The Challenges and Opportunities for Theological Education in Kenya:

A Case Study of Carlile Collegeby Paul Mwangi

1.0 Introduction

Education is the process through which a society imparts its young generation towards being responsible members of the society. Opposed to this definition schooling is the process of producing competent personnel for specific functions in a given social system. Normally before the industrial revolution, horses would be drilled (schooled) so that they would pull and push the mill that produced energy for a majority of tasks. The missionaries and the European settlers in Kenyaintroduced schooling. The aim of the schooling was to get people who would work for the missionary and the settler. It is worth noting that the missionaries were in the forefront when it came to schooling. Reading, simple arithmetic and writing (3Rs) were introduced to the people who were attracted into the mission station.

Before the introduction of schooling, African education was mainly life education. Old members of the society passed variable information, skills and attitudes to the young members of the society mainly at initiation to adulthood and at marriage. Age groups also were very important in helping young members of the society to adapt and be equipped for life. The community as a whole was responsible for the education of its young from the family to the highest institution in the community. The challenge with this learning was that there were no books. The old members of the society and the institution bearers were the custodians of vital information and secrets of the community. A vibrant oral culture had thrived before the coming of the missionaries and the settlers.

As missionary education developed, it came into conflict with the traditional context. The missionaries had to give Africans incentives in order for them to attend the minimum schooling that was offered. The benefits of missionary education started to be noted as time went. Jobs were available in the mission centres and settler farms. As many people were pushed to work in order to pay hut and poll tax, Africans who had simple skills in writing, reading and simple arithmetic would get clerical jobs. A capitalist economy was being fashioned.

Immediately after independence in 1964, the Kenyan government started a nationalization process. The process entailed Africans replacing Europeans in the running of the country. The Kenyans who had had missionary education proved their worth in the society by getting the jobs that the missionaries and the Europeans had done for over two generations. The government started to take control of schools so that it would channel out the most needed human resources. The missionary for some time left the church for the education system. However, the nationalization process meant that the government would controleven the missionary schools.The ministry of education has continued to champion reform in the education sector.

Theological education in Kenya may be traced to the need for an informed ‘native’ in assisting the missionary in the church. J. Karanja, in the book Founding an African Faith: A Kikuyu Anglican Church (1999), documents how the theological education was limited in personnel and resources. The missionaries for a long time called the shots in determining the kind of theological education that was worthwhile in Kenya. The East African Revival Movement introduced a very strong spiritual commitment and conviction in the mainline churches. Theological institutions were not spared. With independence theological education has been left to the denominational boards to organize and manage although in some cases in partnership with parent missionary organizations. For a long time the idea of equating education and a good job, has been a big obstacle to the church thathas not offered attractive stipend. In return,theological training has mainly targeted and attracted people who would not have been absorbed in universities and technical colleges. The main assumption has been that theological education is easy and doable even with limited ability. On the other hand, the assumption in the church is that ministry is easy and doable and therefore it does not require and attract competitive stipend. Government accreditation of theological colleges is expected and seen to address the quality of theological education but who will address the attitude of the church? The development of theological education at Carlile College bares the marks of the Kenyan context. In this paper, I will discuss the process of growth of theological education in Kenya with Carlile College as a case in point. On the process, I will discuss the opportunities and challenges. Following the discussion, I will also look at the future of theological education in Kenya and finally make some conclusions and recommendations.

1.1 Some assumptions

  • Theological education is divine calling that involve gifts and callings
  • There is a significant difference between seminaries and other academic institutions of learning
  • Doing seminary is doing business; every business should be viable

1.2 Some limitations

  • Availability of context related literature
  • So far no primary data save for little experience mainly at Carlile College
  • I was not in a position to carry out any sampling.

2.0 Opportunities

Carlile College is the training arm of Church Army Africa. Church Army Africa is an Anglican para-church society of evangelists that originated in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century. Church Army was founded in East Africa in the early 1950’s. Although the Society was founded by Church Army UK, it is now an autonomous and indigenous African mission agency. The society’s training college, now known as Carlile College, began training students in 1958. The College’s ministry is to train men and women for a ministry of mission and evangelism. The Anglican students graduate as Church Army Officers, although a significant number of students go on to ordination. Asmall proportion of each year’s intake is made of students who are already ordained but have received no theological education. The College also accepts students from other denominations. Currently (2009) the college has students from over twenty different denominations and from nine different Eastern African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Southern Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Currently wehave 57 full time residential students, 36 part-time students, 54 urban mission students, 40 Chaplaincy students and over 80 TEE students. In following the vision and mission of the college over the last ten years, the College has grown and developed in a number of important ways.

