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Rev.
Paul Lee,
the Principal of the EAPTC School writes:
"Probably you are
wondering how this
manual
came to be composed in the way you are looking at it now. Years ago
when we opened our own missions training school in Nairobi, Kenya, it
was a rare
event which
even
stirred up
ridicules among other pastors and missionaries around us. However, it
seemed the Lord was pleased by our mere obedience and gave us some
blessings and fruits in the years to follow. It
was through the efforts of those missionary trainees that our work
expanded into 40 Schools of Mission and 108 new churches in four
African nations today."
Concerning
the uprising Third World missions movement, Larry D. Pate
put it this way in his contributing article to Ralph Winter’s
book ‘Perspectives
on the World Christian Movement’:
“Global cooperation in
missionary training is vital.
The rapid growth of the Third World missions movement is creating an
emergency need for adequate missionary training. While there are some
excellent examples of Third World missionary training institutions,
many missionaries are sent to the field with little or no training,
while others must wait months or even years for a training opportunity.
But sending a missionary without training is like commissioning a
carpenter without tools! With the number of Third World missionaries
promising to multiply three and one-half times during this decade, this
is a priority issue for Western and non-Western missionary leaders
alike.”
While
running our training course, we charged no fees but applied a
strict screening process to
select our trainees. We tried
to make
sure that they had a proven missionary call. Also, we selected our
missionary candidates from our School of
Mission
graduates. Should you decide to use this curriculum to train your own
missionaries, we highly recommend you to do so alongside of the DCI School
of Mission training. Its curriculum is available to download
from the top left of this page.
We
deliberately ran our classes in a small group setting to enhance better
interactions with each and every candidate. For the next four years,
many went through this course and a handful of African preachers were
sent out by our organization for missionary works in other countries.
It was still an unfamiliar event then for most Kenyan churches to send
their own missionaries to foreign countries. And they did not
go to other countries as some kind of semi-immigrants seeking for
better life elsewhere nor for oversea studies to further their
education. They were sent out solely for ull-time
missionary
work.
To
be frank with you, we had a little doubt in the beginning whether our
African missionaries would do well on the fields simply because
majority of the missionary force was still coming from the First World
by then. However, after years of observation, we came to witness that
the time for this new missionary force has fully emerged in the mission
history. It was such a joyous experience to see how God is using our
Third World missionaries to go and make disciples of all nations!
The
lessons in this manual are the actual lessons we taught in the class in
Africa. We trust these proven-effective lessons ought to work in other
Third World nations as well. Please take a look into this manual. And
feel free to use them if
you find them
helpful for preparing yourself or others for missionary service. While
the lessons in this manual apply to all who are mission-interested,
they will be of the most value to Third World missionary candidates who
often find themselves limited with sound missions training
opportunities around.
Go ahead and add
your own illustrations to make the teaching more relevant to your local
setting when you use this material to train others. And if you have
further questions about the lessons, feel free to write to us by clicking here.
We’ll be happy to provide you with more information so that
you can successfully run this course yourself and equip someone to be a
missionary.
Please
keep in mind that this manual is a series of collected notes. It took a
work of Edward Kinyanjui, the director of
EAPTC Sudan, to
compile a series of my casual lectures into a good binding. Edward
himself applied principles of these lessons to his own
missionary work in southern Sudan, and God blessed his uncompromised
lifestyle to bear apparent fruits in the areas of church planting and
Bible training ministry. So I owe him much.
Also, I cannot forget to
thank Dr. Les Norman, the author of the DCI
School of Mission in the U.K., who
first suggested compiling of my notes into this
manual. Besides
that his generosity to provide his exceptional training
program on the internet at no cost years ago actually inspired
me now to follow in that succession. To this end, everything you see on
this manual is offered to you at the free of charge, although it took
us years of research, tests and mistakes to complete it.
I
express my gratitude for Rev.
Musa Aringo of EAPTC Malawi and Zambia who
wrote the foreword for this manual. His missionary work is another
classic example of how God can use a Third World missionary when he
is totally committed to Him. The numerous disciples, Bible schools,
nursery
school and churches that have been raised through Musa
Aringo in Central Africa prove that
universal truth. Last but not the least, my highest appreciation goes
to the Lord who has been using this
training manual to
bless my fellow missionaries and missionary candidates of the Third
World. I have no doubt that they are
God’s riadsed
up army for
the
last world harvest.
Paul
Sungro Lee,
Nairobi, Kenya.
November
2008
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