I recently wrote a piece titled, Theological Education in Missions. I shared it with a colleague, Rev. Dr. Mike Kuhn, who serves as director of ITEN. Mike has decades of experience in global theological education (TE).

Mike wrote a thoughtful response, and granted me permission to share it here. I’m grateful to Mike for filling out the picture of global theological education, from his deeply informed perspective.

Your article stirred a few thoughts which I will attempt to sketch out below. This is in an airport as I await my flight—so, a quick response rather than a thoughtful engagement.

Your T1-3 scheme is helpful, but we are also seeing a need for TE that, to my mind, may not fit those categories neatly. It is commonly called “non-formal TE.” These are pastors and leaders of emerging churches, often first-generation Christians, who are not likely to frequent a Bible college or seminary. They lead the church in their community because they were the first Christian or perhaps because they live in a house that can welcome other Christians. They are reading the Bible with plenty of baggage from their Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or animist backgrounds. They need a basic training but one that also alerts them to key interpretive challenges (e.g. interpreting the OT prophecies in light of Christ). So in some ways, it approximates a basic BA in biblical studies or theology, but it does not have all the academic baggage such as credit hours and reading assignments. It may also incorporate some specialist knowledge, normally reserved for graduate-level studies (e.g., understanding how the Muslim environment impacts hermeneutical issues). This is the kind of training we are offering increasingly in ITEN.

I think the economics of TE is also very important and complex. Your article does mention that, but the feasibility of putting TE institutions in some of these developing world settings is questionable at best. In [three training sites–withheld for security reasons], we are using buildings dedicated to ministries that are not TE institutions (e.g. schools or mission hospitality houses). Given the economic situation of these locations, it is doubtful that an institution (brick & mortar, classrooms, educational technology, library) can operate there. We can, however, supply teachers who are adept at cross-cultural communication and have enough of an advanced knowledge of Bible and theology that they can help these new pastors steer clear of some minefields.