A community needs responsive management training model: Re-envisioning management training for pastors of the International Assemblies of God Church

Non-profit organisations (NGO�s) play an important role in helping satisfy society�s many needs. Churches, for example, are called upon to address critical challenges facing the South African society such as discrepancies in life chances, unemployment and corruption. It largely depends on the management skills of leaders of such organisations to succeed in their endeavour to meet community needs. In order to improve these skills, this study sought to redefine the initial training of student pastors, including their management training, at the colleges of the International Assemblies of God Church (IAG). A qualitative research approach was followed. Two focus group interviews and seven individual interviews were conducted. Interviews included members of the national and provincial executive committees of the IAG, serving pastors, directors of training colleges, pastor trainees in their final year of study, and a newly graduated student. The findings of the study support the importance of formal management training for pastors before being employed in the service of the IAG. This Church has moved away from accepting ministers for service based on their faith and profession of a call to ministry only. The investigation revealed shortcomings in the initial training programmes of pastors; for example, the emphasis on theological courses at the expense of courses that are responsive to community needs and management training issues. Leaders with the competency to respond to community needs are required. The implementation of a transformational management framework, which includes community responsive courses, is recommended as a way to effectively train church leaders.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Although this article is written within the framework of Educational Management, it touches on other fields like Practical Theology and Curriculum Development. It reflects on the perceived need to include management training in the formal preparation of pastors; an aspect which has previously been sorely neglected. A training model is suggested to achieve this objective.Keywords: community;�training; pastors

Johannes Kuchlinus, the 'Faithful Teacher': His Role in the Arminian Controversy and His Impact as a Theological Interpreter and Educator

Johannes Kuchlinus (1546-1606) was a Reformed pastor in Amsterdam and the founding regent of the theological college at Leiden University. Modern scholarship has overlooked the impact he had during his tenure at the university. Part of his impact has to do with his ability to keep relative peace in the midst of a boiling faculty controversy between Jacobus Arminius and Franciscus Gomarus. His greatest influence, though, is seen in his work as an interpreter and teacher of the Heidelberg Catechism. His first-hand knowledge of the Catechism and one of its authors, Zacharias Ursinus, combined with his prominent position of training pastors, uniquely qualified him as a proponent of the Catechism in the low countries. The disputations on the catechetical topics that he composed for student defenses, a list of which appears at the conclusion of this article, not only comprise a vast wealth of material for further study of this figure who influenced a generation, but also represent another source for the "Leiden theology" during this controversial period.