Today we are pleased to welcome Dr. Darren Carlson to Light & Heat. Darren is the founder and president of Training Leaders International, and a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He also holds a PhD from the London School of Theology, and has taught theological students around the world.
Darren, you founded Training Leaders International in 2009, correct? Can you share with us a little of the TLI story? What was it that gripped your heart and prompted you to start this initiative? What are some of the ways that God showed up to help you launch this ministry?
In 2008 I walked into the office of long-time pastor Tom Steller (who had served at Bethlehem Baptist Church for 30 years) with a plan. I wanted to start a mission organization that sent people to teach and mentor overseas. I knew the need for theological education around the world was immense, and I wanted to help meet the need. Armed with my 15-page business plan, full of charts and promises, I walked into his office and handed it to him. He in turn put it on the floor and listened. To this day I don’t believe he read it. After the pitch he said, “I’ve been dreaming about something like this. How would you like to do this at Bethlehem?”
That was our start, and in 2009 we officially became a ministry. The big issue, of course, was money. Having grown up in a loving but non-evangelical home, I did not know a lot of evangelicals who could give. All of my Christian friends were either new pastors or still in seminary. Tom Steller and I decided to write a letter that was sent out in the Bethlehem Star, which at that time was mailed out to the entire church and people who had requested it be sent to them. One of those subscribers was a seminary student attending Trinity. When he read the overview of what we were planning to do, he emailed me and said he and his wife wanted to support what we were doing. I thanked him politely for his interest and gave him my home address, where all donations were mailed. Two weeks later I received their gift—a $25,000 check made out to Training Leaders International. I ran into the house screaming to show my wife. I never knew a seminary student could write a check over $100.
TLI has grown way beyond what was originally planned. We are sending teams to teach in non-formal settings—12 courses over a three-year period to help leaders learn how to interpret and preach God’s Word. We are teaching in formal setting around the world, and have even started four formal schools for training pastors. We send missionaries around the world who are involved in theological education. And most recently, we have launched a training program for first- and second-generation migrant pastors and leaders in the United States. I am grateful to be part of such a wonderful team.
As Philip Jenkins has documented since the early 2000s, the “next Christendom” is predicted to be increasingly non-Western, Pentecostal in outlook, and often economically impoverished. In fact, African and Latin American Christians already outnumber European believers, and Asian Christians will soon catch up. What are some of the characteristics you’ve observed in “typical” churches around the globe?
Yes, the church has exploded in numerical growth. The challenge of course is that these numbers are based on self-identified Christians. So when you get into the details of what a lot of movements actually believe, you find that they are not even merely Christian, but merely Christianish. They use words that we use, but they do not mean the same thing. So—we should be grateful—but this is a movement in need of a Reformation. Demographically, they are young. Theologically, they are Literalists, Syncretistic, Charismatic, Egalitarian, Authoritarian, Expectant, and Zealous.
What do you think the American church has to learn from our counterparts in the Global South?
I always go back to Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah, who spoke in 1910 at the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh. “The relationship between the European missionaries and the Indian workers is far from what it ought to be, and...a certain aloofness, a lack of mutual understanding and openness, great lack of frank intercourse and friendliness exists throughout the country.”He famously concluded his speech: “Through all the ages to come the Indian Church will rise up in gratitude to attest the heroism and self-denying labors of the missionary body. You have given your goods to feed the poor. You have given your bodies to be burned. We also ask for love. Give us FRIENDS.”
This is certainly not the first time in history that Christianity has expanded into new cultures, nor the first time that pastoral education seemed out of reach for many would-be shepherds. How can seminaries adjust and respond to raise up a new generation of leaders at the frontiers of the next Christendom?
I would require seminaries to connect with diaspora churches to help mentor their students. That will help American students understand global Christianity better. Seminaries actually are not poised to be helpful in meeting the need for theological training abroad if what we mean is taking on international students. Even if all the seminaries in the world operated at 100% capacity, we wouldn’t make a dent in the number of leaders that need training. Non-formal training provided by western leaders is where we are going to have the most impact.
At times in the past (and in pockets of the church today), leaders of the church have criticized formal theological education, charging that the academy is irrelevant to Spirit-empowered believers. Having planted three degree-granting pastoral training schools around the world, do you ever hear similar objections? How can theological schools cast vision for potential students who harbor distaste for traditional education?
Seminaries are outposts of gospel light. Planting and working in pastoral training schools are some of the most fruitful things missionaries can do. It shouldn’t shock anyone to know that churches tend to cluster around seminaries. Seminary literally means “seedbed”. And that is exactly what we are trying to build - a seedbed for local church leaders. By keeping training local, churches don’t lose their leaders to western countries for a few years. Instead, they study in their own culture, remaining in the churches where they will eventually serve.
Theological schools in the West are in a position of great privilege and responsibility, and need to embed into their training the needs of the world. Most students in the US have more books in their home than any seminary I have ever visited overseas.
In his book, The History of Theological Education, Justo González writes, “Without much exaggeration, one may say that there are in our society growing numbers of people who know about the Christian faith just about as much as did a moderately informed pagan in the third century.” This certainly seems to be the case in “post-Christian” America. How would you characterize the church globally—theologically hungry or theologically apathetic?
Hungry. No question.
How significant is the impact of solid pastoral training?
There are so many stories of students changing the way they preach God’s Word. Imagine the impact of training 12 pastors over three years. Each of these pastors oversee a few churches. And now, instead of throwing the Bible in the air and preaching from whatever page the Bible opens to, they prepare and do their best to speak text-driven messages that are culturally relevant.
What are some of your dreams for TLI in the decade to come?
I just want to survive Covid-19 restrictions first! If we continue to grow at the pace we have been, I envision us teaching pastors at 25-30 sites around the world, and 20-30 sites within the United States. My biggest dream is that students who have taken our courses will one day teach alongside us.
How can the Body of Christ in America—those of us who aren’t on staff with TLI— effectively share from the abundance of theological resources we have at our disposal with our brothers and sisters around the world? Are there ways we can help shoulder this burden?
Go, Send, or Disobey. Seriously.
At Tennent, we are passionate about helping believers connect the dots between theology and doxology (worship), between the intricacies of biblical study and the feet-on-the-pavement way we live out our faith. Can you find connections between Leviticus and, say, youth ministry? Between Moses and missions? If you would like to learn more about integrating your understanding of the Bible with your personal worship or your ongoing ministry, check out Tennent’s philosophy of education. We would love to help you worship God with all of your heart and soul, mind and strength.