The vision of CarlileCollege is: “A community of Anglican Evangelists positively transforming society throughout Africa.”

The mission of Carlile College is: “To identify, develop and enable the human resource potential of the Church.”

The vision and mission statement encapsulate the primary concerns of Church Army:

  • A desire for the Society to be involved in wholistic evangelism and mission.
  • A desire for the Society to make an impact throughout Africa.
  • A desire for the Society to nurture multiplication of ministries through training of trainers.
  • A desire for the Society to be an agent of transformation not only to individuals but also to civil society, shaping it into the likeness of the Kingdom of God.

Educational philosophy at Carlile College, adopts the philosophy of adult learning. The learning is problem-based learning, enquiry learning, and practical at the same time.We endeavour to create a learning environment that fosters integration of ministerial formation, academic formation and spiritual formation. In repackaging our curriculum of late, discussions on content, transmission, evaluation and utility have been going on. There is the challenge to appreciate the various learning styles (visual, experience, listening, and participation)among students. The limitation is the fact that we have faculty members who have not been taught how to teach in a theological college context. Requiring such faculty to wrestle with their subjects, a majority wonder how to accomplish the expectations. Each generation must wrestle with the way it acquires knowledge and develop a methodology that is in tandem with its needs.

The induction of new faculty members centres on the community, academic and spiritual life of the college. The induction is student centred while retaining a missional focus. Without the students, we would not have a college and without the focus on the mission of the church we are irrelevant. We continue to explore best practices in all areas of ministerial and academic formation. At the moment we are at the point of helping the faculty develop schemes of work that are student centred bearing in mind the academic and spiritual objectives. Proper integration of the needs of the students, experience of the students, quality learning and quality of teaching enhance the graduates to be self-motivated agents of social change. In helping the faculty to be up to date with theological education, we organize short courses that help in adult education, in line with the mission of the college.

In my capacity as the Director of Academic Affairs at the college, I have noted the need for equipping theological educators with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes that pertains to theological education. Teaching and learning methods are based on adult learning cycle. Students are required to apply the information and the learning acquired in their ministerial context using the pastoral cycle. Assimilation of knowledge and construction of new knowledge and the application of knowledge is intended. We desire to have an interaction between the faith experienced in the past, with the tradition and make the faith relevant to the present. In teaching we believe we have to wrestle with the faith tradition and scripture, and in our critical thinking, move to our vision of educating our beloved community.[1] The faculty are utilize the adult learning cycle and the pastoral cycle to help students wrestle with the subjects to the point of students saying Aha!

Evaluation of the programeshelps in quality assurance and relevance. The temptation has been to remain in the traditional rut of theological education as it was in the beginning, as it is today and forever. There is also the fear of technology that it would water down the relational aspect of ministerial formation. However when properly used, distance learning and electronically mediated programmes of study have a significant role to play in serving the purpose of developing the inner person.[2] It means reliance on research in the progress of the college. We want to always asses the needs of the church and the society in general and endeavour to shape our training as per the needs of the church and the society. The general assumption is that the church exists to minister to the society and the college exists to minister to the church,all to the glory of God.

2.1 Developing a contextual curriculum for Kenya

Carlile College School of Theology has been preparing people for ministry for over 40 years. It has undergone a steady improvement in the length and quality of its training. Up to early 90s ChurchArmyTrainingCollege, was training evangelists who had primary school qualifications or just ministry skills. The post primary school training emphasized the character of the evangelist, sharing the gospel to as many people and bringing them to God. Rigorous interview process and probation coupled with rigorous training ensured the integration of character and call.

One group of about 12 students would take two years for the course.A family context was cultivated.After graduation, the students were purely evangelists going to work among the worst, poorest and lost in the society. There was no expectationof ordination. Ifone would make a mistake to be ordained, such one was considered to have backslidden. One was therefore required return the robes and medals, uniform, and anything related to Church Army. It was purely a lay evangelistic Anglican order, working with the clergy. The training was free. Ministry placement and practical components entailed prison ministry, hospital, fishing service, door to door, open air, and Jesus film.

