Contact: World Council of Churches, 41-79-507-6363 media@wcc-coe.org

BIRMINGHAM, England, April 20, 2011 /Standard Newswire/ -- Participants at a recent consultation on theological education in the United Kingdom have called for comprehensive Christian leadership development of both lay and ordained men and women in the church.

Theological education is an organic part of Christian mission and thus presents a common challenge to all churches, according to the group of 25 representatives from international and local institutions involved in theological education, mission and scholarship agencies and regional ecumenical organizations.

The consultation, held from 6 to 9 April in Birmingham, England, was hosted jointly by the World Council of Churches (WCC), through its Ecumenical Theological Education (ETE) programme, and the Queens Foundation for Theological Education, based in the United Kingdom.

The group issued a call to churches stating that there is an increasing need for theologically well-trained pastors, catechists and church leaders in many newly emerging churches within Evangelical, Charismatic or Pentecostal communities as well as historical churches from Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant backgrounds.

The participants also recommended a reconsideration of the relationships between religion and development, theology and socio-political transformation, theological education and development agencies.

The call, which is titled "Agenda 21 for Common Collaboration in Theological Education – Findings of the Birmingham process," said theological education is not confined to issues related to the inner maintenance of churches but addresses the whole range of issues relevant for the socio-political context in which churches are operating.

"Thus theological education contributes to social transformation, leadership capacity building and poverty reduction," the message said.

The message called on development agencies to review funding policies that have sidelined the work of the churches and their institutions for theological education. It recommended a "more explicit cooperation between development agencies and theological education."

The so-called "Birmingham process in theological education," of which this consultation was a part, is open to additional participants from interested agencies, churches and networks. The process will be continued, as the consultation appointed a continuation group, according to Rev. Dr Dietrich Werner, programme executive for the Ecumenical Theological Education work of the WCC.

The continuation group will look into appropriate next steps for providing appropriate international tools for networking and common platforms, particularly in the area of theological scholarship, e-learning, digital theological library resources and other issues of quality in theological education.

Reports of the conference will soon be made available online.

Website of the Queen's Foundation

WCC Ecumenical Theological Education programme

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.