Shepherds of the Steppes: The Experience of Male Evangelical Mongolian Church Leaders, An Ethnographic Approach

By Mark D. Wood and Bayarjargal Garamtseren

The evangelical Mongolian church has experienced significant growth since the country opened to the world in 1990. Despite the growth and emergence of the evangelical church in Mongolia, relatively little has been written on the church from the perspective of the leaders themselves. This ethnographic study seeks to express the experience of male, evangelical, Mongolian church leaders in their own words. The book focuses specifically on the leaders' experiences of conversion, discipleship, navigation of Mongolian culture and traditions, and theological education. Readers will hear from evangelical church leaders why they became Christians and what their experience with discipleship was like for them. The issue of contextualization for evangelical Christians is also a central focus. In particular, the translation of the term for God in Mongolian and the perspective of the church leaders are explored. This book will be of interest to those exploring Christianity in Asia and post-socialist contexts as well as seeking to better understand contemporary Mongolian culture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Release date: Jun 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666799576

Mark D. Wood

Mark D. Wood is the director of Kingdom Leadership Training Center. He is an international worker with the Christian and Missionary Alliance and has served in Mongolia since 2008.

Book preview

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Introduction

The 1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia¹ served as a watershed for the Mongolian culture² marking a break with Communist ideology after seventy years. Although Mongolia had had sporadic encounters with Christianity prior to the contemporary era,³ this political change allowed Mongolia to be opened to Christian mission work. In 1990, only four Mongolian believers were known of outside of Mongolia.⁴

The organization I belong to had workers from several different locations across Mongolia gather for training. As part of an ice-breaker or a get-to-know-you activity, I asked participants to line up in order of when they became followers of Jesus Christ. I captured the moment with a photograph. Later, as I reflected on this experience and the photo, I realized there were many questions I could not answer. These questions were the starting point of this study. I have chosen not to share the photo out of concerns for anonymity.

For me, this experience was a microcosm of the evangelical church in Mongolia. Contemporary realities of the Mongolian church, such as demographics and conversion, were all captured in that experience. The church was established in Mongolia in 1990 and was largely female,⁵ a trend that continued through 2019.⁶ The majority of the people in the room were women with a 2:1 ratio to men. When I asked participants to line up by when they became Christians I counted16 female converts before I came to the first male convert. What is the experience of Mongolian men regarding their conversion?

In reflecting on the experience, I realized that I held previously unrecognized assumptions and presuppositions. I was spurred on by questions that I could not answer. I had assumed that international workers from the West became followers of Jesus before many of the Mongolians they went to serve, but I was wrong. This picture showed me that there was much I did not know about the context and people of Mongolia.

All the people in the room that day claimed to be followers of Jesus, and each of them have conversion narratives, but what are their stories about how they came to faith? Although there were many questions I wanted to ask, I realized that I could not research them all. Instead, I needed to focus on a specific group of people, and I noticed that there were few men. I wondered about their experience with Christianity as church leaders in Mongolia.

Problem Statement

The voice of Mongolian Christianity is important for the global context of Christianity. Christianity does not belong exclusively to one culture, Eastern or Western, but it is a world religion shaped by cultures, which in turn, shapes culture.⁷ Westerners and Easterners do not think alike,⁸ and such cognitive differences also apply to reading Scripture.⁹ Christianity is enriched by the tapestry of contributions and expressions made by people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation, drawing out truths and aspects of faith that can only be understood in cooperation with one another. The more voices that are heard, the greater the depth of understanding that is shared by Christianity as a whole.

