TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Foreword......................................………………………………………………ii
Acknowledgements..............................………………………………………..iv
Introduction..................................……………………………………………viii
Chapter one: Causes of Christian Suffering:.…………………………………..1
The Sin factor………………………………………………………………….1
The Demonic factor……………………………………………………………4
The Biological factor…………………………………………………………..8
The Natural Phenomena factor………………………………………………...9
The Divine factor……………………………………………………………..11
Chapter Two: Christian Attitude to Suffering:.……………………………….18
Rejoice………………………………………………………………………..19
Praise God……………………………………………………………………19
Thank God……………………………………………………………….…...19
Turn to the Scriptures………………………………………………………...20
Pray…………………………………………………………………………..20
Have faith & Confidence in God……………………………………………..21
Fix your eyes on Christ……………………………………………………….22
Run with patience…………………………………………………………….24
Assure yourself God is with you……………………………………………..
Have hope in God…………………………………………………………….26
Confess that which is positive ………………………………………………..28
Tell yourself God is in control………………………………………………..30
Resist Satan…………………………………………………………………..32
Chapter Three: Purpose of Christian Suffering:………………………………36
Warn man of his disobedience………………………………………………..38
Train the children of God……………………………………………………..39
Produce Christian Character………………………………………………….40
Purify & Refine Christian Character………………………………………….42
Bring Present & Eternal Glory………………………………………………..43
Prove our Righteousness & Sonship………………………………………….44
Work for some Greater Good…………………………………………….…..45
CONCLUSION....................................……………………………………….52
Watch out for the full book soon
THEOLOGICAL
EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC RECESSION
BY
REVD.
ABEDNEGO O.F. OGHENEKEVWE
RECTOR,
HARVESTERS THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE,
WARRI,
DELTA STATE, NIGERIA
A
KEYNOTE ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE CONFERENCE OF WEST AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF
THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS (WAATI) NIGERIA ZONE AT HARVESTERS THEOLOGICAL
COLLEGE, WARRI, HELD FROM 24TH TO 27TH AUGUST, 2009.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Pages
1.0
INTRODUCTION
…………………………………………….. 1
1.1 Definitions
…………………………………………………….. 1
1.1.1 Theology
………………………………………………………. 1
1.1.2 Education
……………………………………………………… 1
1.2 The Problem
…………………………………………………… 1
2.0
BACKGROUND:
…………………………………………….. 2
2.1 Education in America
………………………………………….
2
2.2 Education in Nigeria
………………………………………….. 2
3.0
CAUSES
OF ECONOMIC RECESSION AND THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION: ………………………………………………….. 3
3.1 Inflation
………………………………………………………… 3
3.2 Mis-management
………………………………………………… 4
3.3 Corruption
……………………………………………………….. 3
4.0
EFFECTS
OF ECONOMIC RECESSION AND THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION: ……………………………………………………. 4
4.1 The Individual
Christian ……………………………………………
4
4.2 The Church
…………………………………………………………
5
5.0
THE
VALUE OF THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION:…………………5
5.1 The Biblical
Perspective……………………………………………..
5
5.2 Peoples’
Attitude……………………………………………………..
6
6.0
FINANCING
THEOLOGICAL DUCATION…………………….. ..7
6.1 Who should
finance Theological Education?.......................................7
6.2 Why we must
finance Theological Education……………………… 7
7.0
HINDRANCES
TO FINANCING THEOLIGICAL EDUCATION.. 8
7.1 The Attitude of
Church Leaders ……………………………………..8
7.2 Lack o
Funds…………………………………………………………9
7.3 Mis-management……………………………………………………...9
8.0
RESOURCE
ALLOCATION TO THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION:..9
9.0
CONCLUSION:…………………………………………………… 10
END – NOTES:……………………………………………………..13
BIBLIOGRAPHY:………………………………………………….14
THEOLOGICAL
EDUCATION & ECONOMIC RECESSION
BY
REVD. ABEDNEGO O.F. OGHENEKEVWE, RECTOR, HARVESTERS THEOLIGICAL COLLEGE, WARRI,
DELTA STATE, NIGERIA
1.0 INTRODUCTION:
In
the general sense of the word “Theological”, we can say that Theological
Education started in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy to be precise, when God
instructed the children of Israel
to “And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving
you today. Repeat them again and again to your children……” (Deut. 6:6-9). This
was to be done from generation to generation. It has taken different dimension,
namely, home school, Sunday school, Bible study, Bible school, and Theological college.
