Three Sydney Anglican ministers have returned from teaching Moore College’s Preliminary Theological Certificate to church leaders in Africa.
One of these is the Rev Stephen Liggins of St Stephen's Penrith, who taught the "Biblical Theology 1' subject of the PTC course to a class of 48 "under-trained" African Christian leaders in Uganda.
"It's the old "train the trainer" or "teach the teacher" idea,' says Stephen.
The Rev Peter Sholl of St Matthew's, Ashbury and the Rev Paul Sampson of Sylvania Anglican Church were also teaching classes in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and in Kisii, Kenya respectively.
"We know that the training of Christian leaders is one of the most important ministries with which we can be involved," says Stephen.
"This seems to be particularly true in places such as Africa where the church is large, but many of the leaders have not had the opportunities that we have here in Sydney," says Stephen.
"While running these courses appears to be extremely helpful for the students, it's also a two-way street. Meeting African Christian leaders and hearing about their lives and ministries is also a huge encouragement for people like me. We have a lot to learn from them.'
Their visits were part of the ICBS in South-East Africa Program (formerly the PTC in East Africa Program) " a joint initiative of Moore College's External Studies Department and African Enterprise.
The ICBS in South-East Africa Program teaches Moore College's PTC courses over an intensive two-week period. A student can receive the certificate after passing six PTC subjects.
Over the last four years, 18 subjects have been taught in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa by eight different Sydney ministers. More visits are planned for later in the year.
Bishop Edward Muhima of North Kigezi, Uganda was enthusiastic about the training in his diocese.
"One thing we lack here is a well-trained leadership. Because we do not have enough money it is difficult to build our capacity. So Stephen's coming has been a tremendous support in capacity building," he said.
The bishop and many others in the diocese are hopeful that other courses will be run in the near future.
"The church in sub-Saharan Africa is very large, but many of its leaders, for reasons of either money, access or time, have not had had the opportunity to receive formal theological training. This program aims to provide high quality, low cost, short term theological training to untrained African Christian leaders," Stephen explains.
In 2003, North Kigezi rejected funding from the Episcopal Church in the US for theological reasons.
In fact, Bishop Muhima is a bishop of three US churches that have left the Episcopal Church for scriptural reasons.
"A number of us are very keen to support a diocese like North Kigezi which is poor but has taken this stand,' says Stephen. "We are keen to organise people and finance for not only a second visit later this year, but also two visits for 2008 and 2009."
