The Need

Because the Church is growing so fast in the Majority World, there is a shortage of trained theologians and religious leadership. While this continued growth is surpassing the ability of institutions to provide the necessary resources to adequately train current and future leaders, the Network offers materials to keep these schools relevant. (Click here for stories about the impact of our work.)

Institutions are struggling to develop enough theologically trained clergy, church leaders and academics (for both teaching and research) to adequately serve their region. New schools at all levels are opening up in an attempt to address the need. These schools--and their students--are frequently under-funded.

New faith-based schools and colleges are starting up each month. More and more established schools are adding advanced graduate degree programs, including advanced master's and doctoral programs.

Students with Western theological training frequently stay in the countries in which they study and do not return to their homeland. A concern for all institutions is training and keeping the students in their own regions so they don't become "westernized" in their theological education and lose their indigenous character. It is important to keep the individual student's theology relevant to his or her own culture.

Individual school resources are strained; the need for a good theological library is acute, but such a library requires resources that are difficult to obtain and are often insufficient. The cost of stocking and maintaining a good theological library is often significantly more than the cost of supplying faculty.

That's where we can help...