To help us understand this topic let us look at some definitions.
1.1 Definitions:
1.1.1 Theology:
The
word “Theology” means “systematic study of religion(s) and religious belief(s)”1.
It is a compound word formed from two Greek words “Theo” meaning “God” and
“Logos” meaning “word”. When combined, it means “The study of God’s word”.
Therefore, in a general sense, in any level, whether home school, Sunday
school, Bible study, Bible school or Theological college, in which you are
studying the Bible, you are doing theology. But this word “Theology has been
misunderstood by many especially in the Pentecostal circle, to mean “The
letter” and the letter kills. This is not true. And this is one of the causes
for the lack of interest in and funding of theological education.
1.1.2
Education:
The
word “Education” means “Provide schooling for; teach, train mentally and
morally; train; improve, develop”2. However, the word “education” is
defined by many from their own perspective, namely, the philosophers,
psychologists, the sociologists, etc. All agree that education is fundamental
to life. Education is a process that takes place from cradle to the grave. It
is formal and informal. It is a process by which a culture transmits itself
from generation to generation. It is deliberate, systematic and sustained
effort to transmit, evoke or acquire attitudes, skills, knowledge, values and
sensibilities.
However,
theological education simply put is education that is theological; God
centered, and meant to meet the total needs of man, namely, physical, social,
psychological, and spiritual. The source of theological education is the Bible.
Any thing short of this is not education.
1.2
The Problem:
It
is important for us to state the problem confronting theological education at
this point and in our generation. The problem is that it is becoming very
difficult for churches to single-handedly finance theological education. The
reasons being that the cost of education is growing higher and higher because
of technological advancement. Secondly, it is because of poverty as a result of
economic recession. Thirdly, it is because of mismanagement of scare finances.
And fourthly, it is because of Christians and church leaders’ attitude to
theological education.
In
this key note address, the writer seeks to unravel why this is so and proffer solutions
to this problem.
2.0 BACKGROUND:
2.1 Education in America:
In
the course of writing this address, the writer read some books on education
practice in America.
From
time immemorial, education in America
was nationalistic in nature. From the beginning “the state is supremely
interested in welding its citizenry into a unity, in developing a national
spirit, a national character, a national sense of justice, etc.”3 In
essence, the goal of establishing a national school system in America was to develop a truly
national spirit.4 This is because there is power in unity. To make
this possible, the state is to fund and maintain this national school system.5
This is to give equal opportunity to the children
of the rich and the
poor and to encourage all citizens to patronize the national school system.6
In
America,
education is seen as an investment in the life of the individual and the nation
or society. It is seen as, meeting the needs of the nation.7 The citizens
are educated to meet the economic, military, technological, sociological,
psychological, political, etc of the nation. Therefore, the government has a
responsibility to make sure that this manpower needs are met through a
qualitative education.
Different
systems were put in place to fund the national school system. These include
taxation, subventions, amusement taxes, liquor licenses and fines, lotteries,
landed endowment (reserved lands), tuition, and philanthropy.8 At a
point government budget for education every year. With time, private and religious
schools sprang up.9 Till today the American government still invest
heavily on education, especially on research.
2.2 Education In Nigeria:
Education
in Nigeria,
during the colonial era was carried out mainly by the missionaries. At a point,
the Nigerian government took over all missionary schools. Missionaries at that
time combined secular and Christian education in their schools with the purpose
of encouraging their converts to read the Bible and meet the individual needs
and the needs of the community and nation. Of course, they brought Western
culture along with it.
In
the missionary schools, every thing was funded from overseas. This was because
the people were too poor to fund the schools themselves. The missionaries never
taught us to give towards the work of evangelism and education. Up till now, we
are still suffering from the effect of that mistake, nationally and in the
church. We are living in a society where we want every thing free.
In
America, citizens think
mainly of what they can give to America
but in Nigeria, citizens
think of what they can get from Nigeria.
This has affected every segment of our society. This has led to corruption in
the system, including the educational system – money budgeted for education
goes into private pockets and the existence of ghost workers. This makes the
writer feel that the Nigerian Educational system is not nationalistic in nature
but individualistic.
Is
the church different from this outlook? Does the average Christian or Christian
leader manage God’s resources in their care for the overall good of the work of
God including funding of the theological education and not on them? Is there no
corruption in the church today? Why are leaders and individual Christians not
funding theological education?