I have been influenced by the example and advocacy of Paulo Freire¹⁰ that people are empowered through voicing their stories. These stories need to be heard in the thick, rich voice of their own context which empowers and brings about transformation. Conversely, it is also possible through commission or omission to deny a person’s voice being heard and to silence them.¹¹

As of 2019, 29 years after the reintroduction of Christianity in Mongolia, there is a need to hear the voice of Mongolian Christians. Literature addressing Christianity in Mongolia has been sparse, and evangelical Christianity even sparser.¹² Several works, primarily by western evangelical missionaries and international workers, describe these workers’ experiences in Mongolia.¹³ However, while giving insight into the context of evangelical Mongolian Christianity, these works are primarily focused on the experiences of expatriate missionaries, not the experiences of evangelical Mongolians themselves. As the Mongolian church matures, Mongolian Christians are researching and writing as they reflect on their context. Bayarjargal Garamtseren¹⁴ is one such Mongolian writer who critically reflects on issues facing the Mongolian church. Although the voice of the Mongolian church is gathering strength, there are still many aspects regarding the Mongolian evangelical Christian experience that are not studied and remain unknown. In particular (with regard to this study), what is unknown is how contemporary, male, evangelical Mongolian church leaders experience Christianity.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this descriptive ethnographic study is to understand how contemporary, male, evangelical Mongolian church leaders experience Christianity.

Research Questions

The questions that I sought to answer in this study are my central research question and the four subquestions.

Central Question

How do contemporary, male, evangelical Mongolian church leaders in Mongolia experience Christianity?

Subquestions

1.How do male evangelical Mongolian church leaders experience conversion?

2.How do male evangelical Mongolian church leaders experience discipleship?

3.How do male evangelical Mongolian church leaders express and contextualize Christianity in the Mongolian context?

4.How do male evangelical Mongolian church leaders experience theological education and leadership development (TELD)?

Definitions

I will provide definitions for evangelical, church leader, theological education and leadership development, and contextualization.

Evangelical

Evangelical Christianity is defined as Protestant followers of Jesus Christ who adhere to the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone. This doctrinal framework is revealed through the Bible. Classically, evangelical Christianity is seen as a movement beginning in the eighteenth century and carrying on through today that embraces a four-fold foundation of Biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism, and activism.¹⁵ It is not known how male evangelical Mongolian church leaders understand the term evangelical.

The Mongolian Evangelical Alliance (MEA) is a broad organization of Mongolian churches and pastors and part of the World Evangelical Alliance. In the summer of 2017, members of MEA met in Jeju, South Korea, and drafted the Jeju Declaration (See Appendix).

Church Leader

Christian churches in Mongolia have several different forms of organizational leadership.¹⁶ Church leader is being used to refer to all forms and titles of leadership within the Mongolian church, both ordained and nonordained.

Theological Education and Leadership Development

Theological education and leadership development (TELD) is an integrated educational pedagogy and philosophy of ministry. When used individually, both the terms theological education and leadership development reveal shortcomings and weaknesses. Collectively, TELD is more holistic; not only does it address cognitive development through theological education, but also character development and skills applied in a given context through leadership development.

The mission of theological education is a broad continuum of training for the entire Church and is rooted in Matt 28:18–20 (ESV) teaching them to obey. Theological education may include leaders, but it is not focused upon the development of leaders. Alternatively, leadership development is also a broad term that is not exclusive to Christian usage. It is improper to assume that leadership development, when used in Christian contexts, includes theological education or growth in Christlikeness. The concern is proper in that current theological education has overlooked or assumed the spiritual transformation that comes from cognitive engagement.¹⁷ Therefore, the term TELD will be used to describe a process of education that is holistic, engaging cognitively with the knowledge of God and his specific revelation of Scripture, but is also affective and practical in seeking transformation of the whole person in their calling to lead in the Church.¹⁸

Contextualization

Contextualization, since the first usage appeared in the 1970s,¹⁹encompasses a broad range of models,²⁰ methods,²¹ hermeneutics,²² and dialogue.²³ The difficulty is that the term contextualization does not have a shared accepted meaning by evangelicals and others.²⁴ Although the concept is new, the principle is found throughout the New Testament.²⁵v I use the term contextualization not as endorsing a specific approach or method, but to broadly describe the ongoing process that occurs when a concept or truth is applied appropriately within a given context.

