February 2006
After thirty years of working
to produce resources and tools to help churches develop and implement
non-formal, cradle-to-grave theological education programs, BILD International
has finally released a tested and proven process for this exact purpose. We
call it the BILD Certification System.
The BILD Certification
System has one purpose—to help churches, denominations, and networks of
churches develop the leaders required for the continued strength of churches
and the expansion of the gospel.
There are three parts to the BILD
Certification System:
1.
Paradigm Transformation Projects
2.
Non-Formal Indigenous Programs
3.
BILD Resources
Paradigm
Transformation Projects
We
all work in the confines of paradigms—models that govern what we do and how we do
them. Many times, we are completely oblivious to these governing realities.
Unfortunately, our dependency upon existing paradigms actually hinders the
expansion of the gospel and the work of the Church. It is one of the
fundamental assumptions of BILD that the contemporary Church, in all its forms
and flavors, depends too much on the paradigms and models of modernity to the
expense of fulfilling the functions required by the work of the gospel. With
this assumption, we have created five seminars designed to expose our
dependency upon modern paradigms and provide a trajectory for creating forms
and models that strengthen the ability of the Church to fulfill its necessary
functions. The five seminars are:
PTP
I: The Church as Theological Education
PTP
II: The Church Doing Theology in Culture
PTP
III: The Church as Missions
PTP
IV: The Church as a Hermeneutical Community
PTP
V: The Church as Christian Education
Non-Formal
Indigenous Programs
When
people are first faced with the task of creating programs for leadership
development, one of the first questions is, "What type of leader(s) do we need?"
The answer to this question determines the goals and objectives for the
leadership development program. Using the five types of ministry leaders
identified by David Bennett, BILD recommends a core set of resources and
experiences for each type. With the identification of these types and an
associated set of curriculum and recommended experiences, those adopting the
BILD system have a foundation on which to build customized and indigenous
programs. The five types are as follows:
Type
I: Grassroots
Type
II: Overseers and Assistants
Type
III: Vocational/Non-Vocational
Type
IV: Regional
Type
V: National
BILD
offers a corresponding workshop for each type of leader and a sixth workshop
for developing a comprehensive plan to train all five types of leaders.
BILD
Resources
Curriculum
is usually considered as an "information" delivery device. Unfortunately, some
have quickly evaluated the BILD resources and have come to that conclusion.
However, BILD resources are not vessels for delivering information, but
are tools for instruction in process. What is that process? It's a
process of learning in community—discussing the Bible and important texts,
writing projects, argument, and questioning with the goal of understanding the
intent of the text and its role in our lives—and it creates leadership teams
and churches that are unified around the strength of the church and the
expansion of the gospel. While we have dozens of different resources available
for leaders and churches to use, we have developed ten conversational workshops
to train users in the process and trajectory of the foundational BILD
resources. These "conversations" are as follows:
Conversation 1: The First Principles Series
Conversation 2: Acts: Keys to the Establishment and
Expansion of the First Century Church
Conversation 3: Pauline Epistles: Strategies for
Establishing Churches
Conversation 4: Understanding the Essentials of
Sound Doctrine
Conversation 5: Leaders and the Early Church
Conversation 6: Interpreting the Word I: Principles
and Procedures
Conversation 7: Preaching and Teaching
Conversation 8: Covenants, Unity of Scripture, and
Biblical World View
Conversation 9: Toward a Theology in Culture: A New
Encyclopedia
Conversation 10: Old Testament Theology: The Law
The BILD Certification
System is a comprehensive non-formal theological education process.
However, it is not so comprehensive that it disables the need for local leaders
to create localized programs. The BILD Certification System offers a paradigm
and a process centered on the local church, which means that leaders of
churches, networks, and denominations must ultimately create programs
specific to their situations. Through innovative, challenging, and
biblically-based resources and experiences, ministry leaders can create
comprehensive, effective, church-based solutions for generations of ministry
strength and expansion.
For more information, please
download BILD's syllabus, Global Church-Based Theological Education,
found at http://www.bild.org/download/brochures/bildGlobalC_BTE.pdf.
Or, you can call George Stagg at 515-292-7012.