3.0 CAUSES OF ECONOMIC RECESSION AND
THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION:
There
is no doubt that theological education has been under-funded since the
inception of theological education in Nigeria
and probably Africa. But there is no smoke
without fire. These causes include inflation, mismanagement and corruption.
3.1 Inflation:
The
word “inflation” means “undergo economic inflation; increase in prices and fall
in value of money”10 Over the years, especially since 1985, the
value of the Nigerian naira has been undergoing continuous devaluation. This
has led to increase in prices. This has affected the purchasing power of the
citizen including Christians and the Church.
Brubacher
asserts that
“of all the sociological factors that have conditioned
the course of
educational history, perhaps none has so persistently posed problems as has the
economic. And, ---, perhaps none has been so overlooked, neglected, or thrust to
one side. Education owes its support to the basic economy but has been
reluctant to accord it a prominent place in the curriculum.”11
At
present, because of inflation in the economy, people are just barely making ends
meet.12 This means that whatever they have is able to feed them and
their families only. According to Brubacher, “under such circumstances cultural
advancement is either impossible or at best accidental.”13 This
situation makes it difficult to save, not to talk of investing in education, as
individual Christians. Of course, if inflation affects the individual
Christians, you can be sure it will affect the church that is the sole sponsors
of theological education; theological colleges owned by them.
If
theological education is to be properly funded, we must have a surplus economy.
This means that production must exceeds consumption.14 The primary
agent of making this happen is the government. Therefore, the government must
enact good policies to reduce inflation and poverty level in the country. Further,
the government must cut down costs, avoid mismanagement, misappropriation of
funds, and fight against corruption. Secondly, the second agent that can make
this happen is the leadership of the church. The leadership of the church must
equally cut down on expenditure, avoid
mismanagement, misappropriation of funds, and be selfless.
3.2 Mismanagement:
Mismanagement
is the lack of control of funds. When a government spends recklessly its scares
resources on things that are of no benefits to the citizens and the society or
impact on the economy or productivity, we say she is mismanaging the financial
resources.
Mismanagement
of funds leads to debts and debts lead to financial crisis, or economic
recession or decline. When resources are judiciously used to avoid unnecessary
expenditure or waste, we avoid economic recession. Even when resources are scarce,
we must distribute whatever we have to go round so that the various departments
of the government or organization do not suffer lack.
Sometime,
it may be necessary to reduce the work force, retire others, or cut down on
projects or avoid embanking on projects that do not have direct benefits for the
country in order to fund projects that have direct bearing on the economy
especially man power.
3.3 Corruption:
The
word “corrupt” means “lacking integrity; open to, or involving, bribery…..”15.
The word “bribe” means “anything offered or given to someone, to gain favour,
influence”. 16 The emphasis here is “anything”. This could be
material or verbal. When individuals give or take bribe, productivity is
affected. This is because nothing is done because somebody is not ready to give
bribe. Once productivity is affected, the economy will also be affected. There
will be economic recess or decline.
Is
there corruption in the church? Yes! In a situation where the Head of the
denomination or boss can do and undo, or do not like being criticized, most
staff members who prefer their jobs to speaking the truth in love, will do
anything to keep their jobs. But how does this relate to what we are
discussing? It is related because no body has all the wisdom to manage an
organization to success. Therefore, when the contributions of others are
ignored, it leads to so many things including financial mismanagement and
corruption.
4.0 EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC RECESSION AND
THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION:
The
world is becoming a global village with improvement in technology. Any thing
that affects a particular part of the world affects others. When there was
economic recession in the U.S.A.,
it affected other nations and we have not come out of it yet. Global economy
recession does not only affect nations but it affects individuals and families
as well, and the church is not exempted.
4.1 The Individual Christian:
Human
beings labour for food, clothing and shelter for survival. When there is
economic recession, these items are affected. Prices for these items jump up.
Unfortunately, salaries do not increase. This makes it difficult for
individuals to meet the above needs. They can not save or invest in business or
the work of the Lord; because man must survive, this breeds corruption. This
makes it difficult for individuals who received God’s call to attend
theological schools or colleges. You know, one of the ways theological colleges
get funds to fund their colleges is through tuition fees. Indirectly,
theological colleges are affected. Even if the individuals are to be sponsored
by other Christians, they too are constrained because of the economic
recession.
