1. Preamble
There is increasing interest in formal ministerial training in Ghana today, stemming from a growing recognition among Ghanaian church ministers that the pastor needs to be an expert in his career and area of his calling in order to be able to properly interpret the Bible more skillfully and manage the fast growing congregations of various churches.
The pastors of the fast growing Pentecostal and Charismatic churches are beginning to appreciate the importance of a good academic preparation in the use of the scriptures and proper church administration. However, their church–based Bible Schools are not sufficiently equipped in terms of qualified human resource and adequate learning resources to provide them with the high level of training they need. It is obvious that the few existing seminaries and religious departments in Ghanaian universities cannot meet the increasing demand for proper ministerial training in the churches.
It is for this reason that the Regent Divinity Department joins the other theological institutions in the country to support theological education by offering the Bachelor of Theology with Management, Master of Theology and Master Divinity Programmes.
2. The Regent Divinity Philosophy and Objectives
The objective is to deepen the minister’s understanding and expression of the Christian faith and to equip him or her with the managerial skills needed in managing the church. The programmes are designed to equip present and prospective church leaders with solid theological foundation coupled with well-grounded people management skills.
3. Career Opportunities
Graduates are well prepared to seek employment in Churches, chaplaincies in prisons and hospitals or teach religious studies in schools. Undergraduate students, may also be able to pursue postgraduate studies in areas such as Religious Studies, Social Work, Counselling, etc.
4. Our Ultimate Goal
In keeping with the vision and mission of Regent-Ghana, the Regent Divinity Department, which is “the theological arm of the university and the centre for research, teaching and publication and Christian service”, supports Regent-Ghana in fulfilling its obligation of spiritual renewal, which is an essential part of the university’s mission. The Regent Divinity Department has its goal in training and raising transformational leaders of high moral and intellectual character. The department is focused on a life transforming ministry and leadership with personnel training to confront and solve socio-political, economic and cultural problems from the perspective of the Christian faith in an era of moral degradation and sadistic brutalities. As an innovative and result-oriented department, we are at the cutting-edge of theological education and poised to train future competent leaders for Church Ministry to meet the manpower needs of the Church and the world.
5. Why Theological Education
A theologian was in a taxi with other passengers including Born-Again Christian who preached about the kingdom of God and His righteousness quoting Matthew 6:33 more than 20 times. When he had finished, the theologian asked him to explain what he meant by the kingdom of God and His righteousness and why and how we are to seek them so that those with him in the taxi could understand the word of God and be saved. The Born-Again preacher replied that his duty was to preach the word of God and not to explain it. When reminded of the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in which Philip asked him if he understood what he read, he replied that he could only understand it if someone explained the word of God to him. Philip then explained the word of God to him and got saved. When told to follow the good example of Philip and explain the two terms so that they might be saved, he became offended and refused to answer.
This story teaches two things: first the Bible is not self-explanatory, and second, it needs a trained theologian like Philip to explain it. This means that theological education is important because the Bible is not self-explanatory. The task of the theologian is to explain the word of God so that we might understand it to be saved. At Regent Divinity, we help pastors to save souls by upgrading their theological education to be competent to explain technical and contextual terms like the kingdom of God, the righteousness of God, Incarnation, Sin, Atonement, Old Covenant, New Covenant, and Grace. We do studies in Biblical theology, systematic theology, the History and Religion of Israel, Church history and kindred subjects. In addition, we train them in managerial skills so that together they might be able to meet the spiritual, moral, physical and material needs of their congregations and communities in a rather challenging environment of ours today.
6. Why you need to consider Regent Divinity Department your preferred choice
for quality holistic theological education.
It is because we are in 10 ways unique, namely:
- Admission Requirements, simply by the standards of National Accreditation Board and nothing more stressful.
- Highly suitable and holistic theological programmes and all round lecture schedules.
- Relationship friendly among both staff and students.
- Easy Scholarship Awards with automatic 50% bursary.
- Well equipped classrooms with the state of the art ICT facilities, with professional teaching staff..
- Theological Training with international academic exchange programmes and affiliation.
- Training in French German Languages proficiency to enhance your international relevance, integrity and beyond competition.
- Moderate Fees and flexible terms of payment.
- Highly competent and experienced guidance and counseling services at reasonably flexible times schedules.
- First in meeting your formational Career Opportunities in Christian Leadership.
