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sed on theological education in general, which would include, for example, the training
of future scholars. Rather, the interest lies, more specifically, in those programs that are
directly aimed at equipping men and women to provide leadership in Christian communities.
4
Third, some scholars differentiate between education (with a focus on the future), training
(with a focus on the present task at hand) and development (with a focus on the
organization). 5 In this chapter, however, all three words are used interchangeably, unless
otherwise specified. Education, training, and leader development all are interpreted
as referring to intentional contributions made to the complex of epistemic cognition,
moral and spiritual development, and identity formation of students.
9.2 A Framework of Nine Questions
The present section outlines the research questions that are deemed crucial for the endeavor
of giving a description of leader education in the next section (9.3). It will become
clear that the first four questions (to be discussed in 9.2.1 to 9.2.4) are directly related
to our conceptualization of missional leadership, and question 5 indirectly so
(9.2.5). The remaining questions (see 9.2.6 to 9.2.9), however, ask attention to topics
that focus specifically on educational matters, such as the curriculum, the pedagogy and
didactics, and the actors (teachers and students). Each of the nine proposed questions is
followed by some pertinent insights found in scholarly works. 6 These background sketches
of current international discussions may contribute to a better understanding of the
questions and their importance.
9.2.1 What Is the Purpose of Theological Education?
This question focuses on the dimension of envisioning mentioned in the definition of missional
leadership. In changing times, dialogue concerning the goal or purpose of theological
education and dialogue on the vision or mission of a particular institute is important,
because theological institutions tend to become inwardly focused, losing their connection
to changing churches and contexts. This was already recognized in the sixties,
when the periodical Theological Education devoted a special issue to the theme of ‘The
Purpose of a Theological School’. The insight then dawned that “theological education,
like the church, has suffered overlong from lack of or vagueness of purpose” and that
“the bona fide statement of purpose is determinative of everything of importance that
4
The programs we have in mind are called predikantenopleiding (mainline churches) or opleiding tot voorganger
(evangelical churches) in the Netherlands.
5
Richard Bolden, ed., What is Leader development? Purpose & Practice. Leadership South West, Research Report
2 (University of Exeter: Centre for Leadership Studies, June 2005), 9.
6
The emphasis in this section is on literature from outside the EMC, because sources from within the EMC
are consulted in the next one. It has to be admitted, however, that it is sometimes difficult to determine
which publications or views fall within, and which fall outside, the Emerging-Missional milieu, because its
boundaries are vague and porous.