extension (TEE) at a consultation held from 26th
February to 1st March 2002 at Kenya College of Communications
Technology (KCCT) Mbagathi, Nairobi-Kenya acknowledges the role of TEE
in the strengthening of the church and its witness in Africa. CATI seeks
in addition to its other activities to provide policy guidelines on
Theological Education by Extension that may be of assistance to the
churches, theological institutions and other educational institutions in
Africa.
We salute the effort of
women and men that have tirelessly endeavored to promote TEE as an
effective method of equipping the whole people of God for the whole
ministry of Christ through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Issues and
recommendations emerging from the consultation were:
Mission and Purpose of TEE
1. To provide
study opportunities for those who cannot be full-time students
in residential institutions. These opportunities should be made
at all educational levels.
2. TEE is suitable for informal,
non-formal and formal education systems.
3. It is suitable for theological
education of the laity as well as those seeking ministerial
formation.
4. It facilitates the training of
God’s people in a variety of church leadership roles and
ministries.
II. Methodology
1. TEE is a proven method of
education that comprises self-instructional material,
face-to-face discussion under the guidance of a facilitator who
is trained in TEE methodology and practical application of
learning in ministry activities in church and community.
2. With the introduction of
Information Technology (I.T.) good use can be made of telephone
conferencing, video conferencing, computer – based learning
(CD-ROM), and interactive web sites on the Internet.
3. Efforts should be made to
expand the use of information technology in rural and urban
areas.
III. Approaches to TEE
1. Ownership
a) Churches, theological
institutions and departments of religious studies of
institutions of higher learning are custodians.
b) Therefore
the church leaders are called to affirm their commitment to
and ownership of TEE.
c) This will
involve them in resourcing and sustaining TEE programs.
d) The adoption
and implementation of the TEE method of education may affect
institutional culture and may call for adjustment to new
approaches to teaching and learning.
e) Good policy
decisions related to TEE by church leaders will make progress
in TEE possible. This includes making policies on recruiting,
training and retaining appropriate TEE personnel to ensure
continuity of the program.
f) TEE has been
used in various levels from literacy (learning to read and
write) to undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate level.
IV. Curriculum, Content
and Development
1. Content and
Context
We should not
underrate our ability to develop appropriate contextualised
materials.
It is helpful
to develop distance-learning materials based on existing
courses that are taught in residential institutions.
All theological
curricula must be relevant to their context and needs of the
students and ought to be reviewed from time to time.
All theological
curricula including that of the TEE should intentionally
address the burning issues affecting African people such as:
Poverty, Diseases especially HIV-AIDS, Environment, gender,
justice, human rights, reconciliation, conflict resolution and
peacemaking.
Curricula ought
to be approved by the stakeholders.
2. Production of
study materials
a) Recruitment
of writers
(i)
Churches should be involved in the recruitment of
capable, committed subjects specialist as TEE course
writers.
(ii)
These writers should work under the guidance of a
person(s) who is qualified in theology and Distance
Education.
(iii)
Study material should be written in a language
appropriate to target group where possible the mother
tongue.
(iv)
Context determines the nature and level of TEE programs
therefore we should not expect uniformity in TEE
programs continent wide.
b) Study
materials should be tested with subject specialists and
student groups before printing.
c) The up-front
cost of producing distance-learning materials is expensive.
Churches and institutions should therefore count the cost at
the planning stage. Costs will include planning the
curriculum, recruiting and training of writers, drafting the
materials, stationery, office expenses, proof reading,
editing, secretarial support, transport, printing and
distribution.
d) In designing
a curriculum it reduces costs to use existing study materials
produced by other TEE programs.
e) It is not
automatic that any highly qualified theological tutor can
write TEE materials without successfully undergoing thorough
training in Distance Education.
f) Writing
requires sacrifice and commitment, so writers should be
reasonably remunerated for their hard work.
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V. Networking and Collaboration
1. There is
need to identify areas of collaboration at national,
regional and continental levels.
2.
Therefore ecumenical bodies such as AACC, CATI and
regional associations of TEE could facilitate this
collaboration effectively.
3. It is
salutary that much progress has been achieved in TEE at
denominational level, however we encourage broader
involvement at ecumenical levels.
VI. Evaluation
and Accreditation
1. There is
need for accreditation and certification for TEE programs.
Therefore, TEE programs should seek affiliations with
established accrediting agencies and existing accredited
academic institutions. This could be done through the
member institutions of CATI.
VII. CONCLUSION
In gratitude to
God for enabling us through this process, we pray that these
policy guidelines will contribute significantly in making
Theological Education by Extension to be more effective, viable
and relevant to the African context. We therefore commend them
to churches and theological institutions wishing to enhance
their TEE programs.
