The Lifeline Ministry Training Correspondence Program began life out of two mandates God previously gave Lifeline, and (later) Brian Rensford….
1] Lifeline’s literature ministry has functioned out of Zimbabwe since the 1970’s. The Building Your Life teaching series has gone all over Southern Africa and blessed many new believers, and older believers who desired to strengthen their Christian foundations.
In the 1990’s, as the evangelisation of Southern Africa peaked, a new emphasis was added to Lifeline’s spread of ministry – the Doulos program. Doulos (Greek for servant) ran over 5 x 2-week intensive training periods in the Word of God re character development (servant spirit, etc), and elements of ministry enabling. It was intentionally not aimed at new believers. Students (including many pastors) gathered at convenient locations, and the Harare-based Director of Lifeline, Loxley Ford coordinated teachers (himself, some overseas ministers from the Lifeline Network of supporters, and local Lifeline Network ministers), and the courses, right through to graduation. The students were carefully returned to their home churches, and many positive comments were received over the years from senior ministers about the blessing these graduates were after participating in the Doulos program. In fact, one well-known network leader stated, "our students have returned to our churches eager to serve and join in. Before, when we sent them out for training, they have come back and told us what is wrong and what they wanted to do!"
Since 2000, the emphasis has shifted towards the course being a “Ministry Training Program” (MTP). This name was carefully chosen to reflect that Lifeline was stressing that First Principles / discipleship biblically belongs to the local church’s responsibility, and that Lifeline was there to help build on those foundations, to equip participating students so they can serve / minister more effectively into their own church, the wider Body of Christ, and into their surrounding community. The fact that Lifeline is not identified with any one particular movement has greatly helped build up the trust levels so badly needed to make such an inter-denominational ministry work effectively.
Currently, the changing economic conditions of the region greatly determine the nature of the courses practical outworking. This has seen a shift of emphasis, in which Lifeline equips teachers from local church communities (from various backgrounds and denominations), who can then structure a Ministry Training Program in their area that is not so costly. Several Local Area Networks associated with Lifeline currently conduct MTP's in their district. again, these are not limited to potential students from just their own denomination, but in keeping with Lifeline's vision to be a servant ministry to the wider Body of Christ, they are open to enrol students from other networks. And unlike some training programs, they do return to their home churches!
2] In 1997, Brian Rensford came to Southern Africa for the first time. His church in Sydney, Australia, has been a Lifeline supporter since 1982, While travelling in Mozambique he received a mandate from The Lord to start a Ministry Development College – back home in Australia.
The vision was for a ministry training environment to grow through relationship (hence the use of the word, “College”) – beyond any one church or denomination, with input and oversight from other like-minded leaders who sent along students, and who maintained a “Body Vision” - ie. they incorporate time into their ministry schedule for the health and development of the wider Body of Christ, as well as faithful concern for their own local church and denomination.
The broad vision for it did not go beyond outline stage for another four years, until Brian resigned from his responsibilities as the National Leader of a small Australia-wide Pentecostal movement in late 2001. Almost immediately, the “nuts and bolts” of how to practically go about establishing a Ministry Development College began to fall into place. In late 2001, a pilot course was conducted. By the end of 2009, 34 Units have been conducted (almost all in 6-week blocs), with some 120 students completing one or more Units from more than 20 different local churches. Many others have sat in as “audit” observers (ie. not participated in the assignments, or group leadership sessions). They too have gone away strengthened and better equipped in their calling.
How this mandate has unfolded since 2001 can be examined in other literature maintained on Holroyd Ministry Development College’s website
Over recent years, some elements of this Australian structure and emphasis have been incorporated back into the Ministry Training Program in Lifeline’s ministry in Southern Africa. Brian currently functions with Loxley and other network leaders to form an Advisory Board for Lifeline Ministries (detailed on the main Lifeline website).
In 2004, a former student (and interpreter) in Mozambique wrote to Brian, after perusing the Ministry Development College website. He asked for help with resources to assist others he was ministering to there.. In prayerfully wrestling with this “Macedonian request”, Brian began looking at ways to redevelop at least some of the core teaching material into a correspondence course, which, while not having the relational element that the original Ministry Development College had, was at least a way for believers in isolated, or financially difficult circumstances, to work through material aimed at equipping them to serve God more effectively in their God-given and anointed grace gifting.
The Way Forward
A major factor in the changes in Global Literature Lifeline (as the correspondence and literature distribution arm of Lifeline has been known as) has been the enormous increases in the cost of postage to and from the corresponding students (many from rural, and financially stretched backgrounds). This factor alone has massively reduced the number of monthly respondents with the Harare Lifeline office (including sadly the cutting back of supported staff at the Base).
However, opposite to this is the continued growth of Internet use in Africa, including now access to the Internet in rural towns. Many former students now stay in touch by use of email.
Extending an email-based Correspondence arm to Global Literature Lifeline’s original mandate (from God to Ron Davies) is an exciting (and pragmatically do-able) possibility. This would enable assignments to be relayed back for marking and an ongoing assessment made at the end of each Unit completed – and with email, that assessing can be done from anywhere on the planet!
The Australian College model is deliberately not geared towards an academic-oriented approach, but has been aimed at “ordinary” people. For those with a desire to do further systematic theological, fulltime ministry training studies – there already exist Colleges in Southern Africa with a sound academic, theology-oriented emphasis (like the Theological College of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo – where several former Lifeline associates have completed ministry degrees.
Initially, some of the Units from the Australian courses have been reworked, changing them into correspondence-type sessions (from the original group, interactive, participatory format). Hopefully, enough base material makes the transition to bless the correspondence students willing to work through the courses, and as the promotional material stresses – it’s not about being blessed ourselves, but about blessing others! About being equipped to more effectively serve God, His people, and the surrounding community – by “giving room” for God’s sovereignly-bestowed grace-gifting in us to function powerfully and uncluttered by unimportant “weeds”!
We trust the way forward will be an eventful and fruitful one. In 2003, a TCZ student updated John Stott's quote for Zimbabwe, when he said to Brian Rensford, "the trouble is here, after so much evangelism, the river of God is 200 miles wide but only six inches deep!" Brian's response was, "Then let's work hard to make it at least 12 inches deep!" Currently, generally speaking, the enormous breadth of Christian activity in Southern Africa is not matched by depth in the "correct handling of the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). The Lifeline Ministry Correspondence Program is an attempt to join others in a broad effort to rectify this weakness, thus strengthening the church of our Lord Jesus Christ in its life and witness.