October 2010

Download October 2010 eNews here

The mission of ACTEA is to promote quality evangelical theological education in Africa by providing supporting services, facilitating academic recognition, and fostering continental and inter-continental cooperation.

In this edition of ACTEA eNews:

1. Cape Town 2010: Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (16-25 Oct 2010)

The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (LCWE) is currently underway in Cape Town, South Africa (16-25 Oct 2010). The Congress has drawn together 4,000 invited participants from 197 nations and extends through GlobaLink sites to 90 countries. The theme ‘God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself’ (2 Corinthians 5:19) explores how to bear witness to Jesus Christ and all his teaching in every region of the world and every sphere of society. You can follow the daily progress of the Third Lausanne Congress, including videos of key talks and papers and responses posted online, as part of the ‘Global Conversation’ at http://conversation.lausanne.org.

SATS to Host Cape Town 2010 Follow-Up Conference in Johannesburg (27-29 Oct 2010)
The South African Theological Seminary (SATS) is registered as a LCWE GlobaLink site and, together with Rosebank Union Church, will host a three-day conference focusing on what they believe to be the most important aspects of the main Lausanne Cape Town 2010 conference, from the perspective of the church in South Africa. It will be run at the Rosebank Union Church, Johannesburg, South Africa, Wed 27 Oct – Fri 29 Oct. If you would like to join the leaders attending this conference please contact barbara@sats.edu.za.

2. ACTEA Standards – Draft Revisions Available for Comment

As announced in the July 2010 eNews, the ACTEA standards for accreditation are being revised and updated to address changing trends in theological education in Africa such as the development of Christian universities; a variety of non-traditional delivery modes for theological education; ACTEA’s desire to maintain an emphasis on holistic training within this variety of new delivery modes; accessibility (sometimes only limited accessibility) to online resources for theological education; changes in ways teaching staff are used; and a general need for more transparency, consistency and portability among institutions regarding course credits and marking. These revisions are also designed to make ACTEA Standards compatible with those of the Bologna Process in the European Higher Education Area with which many Africa countries are aligning their university systems.
Draft revisions to the ACTEA Standards in English are now ready for a period of public comment. French and Portuguese versions are currently being translated and will be available soon. ACTEA welcomes your feedback and suggestions. If you would like to receive a copy of the draft revisions to the ACTEA Standards for the purpose of submitting your own feedback, please send a blank email to actea-standards-english+subscribe@googlegroups.com (English), coheta-normes-francais+subscribe@googlegroups.com (French), or cleta-padroes-portugues+subscribe@googlegroups.com (Portuguese). Thank you so much for your help in this ongoing process of promoting quality evangelical theological education in Africa.

3. Accreditation News

ACTEA is pleased to announce that Africa Theological Seminary (ATS), Kitale, Kenya, has achieved ACTEA Candidate Status for its Bachelor of Arts in Bible and Theology, Diploma in Theology, and Diploma in Counselling, from 24 August 2010. ACTEA Candidate Status carries forward the provisional recognition of the institution’s education programmes granted during the Affiliate stage. During Candidacy an institution has up to four years to carry out its self-evaluation and make any necessary changes to bring its programmes fully into line with ACTEA standards in preparation for ACTEA’s final evaluation of those programmes for full accreditation. We congratulate ATS for its progress thus far in the pursuit of excellence in theological education. You can learn more about ATS atwww.atseminary.ac.ke

4. Call for Papers: 7th Annual Theological Education Conference, Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary (March 2011)

Paper submissions are invited for a conference on the theme ‘Theological Education, Spirituality and Social Transformation in Africa’ to be held at Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Nigeria, 8-11 Mar 2011. Papers should be 12 -14 A4 pages with endnotes. Those interested in submitting a paper should send an abstract to Dr. Moses Audi, mosesaudi@yahoo.com, not later than 10 Dec 2010 and an electronic copy of the full paper by 10 Feb 2011. Papers adjudged publishable through peer review will be published in the Ogbomoso Journal of Theology (OJOT).

Conference Details: 7th Annual Theological Education Conference, Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary. This conference is held annually on a selected theme in Christian Ministry and Higher Theological Education as it relates to life in the society.
Theme: ‘Theological Education, Spirituality and Social Transformation in Africa’. Topics to be explored in relation to the theme include the place of spirituality in the transformation of society; academic process and spiritual formation; spirituality and the OT; spirituality and the NT; spirituality, proliferation of churches and social transformation; nurturing spiritual formation in the seminary; challenges for spiritual formation in the seminary; spirituality and development; the family and spirituality; church music and transformation of society.
Keynote speakers: Prof. Andrew Walls (Professor Emeritus, Scotland); Dr. Prof. Fr. Tony Akinwale, (President, the Dominican Institute); Dr. Victor Nakah (Regional Director, Overseas Council International); Dr. Sayo Oladejo (Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary); Prof. J. C. Thomas (Central University, Accra, and University of Ghana, Legon); Prof. K. Asamoah Gyadu (Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon).
Registration fee: $50, N5000 (includes snacks and material to be distributed at the conference). International participants will be accommodated in the Frances Jones Guest House at NBTS.
Contact: E-mail: nbtsseminary@yahoo.com; Dr. Moses Audi, mosesaudi@yahoo.com; Deji Ayegboyin, dejigboyin@yahoo.com.
Website: www.nbtsng.org.
Postal: NBTS, PMB 4008 Ogbomoso, Oyo State, NIGERIA.

