THE SYNOD OF THE CHURCH OF NORTH INDIA TRAINING PROGRAMMES FOR EVANGELISTS IN COLLABORATION WITH BARING UNION CHRISTIAN COLLEGE ASSOCIATION (BUCCA) AT BARING UNION CHRISTIAN COLLEGE, BATALA As a response to the Great Commission (Mat 28:19-20) given by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to His disciples the Church of North India (CNI) has given first priority to Mission Evangelism and Spiritual revival during the decade 2011 to 2020. In order to fulfill this priority CNI has taken a number of initiatives such as declaring the triennium (2014-2017) as the Mission Evangelism Triennium. During this triennium senior and experienced pastors have been appointed as the Directors of Mission Evangelism to implement and supervise evangelical programmes and activities at diocesan level. A bishop is appointed as the Director of Mission Evangelism to take forward this mission at Synod level. During this period one more new development has taken place in the CNI, and that is, starting of the Satyaniketan School of Theology at Batala in Amritsar Diocese. Since the closure of the Satyaniketan Theological College, Allahabad in the year 2000 many young people of the CNI who wanted to do theological studies in Hindi were suffering due to lack of any proper theological institute in nearby areas. Therefore it was the vision of the CNI to start its own Theological College especially in Hindi medium for the youth of the CNI. This great need was considered by the Baring Union Christian College Association (BUCCA) of the Amritsar Diocese by providing the infrastructure required to start a theological school in the campus of the Baring College itself. As a result Satyaniketan School of Theology was inaugurated here in the presence of all the then Office Bearers of the CNI Synod and various other dignitaries of the CNI. It was truly a great moment in the history of CNI. Efforts are now being made to start full fledged theological training programme here, to offer B.D. Course in Hindi Medium at the earliest. Efforts are also being made to get the affiliation of the Senate of Serampore College. In the mean time another programme has been started at this place and that is to provide systematic training on Mission Evangelism to the evangelists of various dioceses of the CNI. Most of the evangelists come from rural background and also work in rural areas. Many of them are untrained and even after their appointment are not been given any training. However, these evangelists work hard to preach the gospel, bring people into the kingdom of God, plant new churches and also take care of those churches like pastors. Hence, they require proper training and guidance which is now being provided to them by conducting a 12 days orientation programme on Mission Evangelism, and later an Advance Training Programme of the same period, at the Satyaniketan School of Theology, Batala. About 40 to 42 sessions on different topics are conducted in each training programme. For this purpose a detailed schedule (timetable) is prepared every time. In the end an examination is also held. Those who have attended 80 % or above sessions are issued the Certificates.
At the close of the programme assignments are given to all the evangelists. This includes selection of a village or part of a city to do evangelism personally by making use of the knowledge acquired in the training programme. When they are called again, they are asked to present their field reports in the class showing how they have evangelized the area which they had selected in the present training programme. By God s grace we have come so far. We trust that He will take us further in this endeavor.
SESSIONS CONDUCTED TRAININGS OF EVANGELISTS 1. Introduction to Evangelism. 2. Evangelism: What, Why, How? 3. Evangelism: Message, Why, Motivation? 4. Contemporary challenges to Mission Evangelism in India. 5. Lessons from the lives of past evangelists: William Carey. 6. Methods and tools of evangelism. 7. Evangelistic preaching. 8. Jesus model of Evangelism. 9. Apostle Paul s model of evangelism. 10. Apostle Peter s model of evangelism. 11. Evangelism and intercessory prayer. 12. Congregational engagement in Mission Evangelism. 13. Holy Spirit and evangelism. 14. Character and qualities of an evangelist. 15. Prayer, fasting and meditation. 16. Quiet-Time. 17. Mission priorities of CNI for the decade 2011-2020. 18. Strategies of mission used by Jesus Christ. 19. Developing contextual mission strategies. 20. Emerging mission trends. 21. Introduction to preaching. 22. Art of sermon preparation. 23. Art of sermon delivery. 24. Sacrament of Baptism. 25. Sacrament of the Lord s Supper. 26. Pastoral Care. 27. Pastoral Counselling. 28. Liturgy and Worship. 29. Objects, purpose, powers and functions of a pastorate. 30. Organizing communities of worship. 31. CNI constitution on the role of a pastorate. 32. Faith and Order of CNI. 33. Introduction to Communication. 34. Developing communication skills. 35. Verbal and Non-verbal communication. 36. Spiritual discipline. 37. Stages of discipleship. 38. Marks of a disciple. 39. Servanthood leadership. 40. Building leadership. 41. Biblical model of leadership: Nehemiah. 42. Life, character and ministry of Jesus Christ. 43. Social context of Jesus ministry. 44. Humanity of Jesus Christ. 45. Deity of Jesus Christ. 46. Second coming of Jesus Christ. 47. Introduction to the Bible.
