A Teaching Ministry Opportunity in West Africa

A Teaching Ministry Opportunity in West Africa

The Apostolic Commission

A concern at the heart of the ministry of Christ while he was in the flesh was that those who were close to him during that time, who were eyewitnesses to his work and who had heard his teaching, would then take that knowledge and share it wherever they went. In fact, he commissioned his apostles with the very task of taking his message around the globe; instructing people so that they would also become his disciples.

Thus we see, even in the New Testament era, how the apostles and eyewitnesses were deeply committed to communicating the message of the life and teachings of Jesus.

In 2 Peter 3:17-18, the apostle notes his concern for stability of faith in those who believe on Jesus. He says stability and growth happen where believers continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ”.

Analyzing the West Africa Church Situation

Practically from the day I arrived in West Africa sixteen years ago, I have been troubled by the deficiency of Christian believer’s grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. I have found many well-intentioned believers here but it is rare to find a community of believers who are being nurtured on the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. When disciples are not focusing on the life and teachings of Jesus, the door, as Peter says, is wide open to instability, false teaching and a witness that does not reflect the character and person of Jesus Christ.

I have also found that believers here have a tremendous openness and hunger for this very teaching: Who is Jesus? What does he teach us about God? How do we truly live and witness the message and power of Jesus? What does the community of Christ look like and how does it function? The enthusiasm and the joy West Africans have for the teachings and model of Jesus is truly astonishing.

Why? Because almost every Sunday when they go to the worship service they are bombarded with a graceless, legalistic and often threatening message from an Old Testament text. Much of Christianity in West Africa has a strong Old Covenant, bad news, angry God orientation. I have visited many West African churches, become friends with many believers and have had heart to heart talks with pastors: this is what I am hearing and seeing throughout West Africa.

Christological vision is limited to a Jesus who forgives my sins so that I can go to heaven when I die. Plus, he can do a miracle here and there to get one ahead in life. This inadequate Christology leads to instability in faithfulness, lack of transformation and general shallowness. It results in churches trying to generate faithfulness through legalism, which in turn leads to doctrinal conflicts and personality clashes. Churches not really centered on the person and ethics of Jesus are prone to jump onto false teachings like prosperity gospel and miracle showmanship. Where Christ is not the head, front and center of the church the ‘big man’ leadership style fills the void and corruption becomes commonplace.

Africans are not ignorant about what is going on in their churches; they know something is wrong but because of their inadequate Christology they have a problem articulating the problem and what to do about it. That is why, when I preach and teach the wholistic gospel of Jesus I see eyes lighting up all over the audience as it begins dawning on people the inadequacy of their knowledge of Christ and how that ignorance is short changing their life in Christ. Most of these folks have made a good start in Christ but his life-giving nurture is in short supply.

Preaching Christ

What I teach is simply radical Anabaptism: going back to the roots of the church, the foundation of Christ and the 1^st century apostle, prophets and eyewitnesses (Eph. 2:20). I teach what Jesus taught and how the apostles made his teachings real in the Christian communities they established.

This is the message that most Christians in West Africa are hungry to hear: How Christians can grow up into our head Jesus Christ and how the community of Christ looks and acts like him when it is joined at the center of the faith  (Eph. 4: 4-6).

The vision for a radical, Anabaptist oriented church developed in my thinking within a year of my arrival in West Africa in 2000. The vision came as I interacted and fellowshipped with a variety of congregations in Gambia. Most of the evangelical churches in that country had been started by African missionaries from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana. They have been only minimally successful in establishing viable congregations among the people they came to evangelize. It didn’t take me long to catch onto why they were seeing so little success.  It was then that I decided an Anabaptist witness was needed in West Africa and I subsequently started evangelizing from a clearly Christ-centered, Anabaptist model. In those early years I was not aware that there was a broad, latent interest throughout West Africa in radical Christianity.

In 2010 I attended a CHE (Christian Health Evangelism) meeting in Ghana. CHE is a Christian evangelizing and development network based on radical church theology. It was from that meeting that I began networking with churches and leaders who shared much with Anabaptism’s wholistic gospel. Thru these contacts I began realizing the potential Mennonites could have in working together with believers and communities who share with us a vision for the radical church. When I concluded my work as a pioneer missionary in 2013 I began moving in the direction of becoming a Bible teacher for various church groups who shared with me the desire to return to the roots of our faith.  During the past three years I have been finding open doors for radical Bible teaching in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal in addition to the Mennonite congregations in Gambia and Guinea Bissau.