5. ACTEA-GATE Workshops to Resume in East Africa

After a one-year delay due to the global economic crisis, ACTEA is pleased to announce that its partnership with Global Associates for Transformational Education (GATE) to offer professional development for theological educators in Africa will resume in early 2011. The passion of GATE, formed by a group of US seminary professors, is to enable theological educators in the Majority World to rethink educational goals and methods, moving from transmissional to transformative modes of ministry training. The first ACTEA-sponsored GATE workshops took place in Kenya and Ethiopia in March 2009 and proved very helpful for the faculties of the theological institutions involved. Year Two of this series of East Africa workshops will be held in the first half of 2011 (specific dates forthcoming). ACTEA hopes to expand GATE workshops to other regions of the continent in pursuit of our shared goal of excellence in theological education in Africa. For more information contact Stephanie Black, ACTEA Accreditation Officer, drstephanieblack@gmail.com

6. CRWM: Transforming Theological Education in Africa through ‘Farming in Faith’

Throughout Africa pastors earn very little, if any, salary from their churches. Christian Reformed World Missions (CRWM) believes that this need calls for a creative way to prepare future pastors to be able to meet both personal and family needs. As a continent Africa is 75% agricultural, but few bible colleges or seminaries focus on community development skills related to farming and agriculture for their students. A new CRWM initiative ‘Farming in Faith’ aims to integrate farming and faith in theological institutions to bring the love for farming and/or community development to students. Students acquire skills that will allow them to serve God with their heads, hearts and hands. For example, in Mbale, Uganda, Pentecostal Theological College requested that CRWM partner with them to start a dairy farm. The farm is a new initiative to help PTC student pastors currently in theological training acquire farming skills that they may use after graduation for extra income. Each student is very much involved in working the farm, with students putting in eight hours each week towards a work-study scholarship. Their hands-on involvement in farm work also serves as a practical way to learn the skills they intend to use upon graduation. These learned skills will provide supplemental income, especially to those in village settings where church giving may be lower than in urban areas. Theological institutions that would like to learn more about ‘Farming in Faith’ or receive advice about starting similar agricultural initiatives in own regions may contact Dr Mwaya wa Kitavi, CRMW Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, mkitavi@crcna.org

7. Resources for Theological Educators

Google Search Site for Theological Journals – Theological educators and students may find the follow Google custom search site helpful when access to purchased databases for theological journals is not available: hwww.google.com/cse/home?cx=018443097211386924752%3Aluwi5uy2qbe.This site allows you to search over 340 religion journals related to scripture studies, systematic theology, practical ministries, and cognate disciplines for which full text is freely available on the Internet.

Lausanne Statement on the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ : Theological educators looking for teaching resources addressing the Prosperity Gospel may be interested in the well-balanced statement prepared by the Africa Chapter of the Lausanne Theology Working Group at its consultations in Akropong, Ghana, 8-9 Oct 2008 and 1-4 Sept 2009: www.lausanne.org/all-documents/a-statement-on-the-prosperity-gospel.html. As noted in the introduction, the paper is “offered as a discussion starter for further reflection (theological, ethical, pastoral and missiological, socio-political and economic) on the phenomenal rise of prosperity teaching around the world at large and Africa in particular.”

International Voices in Biblical Studies (IVBS) – ACTEA wishes to remind theological educators throughout Africa of this SBL peer-reviewed series publishing monographs, volumes of collected essays, conference proceedings, and single articles meant to further scholarship in biblical studies. Its main goal is to make the excellent work of colleagues in under-resourced parts of the world known all over the globe. All submissions are subject to blind peer review and are held to the high standards of other SBL publications. IVBS will electronically publish this scholarship in English, and when possible, in the primary language of the author. The first publication in the series, Global Hermeneutics?: Reflections and Consequences, may be downloaded from the site. Visit http://ivbs.sbl-site.org/home.aspx to view the portal and learn more about IVBS.

8. Calendar of Events

16-25 Oct 2010: Cape Town 2010: Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010.
27-29 Oct 2010: Cape Town 2010 Follow-Up Conference, South African Theological Seminary & , Rosebank Union Church, Johannesburg, South Africa, barbara@sats.edu.za.
20-23 Nov 2010: Society for Biblical Literature (SBL) Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia (USA,) www.sbl-site.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting.aspx.
8-11 Mar 2011: 7th Annual Theological Education Conference, Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, Nigeria, www.nbtsng.org, nbtsseminary@yahoo.com.
March/April/May 2011: ACTEA/GATE Workshops, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Nairobi, Kenya (specific dates to be announced), www.gateglobal.org, drstephanieblack@gmail.com.
3-6 May 2011: Overseas Council Institute for Excellence, All-Africa Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, www.overseas.org.
July 2011: Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical and Theological Research Study Groups: Ethics and Social Theology, 30 Jun-2 Jul; Philosophy of Religion, 30 Jun-2 Jul; Christian Doctrine; 30 Jun-2 Jul; Old Testament, 5-7 Jul; Biblical Archaeology, 6-7 Jul; Biblical Theology, 7-9 Jul; New Testament, 7-9 Jul. Tyndale House, Cambridge, UK, www.tyndalefellowship.com.
3-8 Jul 2011: SBL International Meeting, London, England,
www.sbl-site.org/meetings/InternationalMeeting.aspxmber.
18-22 Nov 2011: Society for Biblical Literature (SBL) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California (USA) www.sbl-site.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting.aspx.

If you have a conference or other event of interest to eNews subscribers for potential additional to the Calendar of Events in the next ACTEA eNews (Jan 2011), please submit details to the editor at acteaenews@gmail.com by 15 Dec 2010.

ACTEA eNews is an e-mail forum for the periodic exchange of news, information, and resources on behalf of the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa(ACTEA), ACTEA-related institutions and theological programmes, supporting organisations, and interested individuals. Please forward this message to others who might benefit from ACTEA eNews.

ACTEA is an agency of the Theological and Christian Education Commission of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa.