What is TEE?

TEE is Theological Education by Extension. In other words it is simply, Biblical training done self study or in a small group. The program is similar to distance learning, but different in that we give them some personal accountability.

Dr. Fred Holland in his book Teaching Through T.E.E. writes, “TEE is Theological and education, but it is also an outreach taking the training to the student. When the student cannot come to the classroom, it takes the classroom out to him.”

Here in Equatorial Guinea we hope to administrate and provide Bible studies for pastors and church leaders in churches/cells that are in the interior of the country that are not able to go to the city, or cannot afford, to get Bible training. It is a real need here since many churches have leaders that are shepherding the interior churches, but they have had little or no Bible training or studies.
In II Timothy 2:2, Paul wrote to Timothy saying, “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will, in turn, be able to teach others also.”
Following this simple principle, we disciple mature, adult Equato-Guinean men, that are church leaders/pastors, hoping to have this ministry run by them, the evangelical churches here, in the future.

As part of the desire to prepare pastors for church leadership, we have carefully selected George Patterson's nine volume set of pastoral training manuals, known as Preparación Para Movilización, or, Preparation For Multiplication ( Patterson's Preparation and Mobilization manuals were complied from his student-worker trainee booklets first written and used in Honduras.)

You can read about George Pattersons work in The Perspectives of the World Christian Movement.” Article #62, called “The Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches”.

These nine pastoral training manuals are in central american,Spanish. Each contains ten separate graphic-heavy, practical chapters for specific church activities and vital doctrines. Each chapter has a self-contained exam and each manual has a final exam at the very end. They have proven useful for upgrading the training of pastors and lay leaders in Latin America and the teaching is interdenominational and extends to fairly advanced levels. They are easy for pastoral trainers to use with little orientation. The program subscribes fully to the World Evangelical Alliance, Statement of Faith. The nine manuals are also available on the internet (adobe acrobat format), and CD for ease of local distribution. You can see them on the websites listed below.

http://www.paul-timothy.net/

http://www.preparacionymovilizacion.ws/

History and Current Status of the TEE Program in EG:

Early 2005 - The ministry is going very well, much more than I would have imagined at this point, but we kind of got started and it took off. We talked about how we wanted the program to go and we gave it a name. It is called E.E.B.E. - Escuela de Estudios Biblicos por Extension. We had a meeting with pastors in the area (the city of Bata) on January 8, 2005 and introduced the program to them, to let them be aware that this was a ministry we are hoping to start. We asked each pastor/church to recommend someone from their church that we could start to train, with the program, as a supervisor, that would go through the training (1st book), then be able to take it to their interior churches that had leaders there that have had no training or very little.

Allen's, translation assistant and I then went and met face to face with many of the pastors and got their recommendations for supervisors. We had prioritized already, from what Allen knows about the churches, which would benefit from the training first. We had to be selective at that time because we only had a quantity of 4 of the book 1 that Allen had previously gotten from Patrick O’conner, and since I am new to this, for me to be able to give a lot of my attention to them. Then we met with 4 candidates and gave them a formal interview and had them pay for the materials and sign up. We got all their information and pictures and will be making little cards for them.

We now have 6 supervisor trainees that started with the program, that are here in the city. We are having these go through the 1st book, before they would be able to go and start with other students in the interior. Then they can start book 2 as they train someone else in book 1. We are having them do approximately, 1 chapter from book 1, once a week. That includes, reading the chapter, studying all the scripture references, filling in the book and doing the required lessons. We think that they can finish book one in about 10 weeks. We have told them there is a bit of flexibility. All of these men are leaders/pastors in their churches. We have added some other things for them to be doing as well with the studies. We have given them a reading schedule that would have them go through reading the Bible daily for a whole year. They have 1/5 of the Bible reading program per each of the first five books of the program. Oh I forgot to mention that we separated the program into two levels. The 1st level will consists of them going through the 1st 5 books, and then the 2nd is for them to go through the remaining 4. I guess it is because they have such a hard time with commitments, we wanted to make sure they have an opportunity to complete something. Besides the studies they will read 1/5 of the Bible for each book, since it would be about 50 weeks or so to complete the 1st level of 5 books, it will let them read through the Bible in about a year. We know that many church leaders here have never read the entire Bible through once so I thought it was very important to make sure they read the Bible daily. We also are having them memorize scripture with the program. Since Allen is doing the New Testament translation in the Fang language, we have them trying to memorize 3 scriptures in the Fang language for each book. The verses they have to select from to memorize are either from the gospel of Luke or the book of Acts. We went through book 1 and found all scripture references from Luke and Acts and printed them pages that show what chapter and page of the study books this verse is found, so now they can read it in their language and memorize some. So far they think this is really great and it is an opportunity to have scripture in use and part of the literacy portion of the translation. Many are getting exposed to reading their language as well.

