Lausanne World Pulse – Re-thinking Training of Pastoral Leaders?

Models of Hope
In the modern world of customization and delivery at our doorstep, pastoral training could also be done in a similar way. The following are good models that have proved to be successful and effective in helping train pastors in various parts of India.

  • Trainers of Pastors International Coalition (TOPIC) is a network of nearly 185 pastoral training institutions around the world. In 2002, TOPIC held a national consultation along with Evangelical Fellowship of India and Hindustan Bible Institute. In 2003, TOPIC-India began to facilitate various pastoral training in India.
  • Global Modular Studies (GLOMOS) is an arm of Action Ministries. Their course runs for thirty days and covers ten subjects (Interpretation of the Bible, Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey, Church, Missions, Leadership, etc.). The course is taught three days each month over a period of ten months. This is offered to pastors who are unable to leave their ministry and go for residential courses. Presently, this course is offered at Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Kalimpong and Bhuvaneswar. There are more than fifty students in each course and many have discovered this training as being life-transforming and effective.
  • Bible Training Centre for Pastors (BTCP) is used in over 1,500 centres in India. This course includes 520 hours of study and has ten subjects (Bible study methods, Church Management, Doctrines, Leadership, Church History, etc.). The training is done locally and each centre has classes that last between five and ten hours a week. Ideally, the course is completed in two years time. The material is available in ten Indian languages.
  • Training Network (T-Net) follows a similar model to BTCP, but has a five-day module every three months for a period of two years.
  • Hindustan Bible College, Chennai offers an evening course which runs for two years. They also offer similar courses in their regional centres in several regions of India.
  • CCARE Institute in Hyderabad brings pastors together either in the morning or evenings for two years with the end goal of earning a masters degree in counseling. Many city pastors, assistant pastors and bi-vocational ministers enroll in these courses. They are able to upgrade their knowledge and skills by doing ministry and study side by side. This helps them to reflect while they study and experiment with new ideas in their ministry.
  • Some theological seminaries like Mission India Theological Seminary, Nagpur offer summer courses in the months of May and June. These are “crash courses” for thirty days on various subjects.
  • Short-term courses are offered by various agencies in areas such as counseling, communication, youth ministry, apologetics, expository preaching and member care. The duration varies from one week to thirty days.
  • Seminars for three to five days are offered. Leaders like Ramesh Richard, Rick Warren and John Maxwell have offered the seminars to Indian pastors in various cities.

Is This Enough? There is a need for working out innovative models of delivery of training to pastors. The non-residential and non-formal models of training have helped a good number of pastoral leaders. But this training also needs to percolate further down to smaller cities like district headquarters (India has six hundred districts) and even further down to block levels across the country.

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Rev. Dr. J. N. Manokaran is managing director of Trainers of Pastors International Coalition (TOPIC) India. He is trained as a civil engineer in South India and served as a cross-cultural missionary in North India for eleven years.