THE CHALLENGE AND URGENT NEED

GRADUATION AND ORDINATION SERVICE OF COLLEGE OF THEOLOGY & MISSIONS . STATEMENT OF PURPOSE – BY APOTLE ED ARCTON, DATED 21st JANUARY 2023.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Dear friends, honorable Bishops  & Pastors, Church Leaders and Assembly of God as we take part in this celebration of Blessing, Consecration and Commissioning, we are reliving a practice of the early church. We read in the book of Acts that the Holy Spirit set apart Saul and Barnabas for the work of mission, and the church at Antioch, after fasting and praying, laid hands on them and sent them out. The early church eagerly sent its members to other peoples, to assist those who were already of the household of faith and those who did not yet believe in Christ.

Today, we have gathered here as Christ Church to send out our brothers to serve the needs of the Church throughout the world. Today’s consecration, commissioning and sending will strengthen the bonds we maintain with the faith–filled communities to which they are going, and the prayers we offer are an expression of the ties that bind us together in the larger body of Christ. May the Lord our God be with them as they begin to live their calling and fulfill their ministry!  

The Theme for this Consecration Service is “the harvest is plentiful, but the labours (workers) are few”; Just re-echoed Our Lord Jesus statement in (Matthew 9:37)

THE CHALLEGE & THE URGENT NEED

As we sit and live today, 85% of the pastors in the world have no Biblical training and yet they lead and preach and counsel.

What should the church do? We have an abundance of training: Bible colleges, seminaries, conferences, and books. Yet the need of more well trained Pastor/Church leaders to reach out to the unreached peoples groups across Africa and the World is far from the end.

The answer is sending out our trained pastors to go where their service and calling is needed most. There is no other choice to make.

RESPONDING TO INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP CRISIS

In recent years, people in countries around the world have been coming to faith in Christ at an astounding rate. In Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Islamic world among others,

75% of Christian believers now live in the majority world, where the majority of the population of the world resides: Latin America, Africa and Asia. As a result, many churches are being planted and are growing like never before. This growth has rapidly outpaced the supply of ABLE pastors & church leaders who are adequately equipped to feed and lead the flock.

85% or more of pastors outside the U.S. (est. 5 million) have very little to no sound formal theological or ministry training and have no access to it.
1: 230 Ratio of trained pastors to people in the U.S.
1 : 450,000 Ratio of trained pastors to people in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Islamic nations all outside the U.S.

The number ONE need and request in the work of missions today around the world is for pastoral & leadership training focusing on reaching out to the unreached communities neglected, un-evangelized and un-church.

RESPONDING TO THE CRISIS

The College of Theology and Missions (CTM) is a Christian non-profit organization that seeks to address the growing need for sound theological & Missionary training for national pastors and church leaders.

It’s begun in 1998 as Institute of Christian Leadership (ICL). Later it became the Institute of Christian Leadership Management & Administration. (ICLMA)

Today by the Grace of God, we have COLLEGE OF THEOLOGY & MISSIONS which seeks to strengthen national churches around the world by:

1. Sending out short-term teams to train pastors & leaders
2. Sending out long-term individuals to teach at and/or help establish sound theological training institutions at places where it’s needed most.
3. Sending out trained pastors and church leader into the mission field of their choice where their service is mostly needed to plant churches and build them up.

Today we have gathered to witness the consecration and commission of our brethren who have gone through our training programs and are well equip to impart their world with their faith, the (Bible) Word of God and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

IN SUMMARY

I commend pastoral training as a necessary complement to, and the highest priority for, implementing all ministry initiatives locally and globally, hence it:

• Justifies the cost and preserves the fruit of the other sacrificial and successful ministry efforts.
• Protects churches from the spiritual health disaster that otherwise awaits them.
• Depopulates hell from the highest numbers of people in an earthly situation and facing an eternal destiny without Christ.
• Helps correct creedal and cultural misperceptions of Christianity when local believers permeate their social spheres.
• Prevents church growth from being a mere sociological phenomenon.
• Multiplies and sustains the future leadership of the faith.

Often, under-served and isolated pastors are on-site for the long term; they are the least expensive and most relevant to their contexts. They are thus the key co-laborers who urgently need training, skills, and relationships. Therefore, building a global pipeline to deliver such pastoral training as the focus and framework of all ministry efforts significantly accomplishes the final mandates of our Lord Jesus. Enhancing pastoral health everywhere accelerates church health anywhere and delivers spiritual health worldwide.

CONCLUSION 

Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. – I Thessalonians 5:11, 28

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1 (ESV)

View the Photos here

For more info, visit:   College of Theology and Missions