LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THE COMPLEXITIES OF TRAINING NATIONAL LEADERS DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THAT LED TO A VAST WORLD-WIDE SHORTAGE OF TRAINED LEADERS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CHURCH A Thesis Project Submitted to Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF MINISTRY By Francis O. Patterson Lexington, North Carolina May 2005 ." Copyright 2005 Francis O. Patterson All Rights Reserved 11 111 LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THESIS PROJECT APPROVAL SHEET GRADE :MENTOR READER 111 IV ABSTRACT THE COMPLEXITIES OF TRAINING NATIONAL LEADERS DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY THAT LED TO A VAST WORLD-WIDE SHORTAGE OF TRAINED LEADERS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CHURCH Francis O. Patterson Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005 Mentor: Dr. Eddie Pate There is worldwide evidence of a severe modern-day shortage of trained leadership in the church. The purpose of this thesis project is to understand the reasons for the shortage and suggest achievable solutions. Yes, the army of missionaries deployed around the world has accomplished great things for Christ. However, this vast shortage of qualified national leaders came about due to a lack of vision and poor recruitment of theologians and missionary candidates. While missionaries have done a great job planting churches, most were unprepared to train national leaders for these churches. Further, for the last thirty- five years, missiologists have debated "contextualization" while churches were developing daily with no trained leadership. This project wants to challenge established leaders to correct this impediment to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. IV v DEDICATIONS To Vanza, my faithful and loving companion and co­ worker for forty-three years in the Lord's vineyard and with whom I have shared a great life. To Francis, Jr. (Chip), our oldest son and his wife, Jully, and their two very lovely and talented daughters, Morgan and Kaity, who are Christian ladies, and to Charles Wesley (Wes), our second son and his wife, Ginna, and their son Wesley, a very talented Christian gentleman. To my sister Jean and her husband Harry, who have encouraged and supported me throughout my years of ministry. To David Hedrick, a friend of many years, gracious beyond measure, quiet in spirit, but vocal in his love for Christ and undaunted in his commitment to the truth of God's Word. To my senior pastor, Barry Surratt and my associate pastor, Avery Varnadore, each alike and yet different; each godly but with different gifts and strengths; each individually a blessing and collectively a powerful influence for right. To those students and leaders on the mission fields of the world, especially those in B~ngladesh and Myanmar (Burma) who labor faithfully and tirelessly under difficult conditions to reach their own people for Christ. They do so much with so little in the way of training and so few material resources. v VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................... vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................... ········· 1 A Brief Personal History . .. 3 Statement of the Problem ................... ······ 5 Statement of Scope and Limitations ............... 21 Definition of Terms......... .. 22 Review of Literature ............................. 22 The Biblical Theological Basis for the Project ... 24 Description of Methodology....................... 27 Conclusion. .. 38 CHAPTER TWO: THE BIBLICAL PRECEDENT FOR TRAINING LEADERS ............................................................................ 40 Biblical Paradigms for Training Leaders 40 Old Testament Examples of Leadership Training 42 Jethro and Moses .......................................................... 42 Moses and Joshua .......................................................... 43 Samuel and the Prophets . .. 44 Elijah and Elisha and the "School of Prophets" 45 Elisha and the "School of Prophets" .......... 46 Jehoiada and Joash ................................. 47 New Testament Examples of Leadership Training .... 48 Jesus and His Disciples . .. 48 VI VB Review of "make disciples" in Matthew 28:19-20 48 What the training of the twelve involved ..... 49 Saul (Paul). 55 Barnabas ..................................... 56 John Mark ....... .. 57 The Apostle Paul: Timothy and Titus .......... 57 Aquila and Priscilla and Apollos 57 The Apostle Paul and the "School of Tyrannus" 58 The Apostle Paul and others .................. 59 Summary ......... .. 61 CHAPTER THREE: THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY AND REASONS FOR THE VAST SHORTAGE OF TRAINED LEADERS 63 Missions: A Separate Discipline in Seminaries and Uni versi ties . .. 