Anyway I am meeting with each one of the supervisor trainees once a week to discuss the lessons with them and see if they are doing the work. They are doing the studies and the work and have all been really excited and thankful for the program so far.

We are hoping that after this 1st ten weeks or so that they can start signing up students in the interior. That is why we are trying to get books sent here and /or printed up. So we have been working on ways to print the books and add some of these other pages to them to print. We are keeping our options open at this time to see what is available and what the needs will be once these guys get started training others. I will then take more students as well as them, after we finish this first round. I will also be looking for one to assist me and to learn to administrate the program, should I ever need to go away from here for a while, and then at some point we hope that the churches will get more involved and use this program to train leaders on their own.

Most recently we had one of our first students finish with the first book of the program. He is our first supervisor of the program. We are thankful to God for His faithfulness in letting this man get to this point in the program. Pray that he can continue and finish and that many other leaders of his church in the interoir will get the training.

While Charles was on home assignment in 2006, the TEE students were basically on their own. The ones that are taking the program are trying to do it themselves as Charles is away on home assignment in the states. Betty Pierce is helping to get the students their materials and let them come to the center to take their exams. Please pray for all the students that they will be motivated to continue with the program and not let up since Charles is not there right now. Pray that they will continue seeking the Lord through His word.

Charles is back early 2007 and we are thankful for Betty keeping up with the program and the students. Most recently we have some new students from an interior village and we just had our first graduate of the 1st level of the program. Praise the Lord! One of our first original students, Miguel, finished up his 5th book of the first level of the program. That includes doing the studies and the homework and sharing the lessons as well as having read through the whole Bible, and memorizies 15 verses in Fang. He also passed all the book Exams. We have awarded him with a certificate of completion. He has since started on the second level.



Please pray for the other students as they continue the program and that we can get the program going full steam ahead, here in the next couple of months. We also want to start looking for someone, a native, to be able to start learning about the program and helping with the administration, that they would voluntarily want to do this as thier ministry as well.

In September Charles had the opportunity to take our new car to the interior for the first time. Pastor Ben from a small church in Bata went with Charles cross country to visit his students out in the interior. It was a really good 4 day trip as far as not any car problems and things of that sort. It was also very encouraging for the three students that Charles got to go visit in thier villages and towns. He went to visit three and we we also able to sign up two new students as well. They were all very encouraged to have a visit and Charles of course had a few opportunites to share and preach. The student that was farthest away is about ready to finish with the program, he recently started the last study book and we hope he will complete his studies at the end of October. He will be the first student to finish the program. Then we hope to have a annual meeting, inviting all the TEE students to come and fellowship, pray and share with one another and have a brief seminar taught by Rolando. Please be in prayer for the student, Miguel, who is finishing up his studies and for our yearly reunion of students coming up.


Charles with students of the TEE program in their villages and towns.

Also we have added eight new students to the program. Pray for Rolando and I as we prepare to work with them and again for the new students to be faithful in the studies.

Currently - We were able to graduate our first student of the TEE program early in November. Miguel, had been working on the program a little over two years and finally finished all the studies, practicals, Bible reading and scripture memory to be the first to complete both levels. He is working in one of the bigger towns on the opposite end of the country, near the Cameroon border. He would come to Bata from time to time to visit and let us see his progress. I also had the opportunity to go see him a few months ago in his town and church when I went on the first road trip in the new car. To commemorate Miguel's completion we had our annual meeting of the TEE students on November 3rd. During this time we got a chance to fellowship, pray, eat, hear a teaching presented by Rolando on Integrity of a Leader, and present Miguel with his certificate of completion, another certificate for being the first to finish this program, and awarded him some Bible study reference materials. It was a good time, but we only had about half the students show up. Here are some pictures of the event:

We have also had a few students progress to new books and also another one of our longtime students, completed level 1 and has started level 2. Here he is with his level 1 certificate of comepletion. We are really pleased to see him continue with the program.

The last week of November we will also be starting the TEE program in a class type setting. Rolando will be working with about 5 men to go through the program with more structure and accountablilty. We have found that some really like to learn this way because it is a set time and will give them the opportunity to discuss the topics they are learning with other peers. Please pray for us and the students starting the program in a small group on November 29th.

I hope that gives you more of an idea of what we are doing here.
If you have any questions about this program, please do not hesitate to write.

Thanks and God Bless, Charles.

For specific info about the TEE program here please write to us at this e-mail address:
eebeeg@yahoo.es