Shalom beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Christian assemblies grant a great deal of importance to universal priesthood: every believer is called to serve God, and this in the church, both in its local and universal dimension, according to the gifts that the Lord has granted him.

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

2 Timothy 2:1-3/ Matthew 28:20 “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”/ “Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…”

There are still some reluctances towards biblical and theological training. There is a form of spirituality today that gives priority to godliness (what matters is that I live with the Lord, we have always done things “this way”…) and opposes it systematically to any effort of reason, to embrace theological contents (The help of the Holy Spirit is sufficient to read and study the word of God, theology divides, etc.).

Experience shows that these postures very often produce overtime, assemblies that are being emptied, because the teachings are impoverished when it has not diverted to heresy.

Conversely, a solid teaching, rational and constructed, participates in the growth of the church. Generally, these churches benefit from the ministry of people solidly trained biblically and theologically.

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”

It is undoubtedly useless to raise the fact that today’s society is more and more demanding, and that basic trainings are no longer sufficient or able to respond to the needs of an ever changing world.

It is the reason why the concept of continuous training appeared, in the sense that it spans through birth to old age. Pedagogy and andragogy came to specify the type of training offered to different age groups. The christian church of today should subscribe to this new concept. To train means to give or to shape. It indicates an activity consisting in shaping, completing that which was precedently without form or incomplete.

The scriptures tells us few things about the life of the apostle Paul before his encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ (resurrected), but it says enough to understand that he went through a long theological training (acquisition of knowledge and competencies) with un of the greatest masters of that epoch Gamaliel. The reading of his epistles convinces us easily of his brilliant spirit; Paul is intellectually very poised (distinctive ability, gift)! which did not exempt him from a theological training, quite the contrary!

A good carpenter is one who, naturally gifted of hands, visited the best master craftsmen of his profession. The best theologians, teachers or preachers are those who, naturally gifted for those disciplines, frequented closely great specialists of the bible. It is an inescapable principle who calls to another: a church leader cannot accompany a member in his spiritual growth beyond the point where he himself has attained. To get trained is to give yourself the means to progress in the sanctification process to then be able to accompany others in their spiritual journey.

The church of Jesus Christ needs born again people, having a good understanding of the principles of the kingdom of God in Christ, to meet the current challenges it is facing.

For us it’s about learning the christian faith as lived by the apostles and fathers of the church, to understand and analyze our christian walk and the purpose for which we were redeemed. This exercise supposes that we practice asceticism for ourselves, examining our consciences and exercising discernment, to fructify what God has granted for the edification of his church.

By those words I welcome you to our site and encourage you with insistence to train yourself to not become distorted.

May the God of covenant bless you in the name of Jesus Christ!

Rev. Dr. Moussa Bamba
Teacher-Trainer
Director Maranatha School of Ministry
moussabamba0317@gmail.com