Sustaining and Anchoring Theological Education in the Anglican Communion in Africa: A Mission Agenda for the Decade

CAPA is thrilled about her partnership with the St Augustine Foundation and appreciates the moral and financial support it has received. The support has enabled CAPA to make progress in achieving her vision of grounding theological education for sustainable ministerial formation in Africa. Brian Stanley states that “the global center of Christianity is now in Africa” and Andrew Wall describes how African Christianity as setting global standards pointing to the need for authentic theological education, reflection, and theologizing emerging from African experiences. With these affirmations, CAPA places theological education at the core of her work and explores issues emanating from the changing ministry context to engage with the theological institutions and trustees in exploring best approaches and processes for ministerial formation as well as sustaining institutions.

As CAPA was contemplating how to achieve this ambitious vision, a faithful friend, the St Augustine Foundation, provided the much needed support to help in putting theological education issues into perspective and craft a road map to enable CAPA to engage with key stakeholders in theological education effectively. CAPA through the support received from the Foundation, brought together key theologians, head of theological institutions, and Provincial Trustees with the aim of exploring and understanding the changing ministry context and how to deepen and sustain theological reflection in the continent in 2015.

CAPA's work on theological education has gained momentum and attracted other partners like the USPG. More consultations with the newly consecrated bishops, the Deans, Trustees, and Head of Institutions have been held aimed at exploring the implications of the changing operating environment of ministerial formation processes and identify what are appropriate to achieving sustainable ministerial formation on the continent. The engagements are still on going.

Through these consultations, core issues affecting theological education in Africa have been generated for which CAPA is still engaging stakeholders both at continental and provincial levels with the view of find the best mix of strategies that will make theological education sustainable, contextually relevant, and effective and efficient for ministerial formation on the continent.

Some of these issues include:

·       the high demand for clergy to match rapid church growth forcing some dioceses to ordain priest without theological education;

·       lack of diversification in revenue streams leaving institutions to struggle financially and underpaid staff;

·       contextually irrelevant curriculum resulting in increasing false dichotomy between academic and pastoral theory and practice which has left theologians without parishes and parishes without theologians;

·       lack of holistic curriculum in theological colleges that does not prepare students to engage with socio-economic issues and contexts of their ministry;

·       inadequate publication and theological reflection on pastoral issues from an African point of view;

·       disconnect between the Trustees and the theological institutions;

·       lack of sustainability strategies, lack of tracer strategy and studies to monitor the performance of graduates; and

·       the relevance of skills and knowledge acquired to ministry context.

Our journey with the St. Augustine Foundation has encouraged and enabled us to have clarity on how to achieve our dream of grounding theological education in Africa sustainably. However, there is more ground to be covered in the coming years especially as we try to consolidate the engagement processes and synthesize the outcomes into well mapped out strategies and models for theological education and ministerial formation processes on the continent. We do pray and hope this relationship will continue as we witness to the marvelous doings of the Lord in the Anglican Communion in Africa.