Scope

This study focuses on contemporary adult male evangelical Mongolian church leaders. Adult is defined as individuals who are eighteen years or older. Geographically, I limited the study to the regions of Darkhan, Ulaanbaatar, Erdenet and surrounding regions. I use Mongolia to refer to the sovereign nation of Mongolia. This region is also referred to as Outer Mongolia and is distinguished from Inner Mongolia that is part of the nation of China. Chronologically, the scope of the study focuses on contemporary Christianity beginning in 1990.

I chose for this study participants who met one of the following three criteria: (a) they self-identified as an evangelical, (b) they or their church were a member of MEA, or (c) they agreed with the Jeju Declaration. This study was conducted independent of the MEA.

Positionality

I am a male American evangelical Christian. My family and I have lived in Mongolia since 2008, and I have spent 11 years in the Mongolian church with male evangelical Mongolian church leaders. I serve as the director of Kingdom Leadership Training Center, a nongovernmental organization based in Darkhan that provides TELD training to members throughout Mongolia. In this position, I have been able to develop relationships with many male evangelical Mongolian church leaders.

Identifying as an evangelical Christian means that I view Christianity through a specific paradigm. I believe that Christianity begins with a personal commitment in faith to following Jesus because of what Jesus accomplished through his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. I believe that the Bible is the standard for faith and practice and that people throughout the world need to know this message. I do not believe that evangelical Christianity describes or should describe a political position.

I believe TELD should be holistic and appropriate to a given context. According to our training program’s philosophy of education, I believe that the term holistic means that we must engage the whole person as described by their head, heart, hands, and society.²⁶ These four aspects align with Bloom’s taxonomy²⁷ of cognitive, affective, and skill/psychomotor. My personal philosophy of education believes that education must include transformation,²⁸ but I am not committed to a single educational paradigm. I believe in these education values, have seen the benefit of their practical outworking, and also recognize them as a bias I hold. In my research, I seek to discover how these might integrate with Mongolian experiences. Having served as a pastor in the United States for eight years in addition to my position as director and teacher, I have an elevated status in Mongolian church culture. Mongolia has a heightened power distance framework and I am not always comfortable with the elevated status I am accorded. I have been cautious to not allow my Western church perspective to overshadow the data or function as an eisegesis, but I acknowledge that full objectivity is not possible.

Living in Mongolia for an extended period of time has given me insight into the culture as well as having changed my perspective on several issues. I have a deep respect for the Mongolian people, the nation of Mongolia, and, in particular, the developing evangelical Mongolian church.

Significance

This study contributes in theoretical significance to the anthropology of Christianity and a practical significance regarding contextualized theological education.

Theoretical Significance

Anthropology of Christianity is a growing area of study.²⁹ Current literature gives insight into Mongolian evangelicalism through ethnographic observation³⁰ of the beginning of the church, but not in the words of the Mongolians themselves. Twenty years is a long time, and although Blythe’s study is valuable, it does not describe how the church has developed and perhaps changed. Hence, this study contributes to the growing body of literature of the anthropology of Christianity.

Practical Significance

Interested parties will be able to hear the voice of Mongolian evangelical Christians. With a voice comes power,³¹ and by letting the global community know their story, Mongolian evangelicals can exercise the freedom that comes from their voice being heard.

Contextualization has been a primary force in shaping mission efforts over the past two centuries. For contextualization to be truly useful to Mongolians those who seek to teach and train leaders effectively must understand the context of Mongolia. This study is an effort to contribute towards a broader understanding of Mongolian evangelical Christianity and how this may inform Theological Education and Leadership Development both in Mongolia and outside of it. I also desire to articulate directions for future studies of the Mongolian evangelical church by both Mongolians and non-Mongolians alike.

1

. Kaplonski, Truth, History and Politics; Kaplonski and Sneath, History of Mongolia.

2

. Rossabi, Modern Mongolia.

3

. Kemp, Steppe by Step; Moffett, History of Christianity in Asia.

4

. Mandryk, Operation World.

5

. Atwood, Encyclopedia of Mongolia.

6

. Visser, Christian Church Growth in Mongolia.

7

. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity; Stark, The Triumph of Christianity; Jenkins, Next Christendom.

8

. Nisbett, Geography of Thought.

9

. Richards and O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes.

10

. Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

11

. Belenky, Women’s Ways of Knowing.

12

. Wazgird, God on the Steppe; Blythe, Evangelical Christianity; Kyo, Christian Mission and Mongolian Identity; Andersson, To the Ends of the Earth.

13

. Newham, Far From Cold; Leatherwood, Glory in Mongolia; Hogan, There’s a Sheep in My Bathtub; Hogan, Distant Thunder; Kemp, Steppe by Step; Terry, Like an Eagle; Andersson, To the Ends of the Earth.

14

. Garamtseren, History of Bible Translation; Garamtseren, Response.

15

. Bebbington, Evangelicalism; Noll, Rise of Evangelicalism.

16

. Visser, Christian Church Growth in Mongolia.

17

. Linda Cannell Theological Education Matters; Smith, Desiring the Kingdom.

18

. Sills, Hearts, Heads, and Hands; Sills, Reaching and Teaching.

19

. Coe and Sapsezian, Ministry in Context; Coe, Contextualizing theology.

20

. Moreau, Contextualization in World Missions.

21

. Conn, Contextualization.

22

. Bosch, Transforming Mission.

23

. Schreiter, New Catholicity.

24

. Hesselgrave and Rommen, Contextualization.

25

. Flemming, Contextualization in the New Testament.

26

. Bosch, Transforming Mission; Sills, Hearts, Heads, and Hands.

27

. Bloom, Taxonomy.

28

. Mezirow, Learning as Transformation.

29

. Cannell, Anthropology of Christianity; Robbins, What is a Christian?

30

. Blythe, Evangelical Christianity.

31

. Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

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Framing Literature Review

Literature relevant to this study is reviewed in two parts, the framing review, which is this chapter, and supporting review in the following chapter. In my framing review, I engage with literature themes that I anticipated prior to my interviews. In the supporting review I survey literature of themes that grew from my interviews. The framing literature review surveys four areas: development of Mongolian education, contextualized theological education, global evangelicalism, and Christianity in Mongolia.

Mongolian Education

Mongolian education has been shaped and changed over many years. In this section, I describe the development of Mongolian education over three distinct periods: traditional Mongolian education from the twelfth to the early twentieth centuries, the Communist period from 1921 to the 1990 Democratic Revolution, and the current educational era from 1991 to the present.

Traditional Mongolian Education: Twelfth to Early Twentieth Centuries

Traditional Mongolian education can be demarcated by two events: the rise of Chinggis Khan (1162 to 1227) and the arrival of communism in 1921. Literature does not grant much insight into formal education in the period between these two events. A nomadic lifestyle of constant movement did not lend itself to the utilization of heavy, fragile books. Nomadic lifestyle, tending towards oral preference and scant written records in combination with low literacy rates, revealed relatively few resources to draw on in studying this era. What is known primarily comes from a Communist social science lens on Mongolian history during this period. Communist ideology in scholarship sought to demonstrate the superiority of communism over other political systems. Mongolia has been significantly shaped by Communist ideology, a formative influence on the Mongolian educational system that endures to the present.³² When it became a Communist country in 1921, Mongolia became the investigative focus of scholars across the Communist world. Mongolian scholar Y. Rinchen³³ examined several aspects of Mongolian culture, specifically book holdings, literacy, and education prior to 1921. His analysis was accurate but appeared biased toward demonstrating the superiority of Communist ideology in bringing literacy to Mongolia. Rinchen also related that early Mongolian book holdings demonstrated an advanced cultural interaction ranging from Indian to Tibetan and Chinese literary works.

Mongolians printed books in the tenth century, almost five hundred years before Gutenberg, contrary to the accepted Western historical narrative. However, most books were enjoyed by the societal elite, not the general population. Literacy estimates during this time range from 0.3 percent–0.7 percent.³⁴ The earliest surviving piece of Mongolian literature is The Secret History of the Mongols from the thirteenth century.³⁵ Dated 1240,³⁶ the book was written after the time of Chinggis Khan but provides insight into the world of Mongolia in the twelfth–thirteenth centuries. The writing itself was intended only for Mongols, thus the name secret history. Mongolians exhibited a strong tradition prior to and through the time of The Secret History of the Mongols of oral literature. Epic tales were passed through the generations by recitation and long songs.³⁷ Oral tradition also figured significantly in early Mongolian education, but literature does not reveal its role. Interpretations of Mongolian life during this time are primarily from outsiders, such as dignitaries from the West who observed Mongolian royalty.³⁸

Before Mongolia became an independent nation in 1911, education had been centered in Buddhist monasteries since their establishment following Tibetan Buddhism’s arrival in the late sixteenth century. During this time, over 44 percent of the male population were Buddhist monks or lams.³⁹ Buddhist monasteries were fixed points on an ever-moving nomadic landscape. Paralleling the function of Christian monasteries in the West during the Middle Ages, the Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia became not only centers of religious education, but also repositories of cultural knowledge and education. By 1900, over 1,700 monasteries were scattered across Mongolia.⁴⁰ As Mongolia shifted from under China’s rule to an independent nation, some government-run schools taught Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese. However, after 1911, Mongolian became the primary language of education.

The year 1911 was a turning point for Mongolia. The long ruling Qing dynasty came to an end in 1911 and with it came their influence over Mongolia. If Mongolia was relieved that the country was no longer ruled by a foreign country, they had no idea what was to come.

Mongolian Education Under Communism: 1921 to 1990

From 1921 to 1990, Mongolia functioned as a Soviet satellite nation under Communist control but was never part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In 1921, the Soviet Army was invited to Mongolia to forcibly expel White Russians who had taken residence in Urga, the capitol of Mongolia.⁴¹ This assistance came at a cost. Subsequent to the revolution of 1921, Communist ideology became the driving force of Mongolia, ushering in changes to almost every aspect of Mongolian life and culture, including religion, the Mongolian alphabet, sexuality,⁴² and, to a significant extent, education.⁴³ These changes were not without benefit to Mongolian society. Communist education was responsible for increased literacy rates across the country.⁴⁴ A daunting expansion of public education was launched under communism. The Communist schooling program introduced a formal model of education beginning just after birth with nurseries and then kindergartens.⁴⁵ Between 1921 and 1940, the number of grade schools grew from one school with forty students to three hundred thirty-one grade schools with over 24,341 students. Literacy in 1940 was also estimated at 20.8 percent of the population.⁴⁶ Following these childhood educational institutions came an eight year schooling program that either led to university or technical college.⁴⁷ Communist education’s central focus was introducing literacy. Ironically, the Soviet Union’s research into literacy in Central Asia was foundational in developing the field of orality studies, a current emphasis in missiology.⁴⁸ The government suppressed the thought that Soviet citizens were not literate. The concept of uneducated citizens was antithetical to Communist doctrine that sought to portray an educated working class. Communist education was an extension of Communist ideology whose goal was nothing less than the total transformation of society and generations through moral, political, and intellectual education.⁴⁹

Communist education faced many challenges in the form of shortages of material, teachers, and other critical physical plant needs, such as heating. Shortages demanded a teaching method that could function in such conditions. Teacher-centered educational models, favored by Communist educational philosophy,⁵⁰ decreased the need for printed material and allowed centralized control of information. Larger class sizes were not conducive to teacher-student interaction. The reliance on lecture as well as memorization enabled large numbers of students to learn and gain access to information with relatively little dependence on written materials.⁵¹

Teacher-centered educational models that relied on lecture may have been efficient, but they limited opportunities for interaction and the development of critical thinking. Communist education offered nothing in the form of contextualization, but instead was a form of colonization, imposing Russian and socialist ideology in an active effort to wipe out nationalism and nationalist identities in Mongolia. This hold was further tightened by opening opportunities for Mongolians to study in Moscow and then return to Mongolia.⁵²

