Last Wednesday, January 25, I met with a "partnership team" for the Mennonite Theological College of East Africa (MTCEA). This is a group of persons who are acquainted with the College and are willing to invest time and energy to provide support. It became clear the the MTCEA has been in the past, and will continue to be a key part of leadership training efforts for the Mennonite churches in Kenya and Tanzania. The level of support in the partnership team for the College and for our assignment is encouraging. In the meeting, it was estimated that there are around 5,000 baptisms each year in the Kenya and Tanzania Mennonite Churches. Assuming 100 persons in a church, that means 50 new churches each year, or about one new congregation each week. The question is, where will they find leaders for these new churches? Up to now, MTCEA has not been able to supply enough leaders to keep up with the growth, so that many churches are led by lay pastors with little training in Bible and leadership skills. There is also concern about the quality of education provided by MTCEA. That is the need that led to our invitation to return to Africa. MTCEA is only one part of a leadership development plan, because many of the leaders cannot leave home and do not have the funds to attend a residential program. So extension training programs are also needed that reach the leaders in their home areas. Some of the bishops have been working to provide local training to their leaders, but others have not started.
We expect our work to focus on a couple main areas. One is to strengthen, and perhaps expand, the program of the Mennonite Theological College for those who can attend a residential training program. The second area is to develop models and curriculum for bishops to use in their areas to train the lay pastors. A third area will be to provide occasional refresher courses and workshops for pastors to strengthen and encourage their leadership ministries.
