Most of us know that TEE (Theological Education by Extension, or Tools to Equip and Empower) started life in Guatemala in the 1960s. Some missionaries struggled to provide ministry training to people in remote areas and developed the innovative approach that is TEE. Since then, TEE has taken many different forms in its various global versions. Along the way, it has become a victim of its own success as the term ‘TEE’ has come to mean any form of seminary extension activity. By contrast, the original vision was one of church-based training with a three-step process of individual study, a guided group meeting, and an action project. Meanwhile, understanding of how adults learn has changed. This meant that the programmed-instruction method originally used by TEE came under question from adult education theory.
It was time to rethink and upgrade TEE.
That prompted the leadership of the Increase Association to initiate a project resulting in the book ‘TEE For the 21st Century’. Over 90 people from all over the globe worked in a project that involved collaborative writing of chapters, peer review, and outside respondents, along with editorial and publication teams.
Some other factors made this book timely.
Global theological education faced a crisis. The seminary campus was in trouble. Financial pressures and declining enrolments plagued the western campus. Booming church growth in the majority world created an expanding need for ministry training that could not be satisfied by even more seminary buildings. There were promising Christian leaders in Asia, Latin America and Africa for whom a seminary was simply inaccessible. Added to all this, Covid-19 entered the world in 2020. Campus-based ministry training simply shut down in many places. As someone said: ‘Covid-19 has pointed out the ‘chinks in the armour’ of many programs.’
It was time to re-think and upgrade theological education!
‘TEE For the 21st Century’ is written for several audiences. We wanted to help leaders of TEE programs better understand what lies behind TEE so they can adapt and improve what they are doing locally. We wanted to challenge mainstream theological educators to consider church-based training as a complement to campus education. We wanted church leaders to take another look at TEE as a means of providing Christian education and ministry training for the whole people of God.
It is too easy for Christian bodies to be thoughtlessly pragmatic in educational matters. The demands of the moment can make us reach for a quick fix that works for a moment without thinking where it comes from or where it is leading. To help prevent that, the book opens with foundational chapters giving theological, educational and historical perspectives. A key point here is that theological education should be deeply God-centred. Considerations from educational theory and historical experience help translate those theological perspectives into the present while respecting the past.
Theology and theory are all very well, but what does that mean in practice? At this point the book takes a wide view. How can we ensure quality in a form of education far from the scrutiny of academic institutions and accrediting bodies? What does the originally paper-based methodology of TEE look like in a digital age? How can church and campus-based training collaborate, not compete, in ways that add value to ministry education? How can TEE help bring ministry education in situations of migration, persecution and poverty? All this, along with chapters on new approaches in TEE course writing and a chapter giving a case study from a sociological perspective, help round out the book as providing a comprehensive study of contemporary TEE.
The Increase Association which initiated the book is a mostly Asian-based movement. The editors and writers of the book came from within the Increase family. This creates the danger of an echo-chamber of which the reader says ‘… of course they would say that.’ To guard against this, we invited outside readers from denominational leadership, global Christian bodies, key educational agencies and non-Asian locations to read the draft book and provide responses. Their views add colour and depth.
At 543 pages the book is not a bedtime read. The scholarly inclusions of footnotes, bibliographies, diagrams and appendices make it a demanding read. This is intentional. Ministry training is a serious business and deserves serious thinking and writing.
We wanted the book to be part of an ongoing conversation with other forms of ministry training and church agencies. The book is not aggressive or polemical. It does not argue for TEE as the best and most superior form of ministry education. We believe that TEE and other forms of ministry education can collaborate to mutual advantage in the service of the church and its mission. A case study from Pakistan illustrates how this can happen by telling how a seminary which grants accredited degrees incorporates TEE in an integrated partnership.
Will TEE survive beyond the 21st century?
As the book demonstrates, TEE has shown a capacity to adapt and grow across time and cultures and to take in updated understandings. However, to ask whether TEE will survive is not the point. TEE is just one tool to equip and empower the whole people of God for his mission and glory. And that is the point.
DAVID BURKE
General Editor of 'TEE for the 21st Century' and Chair of the Increase Association dburke@christcollege.edu.au
This article is re-posted with permission from the TEEnet blog at https://teenet.org/
'TEE for the 21st Century’, edited by David Burke, Richard Brown and Qaiser Julius, was published by Langham Global Library in 2021, the book can be purchased via https://langhamliterature.org/books/tee-for-the-21st-century
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