Mongolian Education Postsocialism: 1990–Present

As the cold war began to thaw the winds of Soviet openness, or glasnost, blew from the West and reached Mongolia in 1990, when a peaceful revolution resulted in the first democratic elections taking place in Mongolia. In the thawing environment, educational reforms were among the first to be implemented. Although there was a new spirit of change, many of the ghosts of Communist education remained.⁵³ The Mongolian government attempted to reform the educational process through policy change.⁵⁴ The result was a top-down approach that has been largely unsuccessful. Soviet philosophy created a dual culture, what the government said was happening and what actually happened. For instance, the government would request planning documents for reform. Local leaders would then write the planning documents and place them safely on the shelf where they remained, unapplied. This same dualistic pattern came to describe educational reform within Mongolia. While the Mongolian government claimed that progress was being made in educational reform, the reality in schools did not match their claims.⁵⁵ Many of the failures of educational reform were due to downturns in the Mongolian economy that left education in the country perpetually underfunded. Because of this lack of funding, many teachers left the educational sector to pursue higher pay.⁵⁶

Recent reforms in Mongolian education have sought to focus on technological issues, such as information and communications technology (ICT).⁵⁷ While these are needs in the general sense, they also seek to solve an underlying problem that does not exist. If classrooms are cold and teachers face increasing class sizes, the amount of ICT focus is irrelevant compared to more basic needs. Mongolian educational reforms are hostage to the Mongolian economy, which in turn is locked in a continual growth-and-shrink cycle that is primarily related to the mining sector. Although Mongolia holds vast mineral wealth, it has not been able to use the resources to foster economic change for the classroom.

Conclusions on Literature Concerning Mongolian Education

Mongolia’s educational woes have become a heuristic for globalization and education. A fundamental question is: In the interest of Mongolia adapting to a global standard are they abandoning cultural concepts of education?⁵⁸ Much of the literature surveys either the history or the policies of Mongolian education. Contemporary Mongolian education has been largely shaped by Communist educational policy and philosophy. Literature has not addressed underlying cultural issues or allowed the voice of the Mongolian people to emerge about how they desire to learn. What does an appropriate education look like for Mongolians as articulated by Mongolians? This question is still unanswered. Mongolian schools also struggle because they have had little exposure to other educational models that may be more effective in the Mongolian context.

The impact of Mongolian educational models is significant for two reasons. The first is that the Mongolian educational system demonstrates the enduring power and legacy of Soviet influence. Since this influence can be seen on the educational system, there is reason to believe that the influence of the Soviet system continues to impact other aspects of Mongolian life as well. The Soviet ideology was a culture in and of itself that overlaid other cultures. At the same time, the history of education suggests that there are features of Mongolian culture, predating the Soviet models, that may be of significance in Mongolia’s education system.

The second impact of the Mongolian educational model is that it affects theological education in Mongolia and the way Mongolian students learn. The teacher-centered, lecture-based, large class model has become the standard experience and expectation for students and is the framework with which they enter the classroom as adult learners. What does contextualization of theological education mean in such an environment? Is the Soviet-influenced classroom the desired model, or is there another more culturally appropriate model? How are the proposed and implemented reforms of the Mongolian educational system impacting theological education in Mongolia? This is not known.

Contextualized Models of Theological Education

My discussion of contextualized models of theological education is divided into three sections. The first section explores the groundwork of contextualized models, which consists of broadly following the historical development of contextualized models of theological education, beginning in Edinburgh in 1910 and extending to the present and the crisis in theological education. Then, I discuss current models of contextualization and their relationship to contextualized models of theological education. The second section describes different models of contextualized theological education. The third section draws conclusions from the literature concerning contextualized theological education and proposes a potential model that grows out of the current literature discussion.

Historical Development of Contextualized Models

As spring changed into summer, delegates gathered in Edinburgh, Scotland, to discuss the status of world evangelization. Although the 1910 conference only lasted from June 14 to 23, its impact continues to be felt today. The conference was organized around eight different commissions addressing areas of concern. Commission number three of the conference was entitled, Education in relation to the Christianization of national life.⁵⁹ Participants’ reports articulated two realities to the gathered body. First was the essential and intertwined natures of mission and education. Second were the deficiencies in establishing educational training on the mission field.⁶⁰ Although the Edinburgh conference represented a watershed moment in Western mission, raising awareness concerning the connection between theological education and mission, the actual application of this newfound awareness was not as quickly realized.

