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Msafiri Togo - by Will Schumacher
Will Schumacher reports on Lutheran partnerships in West Africa, and his experiences there.
Field Report: Togo, West Africa
(18 Feb. – 4 March 2006)
William W. Schumacher, Ph.D.
The “CLET”
The Centre Luthérien d’Études Théologiques
(CLET or simply the Centre) is located on a one-hectare (approx. 2.5
acres) compound on the southern edge of Dapaong, an important town in
the savannah region of northern Togo. The CLET trains and forms pastors
and other leaders for Lutheran congregations in a number of Francophone
Africa countries (Togo, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea,
Congo-Brazzaville, and Congo-Kinshasa). Rev. Glenn Fluegge has served
as director since 2001.
The CLET currently has sixteen students
from six countries in two distinct programs. Ten students are enrolled
in the Novice Program, a one-year introductory course of study designed
as the initial stage in residential theological education. Six students
are in the first of two years in the Pastoral Program. All programs at
the CLET are conducted in French.
Just as the students come from
several countries, the CLET itself is supported and governed by a
Conseil d’Administration du Centre (CAC, “Centre Administrative
Council”), whose members come from Lutheran churches in various nations
of Francophone Africa. LCMS World Mission is a major partner in this
enterprise, and has represented on the CAC by missionaries
My
visit to the CLET coincided with the annual meeting of the CAC, at
which I brought greetings on behalf of the Seminary and delivered
copies of a number of books by our faculty, which were very warmly
received. Almost immediately, the members of the CAC and the CLET
teachers inquired about funds for having some of these translated into
French. During my visit, a two-week intensive course on Romans was
being taught by former missionary David Maffett, who now serves as a
mission developer in Nova Scotia. Near the end of my stay, Dr. Paul
Mueller, the new Regional Director for Africa for LCMS World Mission,
was also in Dapaong together with his predecessor Rev. Ken Greinke and
former missionary (now Concordia Seminary PhD student) Ron Mudge. All
these contacts made for interesting and helpful discussions about the
place of theological education in LCMS World Mission plans for its work
in Africa, and possibilities for Concordia Seminary to be involved in
one way or another. These conversations laid very important groundwork
for my sabbatical research beginning later this year.
Support and finances
The
primary source of financial support for the CLET is LCMS World Mission.
Local financial support comes in two ways. Francophone African churches
pay a nominal membership fee to a supporting organization. Students
from member churches currently pay tuition of about US$55 per year for
the Novice Program and US$73 per year for the Pastoral Program.
Students from non-member churches are charged at ten times these rates
(which is still very far from the actual cost of operating the
programs). Students also pay US$41 per year for the required textbooks
for their classes, which are sold at heavily subsidized prices. On the
other hand, students also receive aid during their time at the CLET.
Togolese students receive about US$37 per month as a bursary (“bourses
d’études”), while students from other countries receive a bit more
(about US$46 per month). The CLET does not operate dormitories, so all
students rent accommodations in the town of Dapaong.
Student
bursaries are supported by a special project funded through LCMS World
Mission, and are not included in the operating budget of the CLET. That
operating budget is currently about 90% supported by LCMSWM, with the
remainder of the funds coming from locally generated income in the form
of student tuition, membership fees paid by churches, rental of the
guesthouse on the CLET campus, sale of books, etc. There is sometimes
pressure from the CAC member churches to raise the level of student
bursaries, or to lower tuition, or to increase financial support from
overseas partners (primarily from LCMSWM), or some combination of these.
Staff
 There
are currently three full-time instructors teaching at the Centre, plus
a part-time French teacher and an administrative “office manager.”
Other missionaries and some African pastors (e.g., Rev. Gregoire
Legbanon from Benin, who studied at Concordia Seminary) supplement the
staff by teaching on an occasional, as-needed basis.