63 Charles Breckenridge - Princeton University. 65 Alexander Duff - University of Edinburgh .... 59 Gustav Warneck - University of Halle ........ 66 Biblical authority and Matrices (Templates) of Contextualization ...................... 66 Reasons for the Present-Day Shortage of Well-Trained Leaders around the World 71 Reason One: Mission Agencies and Leaders .... 71 Reason Two: Missionaries and Hermeneutics 83 Reason Three: The Vastness of the Need ...... 94 Summary ......................................... 104 VII Vlll CHAPTER FOUR: THE IMPACT OF CONTEXTUALIZATION OF THE TRAINING OF LEADERS ................ ····· 107 Guarding Against Syncreticism and Heresy ......... 107 Liberation Theologies ................... ····· .... 111 Latin America Liberation Theology ............ 111 Black Theology . .. 118 Feminist Theology ............................ 120 Example: Dr. Isobel Apawo Phiri teaching Feminist Theology University of KwaZulu­ Natal School of Theology, Natal, South Africa ............................ 121 Summary of Liberation Theologies ............. 126 Contextualization of the Gospel .................. 117 Definition of Contextualization .............. 128 Models of Contextualization .................. 135 Anthropological ......................... 136 Eugene Nida ......................... 137 Translation ............................. 139 Charles Kraft - Dynamic Equivalency. 139 Praxis.................................. 146 Synthetic ............................... 147 Semi 0 tic ................................ 1 4 9 Robert Schrieter .................... 149 Critical. .. 150 Adaptation .............................. 151 Christ Contextualized His Message ................ 152 Vlll IX Paul Contextualized His Message .................. 153 Other Disciples Contextualized Their Message ..... 155 Dangers of Contextualization ................ ····· 156 Summary .......................................... 157 sT CHAPTER FIVE: TRAINING LEADERS IN THE 21 CENTURY 160 Characterizations of the Twenty-first Century 160 The Qualities of Godly Leadership ................ 161 Person of Great Character .................... 161 Strong in Biblical Doctrine .................. 164 Guarding Against False Teachers .................. 166 ETS Case against Clark Pinnock and John Saunders ............................... , 168 John Stott and his view on Annihilation ...... 171 Selection of Correct Models of Education Used to Training Leaders ............................. 171 The Formal Model ............................. 172 Bobby Gupta and HBI Global Partners ....... 173 The Nonformal Model .......................... 174 The Informal Model ........................... 175 Other Factors Involved in Leadership Training .... 177 Summary .................................... 184 Conclusion .................................... 188 CHAPTER SIX: APPENDICES ............................. 192 Appendix A Suggested Taxonomy of Theological Education Objectives ................. 192 IX x Appendix B Sample Curriculum of Biblical School of Theology, Yangon Myanmar .......... 200 Appendix C Asia Graduate School of Theology .... 202 Appendix D Manifesto on the Renewal of Evangelical Theological Education 203 Appendix E What Do We Mean By "Evangelical" . .. 216 Appendix F Qualities of Character .............. 225 Appendix G 21 Laws of Leadership ............... 229 Appendix H The New Pragmatism .................. 231 Appendix I Ralph Neighbour and "Touch Glocal Training Center" ....... 238 GLOSSARY · .................................. 244 BIBLIOGRAPHY · .................................. 250 VITA · .................................. 264 x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Because the issue of training capable national leaders is so extensive and the expertise of this writer is limited, it seems the better part of wisdom would be to approach the subject descriptively rather than definitively. Not only does the chosen topic cover considerable territory, including the acute shortage of trained capable leaders for the twenty-first century church, as it relates to missions, but it is a current and crucial issue involving rather subjective judgments from all quarters. However, with the beginning of the modern era of missions having begun more than two centuries ago, sufficient time has passed to allow certain conclusions to be drawn concerning this aspect of missions in particular. This first chapter is an introduction to the entire study. It contains a brief personal history, the statement of the problem, the statement of the scope and limitations of the study, definitions of terms important to the study, 1 2 the review of literature, the biblical and theological basis for the study, and finally the chapter concludes with the description of methodology of the study.