When considering the integrated nature of BUILD training the claim was that, “perhaps most significantly, BUILD deliberately and seamlessly connects formal and non-formal types of theological training.” Why is that so significant?
The linking of non-formal and formal education, together with the associated matter of the recognition of non-formal approaches is a contemporary concern of growing importance. Yet from its inception and in its background research dating to the late 1990s its threefold educational typology and the crucial matter of how to connect the types has been central to BUILD’s philosophy.
Further, this has been viewed as critical in addressing the core problem BUILD faces. From the homepage, “Most church leaders in the world today serve the growing churches of the majority world. It is impossible to overstate the significance of these local leaders for the current health and future prospects of the worldwide church, but most have received little or no training.” What is implicit in the problem is one of scale with the majority of the church leaders at the grassroots being untrained or undertrained. Scaling up means both scalability and multiplication. The BUILD programme structure allows for just this, and key to its multiplication model is the strong link between the non-formal BUILD course for local leadership learning groups, and the formal BUILD-based course for the training of trainers.
The link is on one hand simple. Trainee trainers are exposed to the local curriculum in depth and learn to both understand it and use it. But the need and desire to genuinely link a non-formal and formal course, set the BUILD initiative a significant problem to solve, compounded by the integrated, non-traditional nature of the BUILD course itself. As already described, the non-formal curriculum is not simply a traditional theological training course taken down a level or two, it follows an integrated practical-theological approach to curriculum design. While non-formal it is, however, highly structured, with its ten modules and 150 learning units; and with those units falling into three main types: those that are essentially biblical studies; those that are primarily practical theology; and those mainly in the domain of leadership development. There was much to work with and build on.
The outcome of a process of development and testing is a formal diploma in Bible, Theology and Leadership; one with either 24 courses for a trimester approach, or with 22 courses for a semester approach. Essential to the diploma is a block-release approach in which it is taught through either six blocks of face-to-face learning, for the trimester approach, or four blocks of face-to-face learning, for the semester approach, both spread over two academic years.
The thinking is this. Importantly the ten BUILD modules and their 150 learning units are taught in their original sequencing to preserve the learning flow. Plus each module has a manual for participants and one for trainers, which provide significant learning material that the students have direct access to. This not only helps the students in their own learning, but also in presenting the training to others to multiply their impact.
The question then remains, how is it possible to teach through those ten BUILD modules as a core part of a diploma that is actually and presented and assessed as 24 (or 22) course units? The answer comes in noting, first, that each of the course units in the diploma relates to the BUILD curriculum in one of two ways: either directly or indirectly. We will consider that in a moment.
It is also important to note how the BUILD modules are distributed across the residential blocks. During those blocks each of the ten BUILD modules is taught over the course of a week. This BUILD-module based teaching occupies a significant proportion of the contact hours in ten of the minimum of twelve residential weeks. For example, a trimester based course can follow this pattern:
Year and trimester
BUILD modules covered
Year 1, Trimester 1
Modules 1 and 2
Year 1, Trimester 2
Modules 3 and 4
Year 1, Trimester 3
Modules 5 and 6
Year 2, Trimester 1
Modules 7 and 8
Year 2, Trimester 2
Modules 9 and 10
Year 2, Trimester 3
Applied Courses only*
* Applied Courses explained below.
When it comes to the formation of the individual courses that make up the diploma, the arrangement above is highly significant. It means that content from the modules taught in any one block can be brought together for some of the courses and their assessment.
Some, not all, of the courses need that approach because while approximately 50% of the content of the BUILD modules is in the area of Biblical Studies, only approximately 25% is in Practical Theology, and only approximately 25% is in Leadership Development. This is important when it comes to ‘translating’ the content of the integrated modules into the course units that are taught and examined.
The Biblical Studies content of each module is such that an entire Biblical Studies course can be based on each BUILD module. However, the Practical Theology content and the Leadership Development content of the two modules taught in any one block is combined to create the courses in those two fields. This means the ten BUILD modules, taught and examined in this way, create 10 Biblical Studies courses; 5 Practical Theology courses; and 5 Leadership Development courses. Twenty courses directly based on the BUILD curriculum.
The four remaining courses are based indirectly on the BUILD curriculum. These are the Applied Papers, which include those designed to equip leaders to equip others in context. In a trimester approach five Applied Papers are offered, with an elective choice between two of them. Those five are: Leadership Development in Context I; Leadership Development in Context II; Preaching with Peer Review; and an elective choice between a Church Placement Paper or a Practical Theology Paper.
Particularly noteworthy are the Leadership Development in Context Papers and the Preaching with Peer Review one. The Leadership Development in Context courses embed multiplication into the course. Those who are trained are assessed in their training of others. Each of these fieldwork based courses follows two of these four stages in an implementation cycle: (1) Research & Sensitisation, (2) Planning & Preparation (3) Training & Coordination, (4) Monitoring & Evaluation.
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Similarly, Preaching with Peer Review embeds preaching training into the course. During the 10 residential weeks dedicated to covering the ten modules there are 50 slots for morning devotions. In an ideal cohort of around 25 students they each preach twice – once as a trial run and once to be assessed (by peers and tutors).