A Proposal

My proposal now is that the ministry of nurturing the wholistic, Christ-centered, radical Anabaptist faith should become an officially recognized component of the EMM West Africa vision. This does not necessarily mean that we will be establishing Mennonite affiliated congregations all over the place; it means that we are simply stepping into the task of nurturing the hunger for Christlikeness that is already abundantly and naturally present among believers authentically seeking to grow up into Christ. Mennonites, through God’s grace and providence are theologically gifted to be here to serve for such a time as this. 

For the near future this proposal would not require a budget. I would just continue in my role as a ‘volunteer missionary’ partially supported by my MST. But in the longer term it could evolve into a program requiring long or short-term Bible teachers doing seminars or in some way walking with West African leaders in a minimally institutionalized format.

My November 2015 newsletter give a fairly complete snapshot of what is currently going on in this ministry.  Click here to see the newsletter.    

Beryl Forrester,

Jan. 8, 2016

Becoming Christ-centered Communities of Faith

Becoming Christ-centered Communities of Faith

In Ziguinchor, Senegal, there’s an evangelical church that has ‘Jesus Christ’ included in the congregation’s name. Moreover, on the sign board out in front of the church are the words of Jesus from John 8:31-32, proclaiming publically, and boldly something of great importance regarding the teachings of Jesus. The English translation from the French printed there reads:  “If you faithfully obey the things I am teaching you, then you will be my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 

The sad reality is that many evangelical Christians in this town know too little of the teachings of Jesus, nor do the leaders and thus teaching and preaching does not expound on the life giving wisdom and life-transforming message Jesus brought during his earthly ministry. Christians cannot be faithfully obedient to the teachings of Christ, nor be his disciples, nor be set free if they are unschooled and ignorant of Jesus’ teachings. This situation is a threat to the vitality of the Christian Church everywhere I have travelled in West Africa. Believers in West Africa are inadequately discipled to the One whom they claim as their Lord and Savior.

Most believers can, in less than 20 words, give you the sum and substance of their knowledge of Jesus: “He took my place on the cross so that when I die I get to go to heaven.” That’s it. To most believers, those few words provide for them all they need to know about the message, mission and work of Messiah Jesus.

Contrast that brief info-byte to what the Apostle Paul had in mind in his description of Messiah Jesus in Ephesians 1:17-23, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him (God), having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he (God) has called you, what are the riches of his (God’s) glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his (God’s) power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him (God) who fills all in all.”

Jesus was right on when he declared that it is impossible for anyone to come to God and to know God except through the words, the wisdom and the example of Messiah Jesus, who was none other than God among us. This is why it is so vitally important for anyone who is truly in Christ to become a disciple of Christ. Christian discipleship means that one learns from and thru Christ and one walks the same ‘laying down his life’ walk that Jesus demonstrated during his earthly ministry. That’s what disciples do, they act, think and relate like their Master

Simply uttering those 20 or so words doesn’t get us there. It’s a fragile toehold on the long ascent, but that’s all. What most West African Christians are calling ‘evangelism’ is merely to get people to utter those magic words. But that is not the commission of Christ to his followers. Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:18 that our work is to be teaching people to obey the things he taught us during his earthly ministry. That is what we will be doing when our Christology is on par with the Apostle Paul’s in the verses above. Messiah Jesus needs to become the Lord of the faith community in West Africa in ways that is being missed or ignored by many Christians. 

An important index as to the centrality of Christ in the life of a church is to listen to the Sunday morning teaching/preaching that happens in our churches. I recently did that on three consecutive Sundays in Ziguinchor. This is what I heard:

First Sunday: Theme: Respect for church leaders (e.g. Pastors). Text: Numbers 16. Obey & respect them or God will severely punish you as He did Korah and his people. Missing: any reference to the extensive teaching of Jesus concerning servant-shepherd leadership.

Second Sunday: Theme: Problem of jealousy: Be careful, jealousy can destroy you. Text: Genesis 4. Missing: Any reference to the teachings of Jesus how he enables his disciples to deal with the problem of jealousy and other un-Christlike behaviors.

Third Sunday: Theme: Evangelism, Get people, esp. children listed in the Book of Life so they don’t go to hell. Text: Genesis 6; 19 and Numbers 16. Missing: Any reference to Jesus’ teaching about children, how they are exemplary of people already in the kingdom and his care and compassion for them.