4.2
The Church:
It
is the individual Christians that make up the church. The church is funded
through tithes, offerings and donations from individual Christians that make-up
the church. When the individuals are affected by economic recession, the church
is also affected. There is so much to do with money in the church. This is
because the gospel is money. What the church is getting is not enough to go
round. This is where prioritizing comes in. This is where prudence and
financial management comes in. The value we place on the various things to do
will determine which one should be on the priority list. But you can be sure
that for most denominations, theological education will not be on the priority
list, when in actual fact, God places utmost importance on “theological
education” as recorded in Deuteronomy 6:1-9. At this junction, let us look at
the value of theological education.
5.0 THE
VALUE OF THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION
The
value of theological education cannot be over-emphasized. There are benefits we
can derive from theological education. The church and the society will benefit
from it. The purpose of theological education is to establish believers in the
faith, to grow them into maturity, and in cultivating good moral behaviour. God
attaches value or importance to theological education. But do the average
Christian or churches do?
5.1 The Biblical Perspective:
God
instructed the children of Israel
and the church to train and teach their children and Disciples of Christ the
commandments of God. There are three scriptures, at least, that emphasizes this
biblical view, namely, Deuteronomy 6:1-9, Proverbs 22:6, and Matthew 28:19, 20.
In
Deuteronomy 6:1-9, God made four emphases. God directed the children of Israel to teach
his commandments to their children and grand-children. God gave three reasons
why they must do this. That is, so that they and their children and ground
children may fear the Lord their God, enjoy long life (longevity), and that it
may go well with them (vv. 2, 3). The fear of the Lord is basic in doing the
will of God (cf Eccl. 12:13) in the church and in the society.
God
went further to instruct them to store his commandments in their hearts. This
calls for diligent study of the word of God (cf. Ezra 7: 10; John 5:39). Many
Christians have become very lazy when it comes to studying the word of God. If
they don’t study, they don’t grow into maturity in Christ. Because they are not
mature they behave like children and bring shame to the name of Christ.
Thirdly,
God instructed them to impress the commandments on their children (v.7). The
word ‘impress” means “to make somebody understand how important, serious etc
something is by emphasizing it.”17 The content of the curriculum for
theological education emphasis this. All subjects are so inter-woven that you
hear the same thing over and over again until it sinks. This gives the room for
a thorough understanding of the whole Bible and not in isolation.
Finally,
God instructed them to talk about the commandments of God when they sit at home
with their children, walk along the road with them, lie down with them and get
up (in the morning) – v.7 Again, this gives room to constant emphasis. This
makes education formal v.7a and informal (v.7b-d).
In
Matthew 28:19-20, Christians were instructed to make disciples and teach them
to observe Christ’s commandments. Like as a mother gives birth to children and
feeds them to maturity, so are we to make disciples in the church and feed
(teach) them to maturity in Christ. The church is an agent of education and
change. The Sunday school teachings and Bible studies are not enough to bring
this about. In overseas, people go for theological education not for any thing
but primarily to gain knowledge. Proverbs 22:6 emphasized training which also
means to teach.
Let
me conclude here by saying that the bible emphasis formal and informal
education. It is only through theological colleges that we can train personnel
for the church and to neglect it is to say that it is not important.
5.2 Peoples’ Attitude:
Today,
Christians do not show interest in theological education, especially
Pentecostal Christians. Their understanding is that seminaries are cemeteries
and theology is the “letter that kills”. This is not true. Ironically, such
Christians base their articles of faith on what theologians have come up with
in systematic theology. Over the years, they see theologians as people who are
not born-again. Again, this is not true. There are some theologians who may not
be born –again, and I want to encourage them to be, but this does not mean that
all theologians are not born-again.
Cornelius
Van, Till & Louis, Berkhof, assert that people who profess faith in Christ
are sometimes the ones who oppose Christian schools.18
They call
this a strange phenomenon. What could be the reasons for this opposition by
Christians, especially by Church leaders, who should actually be supporting theological
education? Cornelius Van, Till & Louis, Berkhof gave reasons why Americans
oppose Christian schools 19. The reason being that either they are
loosing confidence and faith in the word of God, do not know the value of
theological education, or they are becoming more individualistic – more
concerned about themselves instead of God and his work. So, they prefer secular
education to theological education because secular education guarantees their
future, so they think. The writer believes that in recent times, many
Christians are becoming indifferent to theological education.