The Tambaram Conference of 1938, also known as the Madras Conference, once again raised the issue of contextualized theological education.⁶¹ Although the need had been identified and rallied around, the solution and application remained elusive. The resolve of the Tambaram conference was soon eclipsed by the global concerns of the Second World War. It was not until 20 years later in 1958 that the International Missionary Conference, held in Ghana, sought to address the need through the establishment of the Theological Education Fund (TEF) funded by two million dollars from John D. Rockefeller and matched by mission boards.⁶² Subsequent studies revealed that the funding of the TEF did not directly correlate to the development of indigenous faculty or institutions. This realization motivated further efforts to develop indigenous faculty and address curriculum issues.⁶³ Despite all these efforts, contextualization was still a need in the theological educational community. Discussions of the TEF and indigenization came together in the work Ministry in Context⁶⁴ in which the term contextualization, was introduced. The outworking of the concept of contextualization did not realize the potential of contextualized theological education and leadership development, but it did influence other prominent ideas such as the emergence of liberation theology.⁶⁵

While Edinburgh represented an ecumenical spirit, the conferences of Tambaram, Ghana, and the TEF exemplified mainline expressions of the mission of the World Council of Churches that became distinguished from evangelical mission work. The period covered by these conferences saw fundamental differences arise in approaches to the authority of Scripture and engagement with culture.⁶⁶ While evangelicalism predates the twentieth century,⁶⁷ it was in the twentieth century historical milieu that its force was more strongly evidenced than before.

The Lausanne Conference of 1974 articulated evangelical expressions of contextualized theological education.⁶⁸ Paragraph 11 of the Lausanne Covenant focuses on the need for theological education and leadership development in a contextualized approach. However, the term contextualization does not appear in the covenant. The Lausanne Conference represents the emergence of an evangelical orientation towards the need for contextualization. The concept represented by the term contextualization may have originated in the World Council of Churches, but was quickly embraced by the evangelical community⁶⁹ although application was not uniform. Contextualization is a term that evangelicalism has struggled with. Much of the struggle has been articulating what contextualization does or does not mean. For example, there is a tension between contextualization and syncretism, and concern that contextualization may lead to syncretism if taken too far.⁷⁰

Mainline churches, represented through the World Council of Churches and evangelicalism, represented through the Lausanne Conference, differ in their expressions of Christianity, but they do agree on the need for contextualized theological education and leadership development. Both have rallied behind David Bosch’s work, Transforming Mission published in 1991.⁷¹ Bosch, a Dutch Reformed minister, published his book through Orbis, a Catholic mission publishing house, creating a strong, multi-faceted appeal to many. Bosch advocates for emerging churches to be, in addition to self-governing, propagating, and supporting, self-theologizing. Self-theologizing can only be realized through focused theological training in a context. Currently, the World Council of Churches accredits theological education through Ecumenical Theological Education and the evangelicals accredit through several regional accreditation bodies coordinated and networked through the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE).

Contemporary Crisis in Theological Education

From the time of the Edinburgh Conference of 1910 to the present, the theological education community has agreed on the need for contextual theological education as an essential part of mission. As the world is marked by globalization, ideas and influence have more easily flowed from one context to another. Unfortunately, this translates into Western theological education influencing global theological education. At the same time, contemporary theological education in the West is in a state of crisis. Unwittingly, majority world contexts import these same elements of crisis along with Western models. Some trace the crisis to a dissonance between the cognitive and the affective or spiritual.⁷² The challenge of training pastors and church leaders is reflected in the changes happening in the context of the church itself and the need to engage the world.⁷³ Many have called for and proposed different concepts of what theological education should look like to better engage the world and the Church.⁷⁴ What the literature is suggesting is that contemporary theological education in the West must do a better