COURSE DESCRIPTION
Theological education plays a key role in the pursuit of the mission of the Church. The prevalence of Christianity in Ghana, Africa and the world requires the right interpretation of the Christian Scriptures in the teaching of the Church and in its practical application. For many decades, the African church has in many instances, become independent of the bodies and cultures that created it. The continent has also seen the proliferation of new churches with untrained leaders sometimes with questionable doctrines and practices. These, and other related factors make the need for sound and holistic theological education which aims at combining both academic and vocation training for both clergy and laity in the African context, imperative.
The rationale for the Global Theological Seminary pastoral training programme is, therefore, to:
- Train and equip those called to be Ministers of the Gospel to be able to relate theological and biblical understandings of the faith to practical situations in preaching, pastoral care, evangelism and ethics in everyday life;
- Open up such training opportunities, not only for prospective ministers and lay leaders of the Global Evangelical Church, but to other such leaders within and beyond the borders of Ghana;
- Enable engagement with contemporary thinking, culture and society so as to prepare a new generation of Christian leaders to share Christ in a world of religious pluralism; secularism and post-modernism so as to foster church growth and influence the culture itself; and
- Offer courses that promote a more holistic view of Christian ministry which encapsulates relevant social and community responsibilities.
- Learning Philosophy
The learning Philosophy for the programme will follow the four Learning Cycle experiences typical of adult education. These are:
- Experiencing: reading, seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling, interacting with others, leading to;
- Reflecting: taking note of things that seem significant; questioning why things happened in just the way they did; considering consequences and implications; all of which lead to;
- Conceptualising: working out explanations; using ideas to make sense of observations and reflections, developing general principles leading to;
- Action: testing out the implications of a new understanding; trying out new approaches; making experiments. Action is the source of new experiences to generate new cycles.
- Programme Objectives
The goal of the Global Theological Seminary pastoral training programme is to provide a holistic learning experience that enables the graduates to be:
- Academically grounded in the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith through sound theological training that incorporates a thorough working knowledge of the Christian Scriptures, the history of the major epochs of the church and an in-depth ability to interpret and apply the Scriptures to everyday situations in the church and the larger community;
- Practically skilled in major ministry areas such as Missions, Worship, Preaching, Counselling, Peace Making, Congregational Life, Communication, Critical Analyses, and Programme Evaluation so as to be able to grow strong and vibrant church communities and Civil Society Organizations; and
- Spiritually maturing and empowered to act as dynamic Christian leaders of local, regional and global communities who are sensitive to the spiritual, ethical and social needs of the societies they are called to lead.
- Expected Programme Outcomes
The vision behind this syllabus is to produce well trained pastoral candidates who:
- Have thorough working knowledge of Scriptures;
- Can exercise effective Christian ministry especially in the fields of mission, evangelism, church planting and discipleship within the Ghanaian and the Global context;
- Will be able to apply the facts and knowledge gathered to their own lives, their congregations and the world around them;
- Will be able to instruct others on the same
- Be inspired to pursue Christian education as a lifelong process; and
- Grow in the love and knowledge of God through Christ and express the same in love for their fellow human beings as they proclaim and prepare for the consummation of the Kingdom of God.
- Programme Components
The courses, which are both academic and practical in nature, cover four (4) major related dimensions of ministerial formation, namely:
- Biblical Studies: including a study of the background to the Old & New Testament and Biblical Interpretation;
- Theological and Ethical Studies: Students be introduced to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, general church history from Pentecost to the Great Schism, doctrinal positions of the Global Evangelical Church, theories of Christian ethics and morals as well as their application and implementation especially within contemporary context;
- Missiological and Practical Theological Studies: Students will be led to acquire knowledge and practical skills for ministry work, including Preaching, Missions, Evangelism, Church Planting and Growth, Discipleship, Church Management, Church Administration, Biblical Peace Making, and Biblical Counseling; and
- Spiritual/ Ministerial Formation: Practical aspects of spiritual and ministerial development and maturity as well as the development and sustenance of leadership potentials and abilities.
- Programme Design and Delivery
- The programme, which spans a period of 4 Semesters (2 academic years) of teaching and learning, shall be delivered as follows:
- Mandatory weekend residential face-to-face on-campus lectures which will be held ones a month between September 2022 and June 2023;
- Mandatory four weeks residential face-to-face on-campus interactive meetings which will be held in July 2023 for lectures and seminars; and
- Students may also receive instructional materials from their lecturers and study online via a V-log platform.
- All courses add up to a total of 60 Credit Hours. An average of 15 credit hours will be taught each Semester.
- All students will be required to undertake field attachment or internship.
- Programme Structure
Course Code & Title Number of Credits YEAR ONE SEMESTER 1 (A Minimum of 15 Credits Required) GTDC 041: Academic Writing I 3 GTDC 043: Global Evangelical Church 3 GTDC 045: Evangelism 3 GTDC 047: Church Planting and Growth 3 GTDC 049: Principles of Biblical Interpretation 3 GTDC 051: Systematic Theology 1 3 SEMESTER 2 (A Minimum of 15 Credits Required) GTRC 042: Academic Writing II 3 GTDC 044: Introduction to Church Management 3 GTDC 046: Christian Liturgy 3 GTDC 048: Effective Preaching Skills 3 GTDC 050: Pastoral Care and Ministry 3 GTDC 052: Discipleship 3 YEAR TWO SEMESTER 1 (A Minimum of 15 Credits Required) GTDC 053: Introduction to the Old Testament 3 GTDC 055: Introduction to Pentecostalism 3 GTDC 057: Church History – From Pentecost to the Great Schism (1054) 3 GTDC 059: Systematic Theology II 3 GTDC 061: Christian Ethics 3 GTDC 063: Biblical Counselling 3 SEMESTER 2 (A Minimum of 15 Credits Required) GTDC 054: Basic Accounting in the Local Church 3 GTDC 056: Introduction to Christian Leadership 3 GTDC 058: Introduction to Church Administration 3 GTDC 060: Introduction to the New Testament 3