On all three occasions the teachings of Jesus on these topics was never mentioned even though our Lord, in the Gospels, has given us important teaching on all three of these topics. But why, in West Africa are the teachings of Christ so consistently ignored? Perhaps it is because many West African believers unknowingly hold onto a low, limited view of Christ. Their view of the person and work of Messiah Jesus is limited to his provision for their personal salvation. In that limited view the primary reason Jesus came was to die on the cross so that those who verbalize the right confession will be saved from hell on the Judgment Day. There is no biblical teaching to support that understanding of salvation. 

It has been derived from reductionist, angry-God, systematic theology, both Protestant and Catholic. Unfortunately, it has been the message of God’s salvation conveyed to Africans for centuries. That understanding of God and His salvation easily meshed with African traditional religion which features capricious, threatening, angry deities, perpetually needing to be appeased. 

And there is yet another reason why Christian discipleship is lacking in Africa: the hierarchical, ‘big man’ leadership model prevalent in most African churches. There is little need for personal discipleship and responsibility because the big man at the top is always present to tell you when to jump and how high it needs to be. He is always there to shame you into obedience to his plans. Discipleship and righteousness coerced by the power of a big man should not be confused with being a disciple of Jesus. Disciples of Jesus are transformed into Christlikeness through the power of the Holy Spirit. The big man model has no room for the ways of the Holy Spirit who moves among God’s people gifting everyone with a variety of gifts so that God’s reign moves forward, not by the will of man, but by the energizing creativity of the Holy Spirit.

Nonetheless, praise God, He is not limited by the constructs and systems of theologians. Today we are seeing a desire and openness on the part of many African believers to become the new people of God, fully focused on our Head, Jesus Christ; eager for full partnership with God in His mission of love, reconciliation and salvation. Encouraged by this current move of God’s Spirit, together with my colleagues at Eastern Mennonite Missions I am happy to bring seminars and teachings on Christian discipleship and the creation of communities of faith where believers are focused on Christlikeness in the way we live, the way we do church and how we share the Gospel with those around us.

Our teaching is built on these five principles of the Christian faith:

1. The first is The Centrality of Jesus Christ.

2. The second is The Primacy of the Kingdom of God.

3. Third is The Visibility of the Church.

4. The fourth is The Wholeness of Salvation.

5. And the last is The Practice of Faith.

(1) The Centrality of Jesus Christ is very clear. It simply means that Jesus Christ is the most important Person in our faith. Why does Christ make such a powerful center of the Faith? Only the God who came in the flesh as Messiah is big enough to be the center. Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Deity lived in our world. Therefore Jesus Christ encompasses all of reality, things spiritual and things material. (Colossians 1:15-20). He is the creator of everything in the material world. Everything that is created will finally answer to Jesus Christ. And, he is Head of the Church. Jesus is big enough to be a center. In Jesus we find direction, meaning and purpose for every aspect of life.

Jesus Christ is the standard for all of our beliefs and practices.

        

In Paul’s confrontation with Peter at Antioch, (Gal. 2:14-16), Paul is saying: Jesus Christ brings a different view of our spiritual reality. When Paul came to Jesus he discovered that there is only one kind of sinner. Therefore Jesus Christ brings us as humans together, and we can no longer make ethnic distinctions.  Paul is affirming the need for believers, together in the body of Christ to be exploring and seeking the mind of Christ in all our decisions and in all of our relationships.

(2) The Primacy of the Kingdom of God is very important for us because that sets our priorities. The kingdom of God has priority over all the kingdoms of the world. In Matthew 13 and other places in the Gospels Jesus uses the phrase “the Kingdom of God is like…”  Jesus wants his disciples to know that the Kingdom of God is a present reality and that they are to orient their lives, personally and corporately around  God’s reign here and now. This fact presupposes two additional realities: 

 1. First, Jesus Christ is fully authoritative over the old covenant. In Matthew 5 Jesus gives six illustrations on how he reinterprets the ancient Jewish law; how his disciples can fulfill God’s original intention for the law. He could have given many more examples. The writer of Hebrews tells us very clearly that God, “In speaking of a new covenant (Jer. 31) he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” For believers today to still go back to the Old Testament to define what a Christian should do, ignores the new covenant brought to us through Christ. But that is the theological orientation of most teaching being given in West African congregations. For example, almost everyone who defends war on the basis of scripture goes to the Old Testament. But if you make Christ central and his teachings authoritative, now the love of our enemy and laying down one’s life even for the enemy is the word of Jesus.