_____________________________________________
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THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
UNISA is South
Africa’s oldest university, founded in 1873 as the University of
the Cape of Good Hope. Following are quotations from UNISA
publications, which indicate the importance of this model of
distance higher education, which can be further strengthened
through face-to-face extension methods.
In 1916 the
university was given its present name and took on a federal
structure within which were incorporated several university
colleges which subsequently became autonomous teaching
universities. In a sense, therefore, UNISA has parented most of
South Africa’s present-day universities. In 1944 the institution
was infused with a new vision as the idea of providing postal
tuition to non-residential students began to take hold, and in
1946 South Africa’s first university also became the pioneer of
tertiary distance education in the western world.
Today, the
university enjoys the status of a mega-university, one of a dozen
or so institutions with the requisite scope and complexity. UNISA
serves an enormous student body—between 110,000 and 130,000 people
a year, from villages, towns and cities across the globe. A
further 45,000 to 50,000 register for certificate courses. For
these students, the university prints over 500 million pages of
information a year, sends out 8 million postal items and makes
more than 2,000 courses available on the Worldwide Web. Its main
library handles in excess of 550,000 transactions a year and
stocks almost 2 million information items, over 13,000 current
periodical titles and an audio-visual collection almost as big as
that of the national broadcaster. The Department of Student
Support provides facilities and face-to-face tuition for students
resident in South Africa at 9 student centers and distributes in
the region of R18 million annually in student loans to needy
students. Examinations are held twice a year at between 350 and
450 centers around the world, and 60 to 70 graduation ceremonies
take place at 14 venues across the country each year, with some
15,000 to 16,000 people receiving degrees, diplomas and
certificates from the University’s 6 faculties and its Institute
of Adult Basic Education and Training.
UNISA’s Faculty
of Theology and Religious Studies is the largest of its kind in
South Africa and is recognized in many parts of the world for its
academic standing. We have close to sixty academics who offer
seven traditional theological disciplines—Old Testament, New
Testament, Church History, Systematic Theology, Theological
Ethics, Practical Theology and Missiology—as well as a number of
exciting new programs in Pastoral Counseling, Community Ministry,
Christian Spirituality and Applied Ethics.
One of the most
exciting growth points in the Faculty of Theology and Religious
Studies is the Faith in Action (FIA) Certificate Program. There
are already eight courses running in this program, and 165
students successfully completed their certificates last year.
For more
information see www.unisa.ac.za
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MY RELATIONSHIPS WITH TEE
Rev. Musa J. Jambawai,
Kenema, Sierra Leone
I first came
in contact with TEE work when I was a teenager doing my sixth
form studies in Freetown. At that time the Sierra Leone Bible
College organized TEE courses in various cities and towns in
Sierra Leone. The group in Freetown met twice a week, on
Tuesdays and Thursdays. We met at 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. each
day. The TEE term was ten to 13 weeks, and we did two subjects
per term. At the end of each term certificates were offered,
accredited by the College. TEE tutors came from this
institution, the Fourah Bay College Theology Department, and
various churches in Freetown. I do not remember now what we
paid for the courses, but I strongly believe that the fees
barely covered the cost of the books, if not a little less. I
cannot recall now all the subjects that I took, but a few that
I remember are: Romans, 1 and 2 Timothy, Mark, selected Old
Testament books, Child Evangelism. The course on Child
Evangelism helped me most, as I had just become a Sunday
School teacher at my church with very little teaching skill or
knowledge of working with children. For me every Sunday during
the course was a teaching practice. I went to the TEE course
with either tears or smiles to pour before my tutors. Since
that time my interest in working with children grows fresh all
the time.
Currently I
am the Acting Director and Trainer of the Methodist Training
Center. I am working on ways to collaborate with the TEE
workers in Sierra Leone. My center has the responsibility to
train the laity in theology and community development. When I
team up with TEE, this will give the laity deeper training in
theology as well as in community development. The TEE team
will give a fine focus on theology, and I will give more time
to community development.
In addition
to my teenage biblical studies with TEE, I did most of my
ministerial biblical studies with TEE. We did four weeks of
full day college residential studies each year for four years.
After each residential study we were allocated mentors and
sets of prescribed books. We went through the books and wrote
essays and submitted them to the mentors for marking. We also
met in study groups every month to exchange ideas and help one
another. This study earned us a Certificate in Pastoral
Studies by extension. This prepared me for ordination into the
ministry of the Methodist Church of Sierra Leone. Today I am
an ordained minister. |
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