Theological Education
AICMAR is a resource for evangelical scholars and church leaders, providing opportunities for advanced biblical and theological research, encouraging the study and debate of contemporary African issues, and offering training in biblical expository preaching and other ministry skills.
Although located in Butere (Western Kenya), AICMAR aims to serve the academic and spiritual needs of African theological colleges, churches and church leadership beyond national borders.
The Akrofi-Christaller Institute, whose first Rector was the late Rev. Prof. Kwame Bediako, is a scholarly institution established by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana to serve the wider Christian community in Ghana and Africa.
Their courses emphasise the study of African Christianity, the importance of engaging Gospel and Culture, and Scripture engagement in the mother tongue.
ACI is also concerned to develop biblical and Christian literature in Ghanaian languages.
We need to help our students switch their focus from their teachers to the Bible. We want them to be able to say with full confidence, “This is what the Bible teaches.”
How can we do that? It must begin with a major change of emphasis at our schools. We must teach our students how to think and not merely what to think. We must develop students’ confidence and skills to read, interpret, and apply the Bible for themselves.
In this article, Brian Arensen argues for the importance of teaching inductive Bible study methods in African theological colleges. He reports that after teaching and reinforcing inductive Bible study concepts, they have seen a significant difference in the way the students handle the Scriptures: [more...]
This book - 'Bible Translation and the Church: Issues and challenges for Francophone Africa' - was written as part of the Francophone Initiative in collaboration with CITAF (Conseil des Institutions Théologiques d’Afrique Francophone) - a consortium of evangelical theological institutions in Africa.
The aim is to introduce into the programme of every theological college a course on the importance of Bible translation and the role of local languages in the mission of the church.
The chapters are divided into five main sections:
- Pourquoi traduire la Bible dans les langues locales? (Why translate the Bible into local languages?)
- L'histoire de la traduction de la Bible depuis Néhémie jusqu'à nos jours (The history of Bible translation from Nehemiah to today)
- Théologie et traduction de la Bible (Theology and Bible translation)
- Traduction de la Bible: contexte, structures et méthodes (Bible translation: context, structures and methods)
- Bible et héritage colonial francophone (The Bible and the colonial heritage)
"When the Scriptures are available in the mother tongue, students will use them if encouraged to do so by the staff of the training institutions. Professors may not understand the languages their students are working in and they may find this to be challenging, but the results are well worth the challenge."
Many Bible Schools function in the majority language of the country. For students from minority language groups, this may result in a superficial understanding of Scripture. How can Bible schools help them study Scripture in their own language so that they attain the fluency in reading and preaching they will need to minister effectively among their people? This article presents an approach which has been used at a Bible Institute in Colombia with 13 languages. [more...]