Theological education in Africa in focus: challenges and opportunities for the African church as it moves to the future

Abstract

The future of the African Church looks bright with its tremendous numerical growth, but careful assessment shows that it is failing to match numerical growth with the development of its personnel. Using the Anglican Church of Kenya as an example, this study shows that the African Church is in crisis due to the lack of enough qualified personnel to lead it. If the Church in Africa is thinking about its future it must think of the theological education through which its leaders are equipped. The African Church currently has a feeble theological education system, characterized by unviable theological institutions, irrelevant curricula, low enrollment, and unqualified theological tutors among other challenges. For the African Church to take the right path as it moves to the future, it must revitalize its theological education system so as to prepare a sufficient number of well-equipped leaders to match the rapidly changing African society.