7. Our Educational Objectives
Regent Divinity Department, thus, provides a curriculum plan designed to produce persons who are able of demonstrating:
1. Their theological position grounded in the context of biblical revelation and sensitivity to the contemporary world.
2. An appreciation for their ecclesiastical heritage combined with an appreciation of other denominational traditions.
3. Competence and integration in areas related to the Scriptures, theology, church history, and pastoral office and the mission of the church.
4. Capability in the basic principles underlying such dimensions of ministry as worship, preaching, education, administration, pastoral care, evangelism, and social action.
5. Ability to formulate an effective theory of ministry based on biblical interpretation and theological understanding.
6. Leadership in such a way that others are encouraged and enabled to participate.
7. Skills in communication.
8. Commitment to continuing development as ministers.
9. Appropriate level of personal maturity as evidenced by emotional health, self-understanding and inter-personal relationships.
- Progress to greater spiritual maturity.
8. Competencies
A. Personal Qualities:
1. A personal belief in the gospel that manifests itself in an appropriate lifestyle.
2. The continuing development of one's own spiritual life including prayer, meditation, beliefs, convictions and values.
3. A spirit of integrity, openness, and caring in one's function as a minister.
4. Acceptance of personal limitations while continuing to develop skills and abilities.
5. Ability to honour commitments and complete tasks.
6. Capacity to handle conflict constructively and to remain calm under pressure while continuing to affirm others.
7. Capability to order time and energies in a manner that enhances one's ministry.
8. Aptitude to recognize and deal with failure.
9. Capacity to, and involvement in, the life of the Church as the context for ministry with a deepening sense of appreciation for each other.
10. Personal growth through a programme of continuing education and learning.
B. Cognitive Skills:
These include understanding the:
- Content and message of the Old and New Testaments.
2. Exegetical and hermeneutical skills, including the biblical languages, to set forth the meaning of a biblical passage.
3. Articulation of a theology through which the message of the whole Bible can be understood.
4. Awareness of the development of Christian thought through the study of events and issues from the early Church to the present.
5. One's denomination and its relevance to the Church universal and to the contemporary world.
6. Theology and mode of celebrating the sacraments.
7. The world‑wide mission of the Church.
8. The major doctrinal issues in their biblical, historical and contemporary dimensions, and the application of them to an understanding of Christian existence, personal and social.
9. Educational theory and the ability to create an atmosphere for learning.
10. Organizational management, principles of group functioning, and dynamics of group interaction.
C. Ministering Skills:
The ability to:
1. Lead the congregation in worship.
2. Interpret the Holy Scriptures faithfully, and to communicate the message effectively through the means of preaching and teaching.
3. Discern times and issues, and the Will of God for today.
4. Construct and preach relevant and interesting sermons that are biblically, theologically and homiletically sound.
5. Speak and write with accuracy, clarity and logic.
6. Work with individuals in relation to their faith, needs, decisions, etc.
7. Assist the congregation in carrying out its tasks of witness.
8. Help the congregation in developing a ministry of loving nurture.
9. Aid the congregation in establishing its purpose and setting measurable goals.
10. Support the congregation in planning and evaluating programs to reach its goals.
11. Assist the congregation in identifying the spiritual gifts of the members and to enable the members to exercise those gifts in ministry.
12. Help out the members of the congregation to develop their life of devotions, prayer, meditation, belief, convictions, and values.
13. Make it easy for the congregation to know and appreciate its own heritage in the Christian Church and to relate with appreciation and integrity to persons and congregations in other Christian traditions.
9. Spiritual Formation
Theological Education at Regent Divinity Department has, as its primary objective, the preparation of students for effectiveChristian Ministry. This preparation involves the whole person, i.e. the person grows in all dimensions of life: academic, personal, social, vocational and spiritual. As part of the spiritual formation we help in several ways by doing the following:
Chapel Service. We meet as a faith community daily, from 7:30-8:15 am in all our three Campuses. There are no timetable conflicts during this time.
All classes begin with prayer or incorporate some kind of devotional time into the course. This is not viewed as a preliminary to the important work of the course, but as integral to what else goes on in the class.
Some courses that deal with spiritual formation are offered to students to enhance their prayer life and spirituality.
Supervised Field Education: Your ministry supervisor will serve as a mentor for your two years in the programme. It is a good opportunity to include spiritual growth in your development as a minister.
Smaller groups may be formed as helpful ways for some students to be accountable to others for their own spiritual growth. We would like to see some of these groups formed during this year.