The All Africa Theological Education by Extension Association (AATEEA)

01.02.2025 / Kangwa Mabuluki

A Means of Decolonizing Theology by Making it Available to All

With the vision of seeing “God’s people are transformed with relevant theological education”, and a mission “To equip all God’s people with contextually relevant theological education leading to transformed, serving and sustainably developed communities”, AATEEA is a multi-denominational umbrella body where all people of different ages and backgrounds from different churches can find room to develop further knowledge about the Bible and other matters concerned with the Christian faith.

AATEEA was founded in 2006 from an informal meeting of TEE practitioners from six African countries (South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, and Angola) who were among those who were invited to a conference on Theological Education and Ecumenical Formation organized by the Ecumenical Theological unit of WCC (ETE), in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. The TEE practitioners realized the need to address some of the barriers in theological education such as the cost, required entry to seminaries, Bible colleges and seminaries where theological training is confined and which cannot accommodate everyone. The agenda therefore was a come together to maximize the use of theological resources and networking to share best practice among TEEs and other non-formal Theological Education programs.

The TEE practitioners also realized the need to tackle some tasks that can best be done jointly by several TEE groups such as arranging and encouraging the introduction of TEE in countries where none exist. So far AATEEA has a network of associated TEE groups in 25 African countries and is still expanding, with a need to expand into North Africa and non-English speaking countries.

AATEEA creates a space for fellowship and sharing for various TEE groups on the continent and also acts as a link for TEE movements globally. It is involved in training TEE leaders as well as holding workshops regionally on thematic issues affecting African societies.

AATEEA also explores and initiates creative ways of enhancing collaboration between FORMAL institutions i.e. Theological colleges, Seminaries, Bible Colleges, theological faculties in universities, and NON-FORMAL (TEE) Theological Education and formation initiatives. It also engages with critical social issues impacting society e.g. HIV/AIDS, Ecology, Gender and Human Sexuality, Economic Empowerment, and other key issues that are tackled and addressed from a theological perspective.

AATEEA over the years has managed to upgrade TEE to the level of higher education and equipping people to be able to tackle issues at the level of research and writing for the academic and practical. One notable stride in this area is the collaboration between AATEEA and the International Leadership University (ILU) of Ghana who have designed and are facilitating the Executive Diploma in Leadership (EDL) with the critical aim of raising transforming leaders of integrity to influence not only the churches but the African society. The nine months course is offered virtually, with a graduation held in various African countries with each cohort.

A close consideration of the state of Theological education over time has not only been worrying but also raised a state of urgency. In response to this urgency for transforming biblical and Christ centered theological education speaks to the purpose of AATEEA.

The mission and vision of AATEEA springs from understanding that theological education is for all and for life, and from a realization that there are many barriers that inhibit the offering of theological education to all who need it. These barriers among others include cost and education levels attained.

Theological education has become very expensive and elitist, making it only accessible to those who have funding from their churches, which is normally only those who are going into ordained ministry. The mode of acquiring this theological education is rigid and highly centralized. Theological education in the current context is confined to seminary walls and as such very foreign dominated and academic. It is often too theoretical and not practical and not relevant to the experiences of the people, and therefore not tailored to address the contextual realities of the continent. There is a growing understanding of theology as a discipline to do with everyday life and not just for ordination, so there are more people desiring to study theology for personal enjoyment and benefit. This is coupled with a lack of sufficient competent human resources to teach relevant contextual Theology, and lack of relevant theological resources that are sufficiently simplified for the majority of those in need of theological education.

While there is need for seminary theological education and people training for ordination, theological education should not be limited but be made available to every Christian in a form that can be accessed and understood or comprehended.

In July 2023 AATEEA engaged in a strategic planning process. During this process it was realized that in the context of so many theological education demands, it is easy to lose focus, so AATEEA settled on values and pillars that would guide to what is committed to.

The five values are:

• 1. Integrity – being honest, upright, and moral in all our dealings with one another and others in the world we serve.
• 2. Transparency and accountability – following through our commitments and conducting our activities with complete and open transparency.
• 3. Professionalism – by not compromising the quality of our work, programs or damaging our reputation through unethical and unorthodox practices.
• 4. Equality and Dignity – ensuring active participation by all, especially the vulnerable people including the elderly, disabled, poor families and other marginalized groups.
• 5. Stewardship of resources– applying the God given resources entrusted to us in a responsible and effective way to the fulfillment of our God- given mission. These values are further elaborated in the AATEEA 2024-2027 strategic plan.

The four strategic pillars are:

1. To facilitate AATEEA to engage in core capacity building programs including training tutors and the production of relevant materials on key issues relevant to the Association Mandate
2. Strengthening the capacity of AATEEA for effective delivery of her mandate
3. To ensure that the Association has in place an improved resource mobilization strategy for sustainability
4. To promote Association visibility through value adding networks and linkages

AATEEA seeks to support TEE and non-formal theological education programs through joint trainings capacity building, sharing of resources and best practice by promoting networking and mutual support among TEE. It also promotes collaboration between formal institutions (Bible colleges seminaries and theological faculties of universities), and non-formal programs.

In terms of structure AATEEA has a General Meeting that is held every four years. The General meeting bring together representatives from all associated TEE groups, and is preceded by a Conference. While the General meeting is concerned with the governance of AATEEA, the conference deals with thematical topic to help with the programs going on in member TEE groups

TEE groups or any non-formal theological education program/ group can associate to AATEEA by applying for membership to the Executive committee who will process the application and recommend to the general meeting who approve or reject the application.

For further information, please reach out to:
[email protected] or +260977470488 or the AATEEA on facebook.