Asia-Pacific Region: The Asia-Pacific Region is home to more than 40% of the world’s population. With 7,105 known languages, political, cultural, economic and ethnic diversities that are nearly incomprehensible, the task of taking pastoral training to the masses so that the church can move forward, is daunting.
The task of creating a standard Course of Study that meets the needs of the pastor for the village and the urban setting is complex!
One of the nine regional priorities is Cohesive Education and Ministerial Preparation. This week the Regional Course of Study Advisory Committee (RCOSAC) met in Indonesia as they worked toward completion of a new Course of Study (COS) based upon a freshly determined and reevaluated listing of desired outcomes.
These outcomes are aimed at equipping the pastor to effectively engage the community and congregation using the activities of a pastor as the focus for education. Local churches, District leadership, Field and Regional leadership were all consulted to determine the kind of pastor needed on our Region.
This process has taken many months and resulted in the creation of outcomes that describe what kind of character, what types of skills, and what the pastor should know.
The RCOSAC committee has members from Australia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Fiji, Canada, and the USA, as well as some of the Creative Access Areas on our region.
Discussions were vigorous as the committee weighed the needs of the many different contexts on our region. There will be a core of 16 courses that all schools in the Asia-Pacific who want to offer the Nazarene COS for ordained Elders will use. Upon completion, hopefully later in 2015, this COS will be ready to be embedded into all the programs offered by the educational institutions of the Region.
Pray for wisdom, accuracy, and the guidance of the Father through the Holy Spirit.