Prospective
students come to inquire about what Harvesters
Theological College
offers and the first question they ask is, is the college affiliated to any
university? If this trend continues, any theological college that is not
affiliated will be irrelevant and die a natural death.
But
how many sponsors of theological colleges and denominations are ready to pay
the prize of training and re-training staff, erection of infrastructures
including a standard library complex, stocking the library with standard books,
and a good administrative block beside the huge amount involved to qualify for
affiliation?
However,
if theological education will continue to be relevant, the individual Christian
and church leaders must thoroughly be reformed in our attitude to theological
education.20 According to Till and Berkhof,
This means that we must have a firm grasp of the fundamental
principles
that are basic to our school system. It means that we must be positively convinced
of the necessity of these schools…… It means that we must not be half –hearted
in praying and giving and working for the maintenance and the improvement of
those schools. It means too that we must convince the coming generation of the
absolute necessity of our Christian schools, and must persuade them to
sacrifice and to labour for their continued existence.21
6.0 FINANCING
THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION
Theological
Education is the business of the Lord entrusted into our hands. Human
businesses are financed by those who start them. They also have a reason(s) for
starting such businesses, primarily to make gain or profits. But for
theological education, who finances it and why must it be financed?
6.1 Who should finance theological
education?
First,
who is the owner of the business called “Theological Education”? Of course, the
obvious answer is that it belongs to God. Second, who should finance the
business of theological education? Again, the answer is that it should be God.
Third, how is God going to finance his business on the earth? This is where
Christians come in. Paul said we are co-labourers with Christ. God will finance
his business but he must use human beings; Christians. Jesus asked Peter, do
you love me more than these? The economic recession in the world today is
making some Christians to love material things than Christ and his work. This
is why the work of God, including theological education is suffering. But this
must change if Christians must have reward in Heaven.
6.2 Why we must Finance Theological
Education:
The
writer shall list some of the reasons why we must finance theological education
here:
1.
If we started our theological colleges,
Bible schools,
etc because God asked us to do so, then we must continue to finance such
schools if not we make God a liar.
2.
Theological colleges have been a blessing
to the body
of Christ.
3.
They will continue to be a blessing to
us in the future
with their fruits.
4.
We need to finance theological education
because God
commanded us to teach.
5.
We need to finance theological education
because it is
the Lord’s business.
6.
We need to finance theological education
because we are
co-laborers with Christ.
7.
We need to finance theological education
because it
reduces unemployment in the society.
8.
We need to finance theological education
because it
produces manpower for the church and the society.
9.
We need to finance theological education
because it’s
an avenue to spread the gospel.
10.
We need to finance theological education
because it is
an act of obedience to God.
11.
We need to finance theological education
because we
shall be rewarded for it.
12.
We need to finance theological education
because we see
it as our duty.
13.
We need to finance theological education
because it’s a
way of investing in lives.
14.
We need to finance theological education
because it’s a
way of developing people’s spiritual gifts.
15.
We need to finance theological education
because it’s a
way of developing the moral and spiritual needs of the citizens.
16.
We need to finance theological education
because it’s
an avenue to train Bible teachers who in turn will nurture our children
spiritually.
7.0 HINDRANCES TO FINANCING THEOLOGICAL
EDUCATION:
The
devil fights anything good, especially when it is God’s. But we must not allow
him to do so with our theological education. This is because teaching is the
bed-rock upon which every thing in the church lies (Matthew 7:24-27). The
emphasis in Matthew 7:24-27 is “hearing” and “practicing”. Christians cannot
practice what they do not hear. One of the ways to hear the word is through
theological education. Paul said in Romans 10:14-17 that “How the shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And
how shall they preach, except they be sent? …” God is interested in all of
these. But the devil is not. Let us look at some hindrances to financing
theological education.
7.1 The Attitude of Church Leaders:
Many
churches started bible schools and colleges because they heard from God to
start one. Also, they started one because there is a need to be met in their
denominations or the body of Christ. But sooner or later, such projects are
abandoned for very flimsy excuses. Such exercises include, there are no
students, there is no money, we are not seeing the profits from our investment
into the school, etc.
Students
will not come if there is nothing to attract them. They will not come if the
environment is not conducive. They will not come if you do not have qualified
staff. May be the writer should say, some will not come if the institution is
not affiliated to a university, especially in Edo and Delta states. Earlier on, the writer said that with this generation
of
Christians, any theological College that is not affiliated may become
irrelevant or die a natural death.
