The Wisdom of Solomon

Pastor Solomon Bebe e-mailed the PTCEE office this week, from the Churches of Christ in Vanuatu (remember Cyclone Pam headlines earlier this year?) He serves Louvinvili Church, Langana Area, East Ambae, South Pentecost. Little by little, step by step, Pastor Solomon notched up his courses by Extension with steely determination and has gained an excellent Certificate in Theological Studies. 

As with many other students dispersed across this liquid continent, attending a graduation at PTC here in Fiji hasn't been physically possible. So how great it was to receive these pictures from the ceremony in Vanuatu where his achievement was rightly recognised. Many congratulations Pastor Solomon and God Bless you in your ministry.

The Fiji Methodist Conference edition of Nai Tabe  (think Methodist Recorder if you happen to be a British Methodist!) came out this week and I was delighted to see an article I'd submitted about lay theological education in it. Many Fiji Methodists study with us already, love the courses and are stretched and enriched by the ecumenical and regional reach of the programme. The interest in our little PTCEE stand at the pre-Conference Choir Festival was very encouraging indeed, with many requests for application forms and Conference attendees taking the opportunity to call in personally and see us while they were in Suva. It's such a blessing that being a non-denominational programme, yet fully supported by the mainstream Churches, we can welcome everyone with open arms. Here's the article. 

We believe in…..Theology for All

I always look forward to reading Nai Tabe and was greatly uplifted by a headline in June’s edition on page 5: Towards Quality Theological Education for Lay Members of the Methodist Church in Fiji. Absolutely! Three cheers! And not just in the Methodist Church, but in every Church across the globe, please God.

Our General Secretary, Rev Dr Epineri Vakadewavosa, was sharing about future changes in the pipeline for Methodist residential theological education at Davuilevu, the Deaconess Training Centre, MLT and the Divisional Schools. All very interesting to contemplate. But, as we know, the majority of lay people in the Methodist Church don’t go to Theological College full-time and are not training for Ordination or to be employed as Church workers. The majority of lay people are simply doing their best to live out their Christian faith in ordinary, daily life, as market stallholders, rugby players, farmers, sailors, teachers, taxi-drivers, nurses, teachers, police officers, parents, grandparents – you name it. For sure, their Christian faith and spirituality as Pacific people is going to be deep and strong and sincere: their commitment and loyalty to the Methodist Church commendable. But how’s their theological education doing? Does it, as Dr Vakadewavosa states, enable them ‘to understand and respond constructively to the contemporary world?’

In the many changes and challenges of today’s societies, it’s simply not enough to leave theological education to the Talatala or the College lecturer. They may not be conveniently to hand when we find ourselves in a gripping theological discussion with our friendly, Muslim taxi-driver about why Christians recognise Jesus’s divinity and don’t regard him only as a prophet. Or when our children, who’ve been learning about Pacific climate change at school say, ‘But Mum, we learnt in Sunday School that God promised there’d be no more floods after Noah’s time’. Or when you come out of Church on Sunday having listened to a preacher saying things in a sermon that you felt were really very dodgy or suspect, but you don’t feel confident enough to challenge him or her theologically and respectfully. Have we found ourselves in any of those situations, or similar ones? What theological responses did we have? And let’s remember, ‘theology’ isn’t about being ‘academic’ and having super-human brains. The word (from theos and logos in the Greek) just means understanding or knowledge about the things of God. And we can never get enough of that, surely?

One of the most inspiring and liberating movements in the Church around the world since the 1970s has been that of TEE – Theological Education by Extension. That means ordinary Christians opening their minds and hearts to theological exploration and education in their normal, day to day lives. No College required. I’ve had the huge joy of meeting and working with TEE groups from Churches in Zambia, Brazil and Sri Lanka, to name just three places. And TEE is right here in the Pacific too: ready to serve believers, ready to equip believers. By the grace of God, helping believers to do just what 1 Peter 3.15 urges: Always be prepared to make a defence to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence. (RSV)

TEE students generally study by themselves, in their own place and at their own pace, benefitting from courses which are accessible, affordable and applicable to real life. However, learning communally is much more interesting and productive (certainly in the Pacific!) so it’s great when TEE students meet regularly in small groups to encourage and learn from one another. TEE is an ecumenical movement, not a denominational one so the best TEE groups might have Methodists, Catholics, Anglicans, Pentecostals - you name it – sharing and learning together. And in many parts of the worldwide Church, Conference officials, Ministers, Priests, Pastors and Preachers are TEE students’ biggest encouragers and supporters. Gone are the days of an artificial and unhelpful polarisation between ‘residential’ and ‘non-residential’ theological learning. How can we be nervous that lay people might learn too much about God and God’s purposes? We can only be grateful that the Holy Spirit is at work through the energy and commitment of everyone who feels prompted to go further and dig deeper. (Praise God for every lay person who says, ‘Much better for me to learn more about how the Books of the Bible really came to be written than to be obsessed by the latest happenings on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful!’) 

TEE studies can lead to recognised, accredited Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees, if people wish to journey down that road. But equally, they contribute to the ‘university of life.’ Is there a TEE group in your local congregation or among the Churches of your neighbourhood? If not, wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing? Would you like to pray about it with others and take the first step?

In his foreword to a book called Diversified Theological Education: Equipping All God’s People, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa writes, ‘The fundamental concern and foundation of TEE remain the same: the biblical foundation that all God’s people are called to ministry and mission, and the concern to enable all to gain relevant skills for their mission’.

Theology for ALL God’s people, not just some. What a vital vision for the 21^st Century.

The Revd Dr Val Ogden, a Mission Partner of the British Methodist Church, is Director of Theological Education by Extension at the Pacific Theological College, PO Box 388, 78 Vuya Rd, Suva, Fiji. Information about TEE courses (Certificate, Diploma and BD) and application forms can be found at www.ptc.ac.fj/ptcee or by e-mailing ptcee@ptc.ac.fj or by calling +679 330 7989. You can search for PTCEE on Facebook and on Twitter @PTCEdbyEx. We also love to have visitors. Come and see us – you’re welcome!

And finally, love was in the air on Saturday. The community was invited to Tetabo Nakara and Alisi Tira's wedding in the PTC Chapel and then in the community space we call the 'fale' for the Reception. They're a couple of more mature years - Alisi is here from Kiribati doing her PhD and Tetabo is one of Kiribati's political leaders. At their reception, the new husband spoke very movingly of how as young people they had met, fallen in love and 'courted' for seven years but were forbidden to marry by their parents. Much remained unsaid in this public speech of course, but a sense of the trauma of it all was palpable. Alisi remained single while Tetabo entered a marriage which was to last 16 years, until his wife passed away earlier this year. He was encouraged by friends and colleagues to remarry, took a deep breath and sought out Alisi, not expecting to be accepted second time around. He was. Thanks be to God!