48. Introduction to the New Testament. 49. Introduction to the Old Testament. 50. Methods and tools of personal Bible Study. 51. Creeds and doctrines. 52. Doctrine of God. 53. Doctrine of Holy Spirit. 54. Doctrine of Trinity. 55. Angels, Satan, Demons, Hell and Heaven. 56. Sin, repentance, salvation and New Birth. 57. Purpose driven life. 58. Role of a family in Christian Education. 59. Christian education in relation to Indian realities. 60. Authority of a believer. 61. History of Christianity in India. ADVANCED TRAINING OF EVANGELISTS 1. Functioning of CNI 2. Buddhism 3. The art of sermon preparation 4. Sanctification (Holiness) 5. Holiness of God 6. Report Writing 7. Marks of a disciple 8. Baptism of Holy Spirit 9. Islam 10. Sinlessness of Christ 11. Tools and Methods of Evangelism 12. Humility 13. Purpose driven life 14. Need of a revival 15. Capacity Building by cultivating character 16. Approach to Gospel in Indian Context 17. Prison letters of St. Paul 18. Religious Fundamentalism 19. Christian approach to religious pluralism 20. Biblical basis of mission 21. Honesty 22. Hermeneutics 23. Introduction to Hinduism 24. Importance of the OT for Evangelism 25. Mission and evangelism in the OT 26. God s purpose for mission in the OT 27. Communalism and religious fanaticism 28. The Old Testament Evangelist (Jonah) 29. Introduction to the Old Testament 30. Indigenous evangelist (Sadhu Sunder Singh) 31. Light to the nations through election 32. Sanctification
33. Evangelism through small groups 34. Gospel in today s context 35. Revivalists and the revival 36. Communication for Pastoral Care 37. The Challenge of the Church 38. Christian values 39. Relationship building for the development of the community 40. Unity, Witness and Service: The Motto of CNI 41. Stewardship 42. Homiletics and how to study the Bible 43. Evangelism through literature 44. Assurance of Salvation 45. Second coming of Jesus Christ 46. Models of Evangelism
DETAILS OF THE TRAININGS OF EVANGELISTS CONDUCTED FROM JUNE 2016 TILL MARCH 2017. S.NO BATCH DATES DIOCESES PARTICIPATED 1 I 29th June 2016- Amritsar 10th July 2016 Chandigarh Rajasthan 2 II 15th September 2016-26th September 2016 3 III 19 th November 2016-30 th November 2016 4 IV 16th January 2017 27th January 2017 5 V 13th March 2017-24 th March 2017 Delhi Patna Agra Chhattisgarh Sambalpur Lucknow Bombay Marathwada Nagpur Pune Phulbani Cuttack Chotanagpur Gujrath Bhopal Eastern Himalaya, Jabalpur, Calcutta and Barrackpore TOTAL EVANGELISTS TRAINED 27 25 22 20 15 109
DETAILS OF THE ADVANCED TRAINING OF EVANGELISTS CONDUCTED FROM MAY 2017 TILL JAN 2018 S.NO BATCH DATES DIOCESES PARTICIPATED TOTAL EVANGELISTS TRAINED 1 I 13 TH to 14 th May 2017 Amritsar, Chandigarh, Rajasthan Delhi II 4 th to 15 th July 2017 Agra, Chhattisgarh Sambalpur 29 13 2 III 7 th to 18 th September 2017 3 IV 29 th October to 9 th November, 2017 4 V 13th to 24th January 2018 Mumbai Marathwada Nasik Pune Chotanagpur Cuttack Phulbani Gujarat Eastern Himalaya Barrackpore Kolkata Bhopal Jabalpur Amritsar 16 17 13 88