One
of the attitudes of church leaders is lack of the will–power to face the
problems of theological education squarely. Furthermore, another attitude is
the inability of Church leaders to plan ahead. If we must finance theological
education, church leaders must change their attitude toward theological
education.
7.2 Lack of funds:
The
attitude of church leaders not with-standing, lack of funds is a major set-back
to theological education; on the part of the church leaders, church members,
and students. This is as a result of the economic recess or decline. The
Americans recently in the internet call it “The great economic recession.”
According to them coming out of this situation is not in sight. What should we
do in a situation like this? We shall discuss this later.
7.3 Mismanagement:
Presently,
the economic recession is biting hard on every body including the church and
Christians. In-spite of this, many have not learnt how to manage the scarce
resources that they have.
Collins
shorter Dictionary & Thesaurus says that “Economy is the careful management
of resources to avoid unnecessary expenditure or waste; sparing, restrained or
efficient use;”22 If the church leaders continue to mismanage their
scarce resources by not avoiding unnecessary expenditure or waste, applying
self-control, and prioritizing, we will continue to have problems funding
theological education. One of the ways to manage your scarce
financial recourses is to stay within your budget each year. You can remove
items from your budget but don’t add any.
In-spite
of all of these, what should we do to finance theological education? How should
we allocate the scarce financial resources in the church to financing
theological education?
8.0 RESOURCE ALLOCATION TO THEOLOGICALEDUCATION:
“The
changing nature of education…is having an impact on the allocation of resources
to this activity. There are three basic changes underway. The first is the
increasing proportion of the task of education…..The second trend is the change
of post-high school education from education for the elite to mass education…..
A third change is the increasing proportion of educational effort devoted to
advancement of knowledge (research and development) in relation to transmission
of existing knowledge.”23 These three changes affect the owner’s of
the institution, the institution itself, and the students.
Furthermore,
government policies affect/influence economic activities which in turn
influence inflation, employment, prices and business activities 24.
Taxes influence consumption, investment and savings.25 These again
influence the purchasing power, the tendency to spend and to save, investment
and incentives to work. 26
In-spite
of the economic recession or the great economic recession, how do we allocate
resources to or finance theological education? What are the criteria to guide
us? What are the rationales we can use to allocate resources to theological
education? Let us just briefly list the criteria and rationale here:
1.
Principal criteria:
a.
Average practice
b.
Operational efficiency
c.
Educational Outcomes
d.
Economic returns.27
2.
Rationale:
a. Purpose
– The overall aim of education is to meet the need of the individual and the
society.
b. Organization
– It helps in the appropriate utilization of available human and material
resources.
c. Process –
This affects the performance of staff members.
d. Resources
– This must be evaluated to be sure it will be enough in relation to the
purposes and outcome.28.
However,
the writer must say here that to further help our church leaders, students and
the theological institutions to allocate resources towards theological
education, they must engage themselves in long term planning. For instance, say
you want to get your institution affiliated in the next ten years, all you need
to do is to budget what it will cost you to put the necessary facilities in
place, divide this by 10 years and again by 12 months to know how much you are
to spend each year and each month. This helps in preparing your annual budget.
But conscientious effort must be made to make sure that the amount for each
month and year is realized and judiciously used.
In
realizing the funds or resources to financing theological education in the
various theological institutions, the church leaders should take funding the
school as a priority, involve every department of the denomination, champion
the drive to raise the funds, etc. Remember, it is the Lord’s work; therefore,
it should not be left in the hands of few people.
Further,
the mother church could invest in businesses that will raise funds to finance
theological institution or education.
9.0 CONCLUSION:
The
major problems we have in funding theological education in Nigeria are the
lack of funds, the attitude of church leaders, coupled with the economic
recession which has also affected individual Christians and prospective
students.
There
is no doubt that the total cost of
education has increased by so many factors. These include government policies
and inflation. These have also affected supply and demand. When the cost of
production is high, few products are produced. And many people demand for these
few products. This makes the prizes to go up. This affects the purchasing power
of individual/churches
How
do these affect the financing of theological education:
1.
This makes it difficult for churches to
fund their
theological colleges.
2.
This makes it difficult for Christians
to contribute
their quota to the financing of church programes and projects which include
theological education.
3.
This makes it difficult for individual
Christians to
sponsor prospective students.
4.
