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Seminaries and Discipleship: Exploring Future Directions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2020

Stephen Spencer
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Abstract

Theological colleges and seminaries across the Anglican Communion are at a crossroads and this essay proposes a reorientation of their life towards serving the intentional discipleship of the whole people of God. This kind of change would affect the culture as well as the content of what they do. For example, their pedagogy could become that of ‘the flipped classroom’, where ordinands engage in an apprenticeship style of learning, with their time in college falling within placement learning and providing constructive theological reflection upon that prior learning. This will bring great benefits to these institutions through their becoming re-connected and re-embedded in the life of the church at grass roots level, giving them a valued and indispensable role in the mission of the church in diverse contexts.

Keywords

academic disciplinesapprenticeshipdiscipleshipEmmausflipped classroomseminaryTEE
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Anglican Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , May 2020 , pp. 98 - 112
Copyright
© The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2020

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Footnotes

1

Stephen Spencer is Director for Theological Education at the Anglican Communion Office, St Andrew’s House, 16 Tavistock Crescent, London W11 1AP, UK.

References

2 For information on TEAC (the department for Theological Education in the Anglican Communion) see https://www.anglicancommunion.org/theology/theological-education.aspx

3 The generic nature of financial pressures on colleges and seminaries across the Anglican Communion is also noted by Percy, Martyn in ‘The Shaping of Ordination Training’, in Chapman, Mark D, Clarke, Sathianathan and Percy, Martyn (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Anglican Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 500–501Google Scholar.

4 I am grateful to colleagues at a consultation on theological education at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia Seremban, Malaysia, and at Hui, a consultation on theological education for pioneering ministry at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, both in July 2019, for the opportunity to share and discuss this proposal.

5 ACC, Intentional Discipleship and Disciple-Making: An Anglican Guide for Christian Life and Formation (ed. J. Kafwanka and M. Oxbrow; London: ACC, 2016), available at: https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/220191/intentional-discipleship-and-disciple-making.pdf (accessed 31 December 2019). Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese translations are also available.

6 ACC, Intentional Discipleship, p. 81.

7 See https://www.anglicancommunion.org/mission/intentional-discipleship.aspx

8 See, for example, Resolution 16.01 of the 16th Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Lusaka in 2016, which requested the Standing Committee to work with the Secretary General and Mission Department to effect a Season of Intentional Discipleship for a period covering ACCs 16, 17, 18 and 19, that is, until 2025: https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/234449/acc-16-resolutions-2016.pdf (accessed 31 December 2019).

9 ACC, Intentional Discipleship, p. 81.

10 Archbishop Moon Hing, Intentional Discipleship in a World of Difference (Anglican Witness: Anglican Consultative Council, 2016), p. 6.

11 ACC, Intentional Discipleship, p. 3.

12 ACC, Intentional Discipleship, pp. 126-27.

13 ACC, Intentional Discipleship, p. 127.

14 While Codrington College, Barbados, is the oldest theological college in the Anglican Communion, arguably the first college to deliberately adopt the seminary model of training was General Theological Seminary in New York in 1817.

15 Quoted in Chapman et al., Oxford Handbook of Anglican Studies, p. 493.

16 See, for example, Kelsey, David H, Between Athens and Berlin: The Theological Education Debate (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2011)Google Scholar.

17 See Kelsey, Between Athens and Berlin.

18 See, for example, Brigham, Eric M, See, Judge, Act: Catholic Social Teaching and Service Learning (Winona: Anselm Academic, rev. edn, 2018)Google Scholar.

19 The threefold pedagogical process of ‘taking in, taking stock and taking action’ is employed in God’s Justice: Just Relationships between Women and Men, Girls and Boys. See especially Section 2 ‘Learning Strategies’, at www.anglicancommunion.org/media/348551/TEAC-Just-relationships-women-men.pdf (accessed 31 December 2019).

20 van Wingerden, Hannah-Ruth, Green, Tim and Aylett, Graham (eds.), TEE in Asia: Empowering Churches, Equipping Disciples (Kuala Lumpur: Increase Association, 2018)Google Scholar. Other examples are provided by SEAN (Study by Extension for All Nations), which are widely used across the world. While these come out of one ecclesial tradition their structure and methodology provides an example for other traditions to adopt and adapt. See www.seaninternational.com/courses.html (accessed 31 December 2019).

21 Van Wingerden et al., TEE in Asia, p. 15.

22 Van Wingerden et al., TEE in Asia, pp. 16-18.

23 Van Wingerden et al., TEE in Asia, p. 20.

24 Van Wingerden et al., TEE in Asia, p. 20.

25 See, for example, Bergmann, Jonathan and Sams, Aaron, Flip your Classroom (Arlington, VA: International Society for Technology in Education, 2012)Google Scholar.

26 Van Wingerden et al., TEE in Asia, p. 24.

27 ACC, Intentional Discipleship, p. 81.

28 Van Wingerden et al., TEE in Asia, pp. 25-26.

29 Van Wingerden et al., TEE in Asia, p. 27.