LCMS
missionary Rev. Glenn Fluegge has served as the director of the CLET
since 2001. A 1999 graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, he
teaches in both the Novice and Pastoral Programs. He will be in the USA
on home service (furlough) for one year beginning in July 2006 (i.e.,
for the entire 2006-2007 academic year).
Rev. Tadé Désiré serves as
dean of students and teaches in the Novice Program. He is from Côte
d’Ivoire and was educated at the CLET. He has served at the CLET since
2003. From 1999 to 2003 he served as president of his church body, the
EELA-SCI.
Rev. Dongo Lussambu is from Congo-Kinshasa. He was
educated at the Institut Supérieur de Théologie in Kinshasa and at the
Lutheran Seminary in Chatenay-Malabry, France (diploma, 1972). He
teaches theology in both the Novice and Pastoral Programs, and also
serves as academic dean.
Mr. Boundja Cyrille teaches French at
the Centre, and has served as editor for the small CLET review, Le
Messager. He is Togolese and a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and
earned his degree in French and education at the Université du Bénin in
Lomé, Togo, in 1989.
Mr. Abey Agbeko Pierre, a Togolese national, works as the office manager of the CLET.
Pastor
Kombondjar Souk, a Togolese pastor who serves the Dapaong congregation,
serves as counselor for the students and works with the field work
aspects of the program.
Curriculum & programs
The
CLET concurrently operates two distinct programs at different levels: a
Novice Program and a Pastoral Program. The Novice Program is a one-year
course of study designed as the first stage in residential theological
formation. It prepares men for leadership in local congregations and
for service in supervised ministries in Lutheran parishes in
Francophone Africa. There are no formal educational prerequisites for
the Novice Program. Applicants are expected to have basic literacy
skills and some experience in church service before attending. Before
entering the Novice Program, students are expected to complete a
preliminary theological training program in their home church, normally
by means of at least two years of TEE (theological education by
extension).
The Pastoral Program is a two-year residential
program which is designed to provide the academic training to prepare
men for ordained word-and-sacrament ministry in Lutheran parishes.
(Provision is made for exceptionally well-qualified students in the
Pastoral Program to enroll simultaneously in additional courses which
form a “pre-seminary” program. The pre-seminary curriculum includes
Greek, Hebrew, English, and other courses intended to prepare these
gifted students for theological studies at an advanced level in the USA
or elsewhere.)
The academic year at the CLET begins in August
and is divided into three trimesters. Each trimester, students take
about five ordinary courses over ten weeks, and then concentrate on a
single subject intensively for two weeks. Two-week intensive courses
are taught in mid-November, late February, and late-May/early-June.
Practical work
“Field
work” (travaux pratiques) is integrated in the curriculum during each
trimester. Students preach for chapel at the CLET, lead services, read
Scriptures, and make supervised pastoral and evangelistic visits, all
with regular evaluation (and grades) twice a week from the members of
the faculty. Sermons written for classes are planned in such a way that
they can be preached during CLET chapel times.
Vicarage
Students
who have completed the two-year Pastoral Program may apply for a
vicarage. A vicarage application is, in effect, a three-way agreement
between the CLET, the student, and the church body (which makes all the
necessary logistical and supervisory arrangements for the vicarage
according to its local circumstances) Students who accept the vicarage
offered by the church by signing the vicarage application commit
themselves to a rigorous program of supervised ministry activities
reported in written form to the CLET. Vicarages may take anywhere from
18 months to 4 years to complete. The CLET will recommend men for
ordination only after successful completion of a vicarage, but the
ordination itself always remains in the hands of the home church body.
Facilities
The
one-hectare CLET campus is located on the southern outskirts of
Dapaong, along Togo’s main N1 highway. While this location serves the
needs of the Togolese church (which is concentrated in the northern
region), it presents some challenges from an international point of
view. The drive to the nearest international airport (Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso) takes about five hours each way; Lomé (Togo) is perhaps
twice as far.