From early 90s, the TrainingCollege started to move towards post secondary training. In 1998 there was a change of name to CarlileCollege School of Theology and Business Studies. The School of Theology trains people to promote God’s mission through a wholistic ministry. Post secondary training opened the college to different influences the impact of which have continued to be felt. Application qualifications have tended to be more academic rather than character and ministry. Non Anglicans are admitted. Those trained at Carlile College may become missioners or clergy within the Anglican Church of Kenya or have ministry in their denominations.

In opening up training at the college, the courses are designed to provide a broad-based theological education which includes a formation for ministry. A big shift has thus occurred from an institution preparing lay evangelists to an institution that offers an education that is geared towards ordination without voicing it to the church. However, the old understanding of lay Church Army evangelists has dominated a majority of church leaders’ perspective of Carlile College.

For some time up to 1996, the College offered atwo-year St Paul’s University Limuru (Kenya) Diploma in Theology. Carlile College has developed her own curriculum, written locally but validated from 1996-2000 by the University College of St Mark’s and St John’s, Exeter. The College is currently seeking university level validation within Kenya to allow the introduction of a Bachelor’s degree in Theology. The Theology School has been recognised by some Anglican dioceses in Kenya as a suitable institution for the training of men and women for ordained ministry as well as lay ministry. The College has continued to keep its distinctive focus on mission and evangelism. The physical size and the academic credentials of the TheologySchool have developed significantly, and the College library has expanded so that it now contains over 21,000 books.

Mission and evangelism demand an interdisciplinary approach. The interdisciplinary aspect of the subject, we have located the contribution of each subject to the establishment of God’s kingdom. The church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.[3] The curriculum is interdisciplinary in content and style of delivery. Coupled with biblical studies, theological studies, mission studies and pastoral studies are subjects such as Anthropology, psychology, sociology, communications, leadership and transformation, project cycle management.In a religious pluralistic context, we offer faith studies and apologetics. All the above subjects make a spiral curriculum. The spiral aspect implies that one module build into the other through the time the student is at the college. The main programmes are:

  • Urban mission;
  • Missiology - Cross cultural mission;
  • Chaplaincy
  • ChristianMinistries and Civic Responsibilities
  • Theological Education by Extension (TEE)

Our curriculum is backed by constant evaluation. For instance, at one point we developeda curriculumfor youth ministry after the request was put to us by Church Missionary Society UK one of our partners. After three (2002-2006) years of piloting and evaluation, we realized that unless we integrate the youth program into the main course we were losing the students and the money. The course was meant to train a number of Diocesan Youth Leaders from various centres in East and West Africa.

Building on the lessons learnt while developing the youth curriculum, we managed to pull an Urban Mission curriculum. The Urban Mission curriculum has been one of the success stories of the college. Research demonstrated to us that there were many independent churches as opposed to toilets in a slum that has more than 900,000 inhabitants. The main areas for the Urban Mission curriculum are Urban mission, Urban Theology and Urban Analysis.

The curriculum is not as exhaustive as the needs of the church and the society. To complement class work, we have had strong links with churches within Nairobi where our students are sent on Sunday placements. Together with the placements, students are also sent out on mission trips to a diocese or an archdeaconry. The placements and the mission experiences are meant to sharpen the practical and the pastoral aspect of the formation that students receive. Although we have not been perfect in this area, the college benefits in putting a strong presence in the society and the church. Placements and missions need a critical evaluation from time to time in order to give the students the best while they are at the college.

In 2000, Carlile College launched a Centre for Inter-Cultural and Contemporary Studies (CICS) that seeks to offer a forum for discussion and research in the area of Christian-Muslim Relations and other contemporary issues. In 2001 and 2002 CICS in collaboration with the WCC African Working Group on Climate change hosted a conference on environment. CICS has also facilitated a series of open forums to address issues relating to Christian Muslim Relations, conflict resolution. In all the conferences and open forums the students and the faculty are active participants.Ours is an endeavour to be relevant to the context of service and faithful to the tradition of the church.