2. The life, example and teachings of Jesus, is as important as his death and resurrection.

For every Christian, the death of Christ and His resurrection is, of course, very basic. However, radical disciples of Jesus believe his model & teaching shows us the will of God for how we live our lives as God’s missionary people. Jesus is the author of our salvation, based on the cross and the resurrection. He is also the pioneer of our faith, understood as our way of living in the will of God. Jesus’ life shows us how to walk in our faith with God.

(3) The Visibility of the Church is because we believe the church needs to be a very visible expression of God’s will in the world. It is true that only God knows the heart of man, but we believe that we also must be ready to make practical, visible application of our life together as Christians. Just because we are not perfect, doesn’t mean we don’t commit ourselves to be a visible people who live the will of God. Faith is not simply some positive sentiment in our heart. Faith expresses itself in what we do. It is visible, concrete evidence that we are different from the world.

Visibility speaks to two important qualities of being a disciple of Jesus: our character and our mission.

The beatitudes are Jesus’ way of describing the new and transformed character of a believer.

You immediately will notice that the virtues of a Christian are all the opposite of what you would think.

If you were describing the good life, would you describe it as poor, full of tears, being hungry & meek? 

This doesn’t sound very appealing to a typical person but according to Jesus, it’s the ideal way to be!

I can image that the first hearers were very surprised. Here is Jesus’ description of an ideal person. 

He knew it was not going to be easy for his disciples to accept his vision for the will of God in their lives.

These beatitudes (blessings) are a great explosive power because Jesus said you are fortunate & blessed if they are visible in your life. We quickly see that Jesus was in the act of creating a new people with new values and a new mind; a people who really believe it is worthwhile to be poor now instead of rich, to be mourning because of unrighteousness etc.

The second part of the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount talks about mission. These people with a new character also have a special role or function in the world: salt and light. The being and the character of these people, itself has an effect in the world. Like a city that is set on a hill, not hid. As ancient Jerusalem, the people of God who live His character are highly visible, up there on that mountaintop, seen from far and wide.

This speaks of the visibility of the Church. You have to be visible in order to do mission, not hid in a corner.

Between these two parts of discipleship, Jesus gives the beatitude about suffering and persecution.

If people are different and stay in the world, they set up tension. And tension brings suffering.

Anywhere Christians are faithful and live righteously in a fallen world there will be suffering & sacrificing. 

That’s why it’s important for me and all disciples to be unconditionally loving in all our relationships; I always need to be showing God’s love. On one hand we are to be a different, separate people, where we have both a radically different character, but we are always in contact with a world needing God’s grace and love. Christians are people who keep on being who they are in order that they can be what God wants them to be. They do it even if it’s costly; that’s the dynamic that makes Christian faith powerful for God.

(4) The Wholeness of Salvation affirms the many different aspects or levels of God’s redemption. The Bible teaches that God is not going to give up on any part of his creation. He is going to save our souls, our bodies, & world around us. Rom. 8:21-23 says God is going to renew all things; the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God because the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. That is the sense in which God’s salvation touches every part of His creation. 

1 Thess. 4:13-17 does not say that at the return of Christ he will be whisking believers away to a heaven on some planet millions of miles away. God will recreate and renew His entire creation to the perfection it had before sin entered and spoiled His universe. In anticipation of that recreation of heaven and earth, believers already live that way, to the extent it is possible in these mortal bodies; treating the creation around us as a gracious gift of its Creator.

 (5) The Practicing of our Faith contributes to the visibility of the church. It means that Faith works itself out in our daily lives. Faith and our relationship with God is not simply up there in a spiritual realm that is somehow different and apart from work and everyday living. Let’s note some significant characteristics of  faith that is practiced:

1. We value walk more than talk. With words we can deceive ourselves and deceive others, but it is difficult to be dishonest when people are observing our conduct, our reaction to the real world around us and our attitudes towards others.
2. Humility in being ready to submit my will to my brothers and sisters. Eph. 5:21 instructs us to be submissive to one another in the body of Christ. No one in the body of Christ is outside that circle of mutual submission: not the pastor, not the apostle, not the elder; no one. A Christian who is Christ-like is ready to lay down and to yield to the brother. It means that after we talk and think and pray together we will be ready to find a common ground with your brothers and sisters. Christ centered people are not self-centered & self-willed. Love and humility are church building virtues. 
3. The simple life enables us to live life together as equals. Simplicity reinforces our attitude of humility. It helps us to build relationships with anyone no matter how poor, needy or different he is.  