This makes it difficult for prospective
students who
want to attend theological colleges to further their education.
5.
This makes it difficult for parents to
sponsor their
children who desire theological education.
However,
should we give up and allow theological education to die because of the above?
No! God forbid! We cannot because:
1.
Theological education has been a blessing
to the body
of Christ and the society.
2.
Theological education is one of the ways
to pass on to
our children from generation to generation our Christian heritage.
3.
Through theological education we train
manpower for the
body of Christ.
4.
We reduce the rate of unemployment in
the country.
5.
Through theological education we enhance
the teaching
ministry of the church.
6.
Through theological education we enhance
the work of
evangelism in the world.
7.
Through theological education we enhance
the spiritual
life of the individual student, and indirectly the spiritual life of
Christians.
Therefore,
for these reasons we cannot but continue to finance theological education no
matter the cost. The primary responsibility of financing theological education
is that of the owners of theological institutions. Therefore, they must budget
for them every year and make sure the money is realized. They must not base
their continuous funding of such institutions on the immediate outcome or
results. This is because theological education is a spiritual matter.
Further,
WAATI as an organization should look for avenues through which they can source
for funds to assist member institutions, especially those that are struggling.
This can be done through WAATI Nigeria opening a web site to be accessed by the
whole world.
Furthermore,
earlier the writer raised the issue of affiliation to Nigerian universities.
Pending when member institutions that have not been affiliated to any Nigerian
university get affiliated, since most prospective students want to attend
theological institutions affiliated, such institutions not affiliated should be
affiliated to those already affiliated. This will boost their intake of
students which in turn will enable them to finance theological education and
eventually get affiliated.
Finally,
the writer wants to make a passionate appeal to the body of Christ to be united
in this task of financing theological education in this time of economic
recession in-spite of our doctrinal differences.
In
this key note address, the writer may not have been able to meet your
expectations as far as the theme of this conference is concern. But he would want
to believe that some very important issues may have been raised that we need to
think about and probably issues we can further research on.
Thank
you for giving me your kind attention. Wish you God’s blessings and fruitful
conference in Jesus name. Amen.
END – NOTES
1Marian,
Makins (Managing Ed.) Collins shorter Dictionary
and Thesaurus.
(Glasgow: Harper Collins publishers, 1995), P. 752.
2Ibid,
P.236.
3
Cornelius Van, Till & Louis Berkhof. Foundations of Christian
Education – Addresses to Christian Teachers.
(New Jersey: Presbyterian and
Reformed Publishing Company, 1990), P. 26
4
ibid, p.26.
5.Ibid,
p.26
6Ibid,
p.26
7W.E,
Gauerke & J.R. Childress (Editors) The Theory
and Practice of School
Finance (Chicago: Round Mcnally and company, 1967),
p.31.
8J.S,
Brubacher. A History of the problems of Education.(New York: McGraw-Hill
Book Company, Inc., 1947), P. 603.
9Ibid,
P. 606.
10Marian,
Makins, p. 391.
11J.S,
Brubacher, p.75
12Ibid,
p. 75
13Ibid,
p. 75
14Ibid,
p. 75
15Marian,
Markins, P. 158
16Ibid,
p. 89.
17A.S.
Hornby. Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary of Current English.(Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000), p.601.
18Cornelius
Van, Till et al. p.34.
19Ibid,
p. 34
20Ibid,
p. 25
21Ibid,
pp. 25, 26
22Marian,
Makins, P.235
23W.E.,
Gaureke et al., p. 74.
24Ibid,
p. 79
25Ibid,
p. 79
26Ibid,
p. 79
27Ibid,
p. 410.
28Ibid,
p. 411.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brubacher, J.S. A History of the Problems of
Education. New York:
McGraw-Hill Book Company, INC., 1947.
Evans, A.C. & Porter, E.S. (Editors).
Dictionary
of New Testament Background. Illinois:
Inter-varsity Press, 2000.
Gauerke, W.E. & Childress, J.R. (Editors).
The
Theory and Practice of School Finance. Chicago: Rand Mcnally and company, 1967.
Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
of Current English Oxford University Press, 2000.
Markins, Marian (Managing Editor).Collins Shorter
Dictionary & Thesaurus. Glasgow:
Harper Collins Publishers, 1995.
Till, Cornelius Van & Berkhof, Louis.
Foundations
of Christian Education – Address to Christian Teachers.
New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed
Publishing company, 1990 P.V.
