2007 has been an exciting year for all involved in the launching of the new Learning Centre for Urban Mission as the first programmes got underway.
 In the Vision statement which sets out the aims and focus of the Learning Centre, Michael Cassidy stated: “My conviction is that the training of market place lay people, pastors and local churches for effective urban mission and evangelism requires a comprehensive range of input, including sound biblical theology, sound hermeneutics (scriptural interpretation), preaching skills, Christian leadership skills, biblically faithful ethics, effective evangelistic strategies, holistic evangelism through both word and deed, and effective marketplace ministries.” And the initial programmes have certainly lived up to these objectives.
An adventurous programme of conferences and consultations which have already been held included a Consultation on Christianity and African Religion, a consultation on Crime, a conference on Financial management for pastors and businessmen run by Crown Financial ministries, and a hospital evangelism course run by the Zanini Bantwana team. John Tooke led a 4 day conference on Church Planting for some 60 Pastors, including one from West Africa and another from Mozambique. Several testimonies flowed from this experience. Collins Olanrewji of Nigeria said: “I have had a life changing experience in 2 days. This has vastly improved my ministry.” Pastor Harper of Pietermaritzburg shared his joy: “This has empowered me as a pastor and it has removed a deep frustration and given me hope” while Stephen Mondjoro of Mozambique said: “We need much more of this for African church leaders.”
Further conferences planned for this year include the following topics:
Economic empowerment
Women and Gender abuse, and
Youth envisioning camp.
Another very gratifying development has been the implementation of the first pastor’s training courses in partnership with Moore College from Australia. Such courses aim to give sound theological training to pastors who for financial reasons or because they are married with children and already embedded in local congregations may be unable to take time off to attend seminaries for long-term training. One of the key mechanisms envisaged for reaching these Pastors is for the Learning Centre to partner with leading seminaries and training institutions to offer short-term intensive courses. The first such, a Moore College Certificate course in Biblical Theology was enthusiastically received by all those participating.
The course offered 6 modules and a delighted group of 18 graduates received their certificates in August. (Michael Cassidy) |