May God give us the conviction and courage to make our congregations truly Christ oriented communities of faith. As we do that we will be fulfilling the great commission Our Lord has put before us.

Beryl Forrester,    berylforrester@gmail.com

EMM Ziguinchor, November, 2016

Redemptive violence vs. Redemptive love & grace

Redemptive violence vs. Redemptive love  & grace

If I could list half a dozen topics West African Bible students need to explore, Redemptive violence vs. Redemptive grace, would be on that list.  It’s an example of why Bible teaching in Africa is such a delight. The interest in this topic, new to most students, is high. 

We first take note that both sides of this question share a common word: redemption. Redemption, in this case refers to the freedom one experiences to pursue, to become and to emulate the righteousness of God. The conclusion of this discussion is that violence, in reality, neither frees nor empowers one into God’s righteousness. Quite to the contrary, violence simply multiplies evil; perpetuating and recycling greater violence. In other words, redemptive violence is an absolute lie.

The Myth of Redemptive Violence is the notion that violent force is necessary to bring order out of chaos. It is the belief that violence is necessary to hold back evil, that war brings peace and that it is necessary to sacrifice a few lives to save the many. Redemptive violence is a given worldwide; it has been in all cultures and from the beginning of time. 

The evil of redemptive violence is manifold: for those upon whom it is inflicted it brings pain, suffering, anger and even death. Upon both recipient and perpetrator it creates fear, alienation and mistrust.  Moreover, the violent act of today simply sows the seeds for the next expanded cycle of violence. Redemptive violence is a potent force in relationships at all levels: personal, familial, community, and internationally.

This belief (a lie) is stated succinctly in the words of Caiaphas in John 11:50, “…it is better for you that one man [Jesus] should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” The writer of John, then goes on to tell readers how Jesus turned this myth on its head, proving it to be a lie:

“He [Caiaphas] did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” In other words- God’s children are preserved, not because the religious leaders succeeded in putting Jesus in the grave but that Jesus, voluntarily and in faithfulness to God’s plan, by laying down his life, opened the possibility for transformation and eternal resurrection. Jesus, the author and source of life itself, was unable to remain in the grave. But he willingly went through that experience to prove that the power of God’s love and grace trumps violence and death, thereby exposing redemptive violence to be, in reality, a lie. 

The outline of redemptive grace and love is foreshadowed in the Genesis creation story. It shows us that a good God created a good creation. The chaos before creation did not resist His order to become good. Subsequently, His good creation was corrupted and became chaotic by mankind’s freedom to choose rebellion. Rebellion brought violence only to be met with God’s gracious intervention thru a Messiah. Jesus, in his life, death and glorious resurrection, brought an end to the cycle of violence and offers us the choice to reclaim God’s good intentions for our own lives and all His creation. 

A major theme of the Book of Revelation is God’s victory over evil and the eternal restoration of His beautiful creation where only love, peace and justice are known. All evil, rebellious persons and powers who have opposed God are forever banished into the depths of hell. How has God accomplished this glorious victory? One might begin to look for a powerful military general with multitudes of combat forces. Instead of a show of massive, violent and overwhelming force what do we behold? A Lamb! A meek, submissive and faithful lamb which had been slain but rose to life eternal in the dramatic final battle.

Because Jesus willingly offered himself to violence, the myth of redemptive violence was confirmed as a lie; through his resurrection, Jesus defeated the power of that lie. (See Col. 2:15).  Moreover, those who would be his disciples are expected to perpetuate the witness of God’s redemptive love and grace. We make that declaration by dying to self and sin. Being raised with Christ to a new, transformed life is our participation in his victory, a witness to our world that God’s love supersedes violence. (See John 12: 24-26).

Most, but not all Africans, receive this teaching with joy once it is explained and understood. They see in it the potential for peace and hope in their communities and families where violence is the accepted norm. Everyone is happy about God’s grace in relation to their personal salvation; it takes a bit of nudging to help people see redemptive grace as the norm for all other relationships. People who resist this teaching and find it difficult usually have a fleshly, secondary agenda they are unwilling to give up.

