Missional readiness : a postfoundational, practical theological analysis of the role of mission in leadership training within The Salvation Army in Canada

Abstract

Training leaders for long term Christian ministry is becoming an increasingly complex problem in a post-Christian world. At the same time, there has never been a more exciting time to train for Christian ministry. In a world that is increasingly superficial, Christianity can offer a deep meaning to life. Added to this is the fact that mission is no longer a matter of unimaginable travel to the ends of the earth since the world is in fact coming to our doorstep. The question is “what should future pastors and church leaders be taught to meet the needs of the current cultural reality?” The research is a postfoundational practical theological analysis of the curriculum used to train Salvation Army leaders within a postmodern Canadian context. The research also includes the contributions of research partners, recently commissioned Salvation Army officers, through their responses to questions about the missional aspect of their training. The research engages in an interdisciplinary dialogue with social science, philosophy, educational sciences, and theology to enrich the study and thicken the research narrative. This brought to light the history of theological education, the effects of postmodernism on society, the ethos of The Salvation Army, and new directions that theological education and the training of ministers of the Gospel has taken in recent years. It also stressed the importance of the theology of mission within the curriculum of theological institutions and showed how the lack of mission teaching has become the norm in many of these institutions. The research shows that The Salvation Army College for Officer Training in Canada is one such institution. The lack of theology of mission in the curriculum has adversely affected how the College for Officer Training teaches missiology to future ministers and ultimately this has influenced the local church’s ability to effectively engage in mission within their context. Based on the findings, this research offers a possible way forward, based on a missional hermeneutic, enhancing the training of Salvation Army officers’ competencies and capacities to enable them to fully engage in mission within their context.