“TRAINING – A VISION FOR LIFE

“October 6th-8th Friday-Sunday 2006

“We invite you to join us at Weycroft Hall to explore together the challenge of discipleship and training in the UK. drawing from International and UK experience and bringing together the vision and strategy of the tool of SEAN so that it can benefit your local Church situation.

“The events will be tailored to meet the needs of those who are looking at discipleship within their local church, those who are already involved in TEE/SEAN material and would like a fresh look at its methodology and benefits and those who would like to take a discipleship tool on the mission field.
The events will be held at…........

Weycroft Hall….http://www.task-centre.org.uk/welcome.htm
“Weycroft Hall is the home to 3 organisations, SEAN UK, Axminster TASK Centre and the newly formed Matheteuo. All of these organisations have developed from the foundation of Axminster Christian Fellowship (ACF), a Church planted through evangelism and TEE, and meeting peoples needs in a practical way on a local housing estate.

“Mobilised and equipped through the SEAN programme, ACF is a testimony to how ordinary people can be trained as a vision for life, for both spiritual growth and for action within the local community and beyond. Matheteuo has been created to support the expanding needs worldwide for effective TEE training. It’s own mission statement is to develop the basis for an intercultural TEE curriculum, to draw together international training teams to conduct TEE seminars and workshops, to establish and manage a “seed fund” for the secure launching of National TEE programmes and to establish a “Global TEE Resource Centre”. Dr John Stott is Patron of SEAN UK and Matheteuo.”

COST
There will be a cost of £80 per person to these events which will include accommodation at Weycroft Hall, all food and refreshments and the training.

SEAN UK website is http://www.sean.uk.net/

Their site is at http://www.cmalliance.org/ncm/cla/cla.jsp

Note that the “Basic Training” is the evolution (some would say “de-evolution”) of the original TEE program. As originally conceived, it had three levels: a lay training level, a lay pastor training level, and a ordination track. Today’s Basic training is all that remains, and the Ministerial Study program is really just a self-study program with some mentoring.

The primary content materials, still used today, is the Compendium of Pastoral Study, originally produced by a group of evangelical Anglican missionaries in Chile (Tony Barrett, and later his son, Terry Barrett). The basic six-volume set is an inductive study of the book of Matthew, which manages to touch on nearly all the critical pastoral skills. The books were produced by the Seminary by Extension for All Nations, or SEAN, and were used by a wide range of denominations and groups. They were simple lineal programming, with the answers to each frame at the bottom of the page. The Alliance assisted in translating them into some nine languages (I know at least one translation is still going on in Raday, one of the Montagnard (Dega) languages, by a pastor in the Dallas area).

The real problem with TEE for Western thinkers is in giving equal weight to the three elements of the model. We give lip service to mentoring and group learning, but find it hard to “grade” group discussion and in-ministry behavior, much less consider them equal thirds of our training.

(Note: I responded with an email, since that is the way your question came, but feel free to post this on the blog as a reply if you’d like)

Dr. Monty L. Winters
Asst. to the Supt./ Church Multiplication Ministries
Southwestern District/The C&MA

The specific format of TEE (described by Ralph Winter as “a rail fence” or by Fred Holland as “a railroad track” is not common, but the principles have heavily influenced many of the distance education programs available today.