Redeeming love and grace is more than an important aspect of the gospel, it is the gospel. Those who follow Christ in this life are challenged to cherish the truth of redeeming love far beyond a personal, private relationship with God. For disciples of Jesus that truth is foundational in all of our relationships: in our families, in our churches, our neighborhoods and even for those who are unkind and hateful.

Beryl Forrester

July, 2016

Training Anabaptist Leaders in West African Congregations

Training Anabaptist Leaders in West African Congregations (Draft)

Thru the work of Eastern Mennonite Missions in Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Senegal since the early 2000’s there has been evidence of a desire on the part of African believers for the establishment of communities of faith with an Anabaptist perspective. During this time period Anabaptist faith communities have been emerging in two contexts: thru the establishment of communities related to and identified with the worldwide Mennonite church and secondly on the part of leaders within evangelical congregations affiliated with other Protestant traditions. 

A desire for more understanding of Anabaptist theological perspectives comes out of a context of the believer’s quest for growth in one’s relation with Christ and how that relationship is lived and witnessed to by a community of disciples who are daily following after Christ.  

Some of the indicators of the current level of Christian discipleship in congregations include: 

1. Many new believers have difficulty moving into a maturing, Spirit empowered faith that takes them beyond an initial commitment of faith in Christ and baptism.
2. The weakness of Christians in their confrontation and overcoming of the strongholds of evil in our society and culture.
3. Top-heavy authoritarian and hierarchical leadership patterns that inhibit the Lordship of Christ in the community and keep believers in spiritual infancy.
4. The ease which false teachers have in disrupting and dividing congregations with their confusing and unbiblical teachings. 
5. The competition between congregations for members and the intentional demeaning of other faith communities.
6. ‘Church’ easily becomes a guise for a business enterprise that in the end is for the financial and social benefit of those in leadership.
7. ‘Flat Bible’ theology that limits the Messiahship of Jesus Christ and the reliance on Old Covenant precepts that support conduct and relationships contrary to the teachings of Christ. (Example: Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees in Matthew 6)

Many individual believers and church leaders are asking for help in moving beyond this way of doing church. Deep in the hearts of true believers there is that firm conviction the God has something far better than this for us in West Africa.

The Anabaptist tradition, the radical left wing of the 16^th century reformation, offers us some significant help as we move beyond these struggles and inadequacies our current ways of doing church.  

Out of these realities church leaders from Eastern Mennonite Missions are offering to join with any who are driven by a sincere desire to be disciples of Jesus by creating a curriculum of Bible study to move the church forward in its mission and to authentically become partners in Christ’s Kingdom, dedicated to bringing God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

The three year curriculum will have three major concentrations of study:

1. Christology: Understanding, in its broadest sense, the person, the work and the mission of Jesus Christ as the one who embodies God’s perfect design for mankind and who inaugurated God’s reign on earth. Jesus’ example and teaching is the power of God’s love to bring mankind and all of God’s creation back into right relationship. Christ is portrayed as our model, teacher and final and complete revelation of God’s desire.
2. Ecclesiology: How the church, the body of Christ functions to be the agent of God’s salvation from a posture of servant leadership; that following the example of Christ, lays down its life so that the new life of Christ becomes the clearly visible way of salvation. The 1^st century church of Christ and his apostles is our foundation and model.
3. Missiology: How the community of Christ communicates God’s incarnational loving purposes of salvation and invites all to walk with us in a spirit of redeeming love and transformation into Christlikeness.

The curriculum is designed to enable and empower believers to bring new vision and new life to their congregations. It encourages people to remain with their congregations rather than establishing a new ‘denomination’. All students will be encouraged to become faithful disciples of Christ where they are already planted. Anabaptism is not a denomination; it is a way understanding the Word and how one follows after Christ in the realization of God’s reign.

How the teaching will happen:

1. The study year will be November thru May for three years with certification upon completion. If further studies are desired, the curriculum will prepare students for the next level of theological education which will be available on internet.
2. The class will assemble one Saturday per month for a 6 hour session.
3. Between class sessions the students will be committed to studying biblical passages and handouts and they will come to the class with well prepared homework.
4. Instructors will guide the study but students will be expected to share their learnings and exhibit a spirit of openness, submission, humility and brotherhood towards each other.  The class itself becomes a model of an Anabaptist faith community.