 Three
main buildings form a central quadrangle and house the main classroom;
offices for the director, professors, and administrator; and the
library. There is an additional classroom/office building, and a
two-bedroom guesthouse, which could perhaps accommodate as many as four
or five people for short stays. LCMS missionary Rev. Glenn Fluegge
lives with his family in a house on the CLET compound. The entire
Centre has reasonably reliable electrical power, and recent
improvements have made the water supply adequate as well (even during
my visit near the end of the dry season). The buildings seem well
planned and well constructed, and are adequate for the present levels
of enrollment and activity of the CLET. There are currently no
dormitories. The compound is watched round the clock by guards at the
gate.
Classrooms are simply but sufficiently equipped with
chairs, tables, and blackboards. Offices have adequate furnishings and
equipment (computers, printers, copiers, telephones, etc.). The
library, on the other hand, is a serious weakness of the Centre as an
educational institution. Climate is the first challenge: none of the
buildings have air conditioning, so dust through the open windows
results in a major problem. The library’s collection is inadequate to
acquaint students with resources available for their ministries, and
does not supply the teaching staff with sufficient tools as they
prepare their classes. Part of the problem is one of language: there is
a shortage of reliable, theologically sound books and other materials
in French, and neither the students nor the African faculty are able to
use English resources extensively. A volunteer team from the United
States is expected in June 2006 to help with cleaning and organization
of the library. But the larger problem of building an adequate library
collection to serve teachers and students must still be addressed
somehow. (See my concluding remarks for my specific recommendations.)
A Few Recommendations
•
Continue to prepare leaders and teachers for the CLET at Concordia
Seminary. There continues to be a need to offer graduate-level
education to potential leaders and future theologians of Francophone
African churches, and a limited number of American students will
continue to be trained to serve as missionaries and theological
educators in settings such as the CLET. Indeed, it is likely that the
role of expatriate missionaries in Africa will probably focus more and
more on leadership development and theological education, and this
trend should be reflected in the Missionary Formation Program
curriculum for students preparing for international ministry.
•
Provide intentional work in English and academic skills for upper
level students at the CLET and for those who will study in the USA.
Leaders of Francophone churches who are competent in English are doubly
valuable: they will not only be able to study internationally (with
us), but will also serve as crucial bridges between Anglophone and
Francophone Lutheran churches worldwide.
• Send Concordia
Seminary professors to teach short-term at the CLET, where the academic
calendar provides a convenient pattern for such involvement. Here the
language question arises again: how many of us can teach even at a
basic level in French? It might be necessary to budget funds to pay a
translator during the course. The most immediately anticipated needs
for such course will be Early Church History (November 2006) and Means
of Grace (late February – early March 2007).
• Develop
theological literature for Francophone Africa. Theologians, pastors,
and students in Francophone Africa have a critical need for more,
better, and more affordable theological publications of all kinds. This
is a complicated problem. Lutheran theological literature in  French,
especially of a strongly confessional character, is not exactly
plentiful, even in Europe. thus even with an unlimited budget, there
are topics and disciplines for which no adequate book exists. And of
course, there is not an unlimited budget for the purchase of books.
Buying books for the library and for student use is the second-largest
part of the CLET operating budget, and the Centre subsidizes the sale
of books to faculty and students at significant discounts. Even so,
graduates of CLET programs only accumulate a very modest shelf of books
with which to work in their ministries. At least three things need to
be done in the area of theological resources over the next few years,
and Concordia Seminary can be involved in various ways in any or all of
these.
o Help the CLET develop its library through
purchases and donations. This should be done strategically rather than
haphazardly, with some serious planning about what kind of theological
and general resources need to be acquired.
o Translate
certain much-needed books into French, and publish them in an
affordable way (perhaps working with a Francophone African publisher).
o Foster African theologians who will write and publish. Even if
every good theological book in English (or German) were translated into
French, there would still be many things that need to be written by and
for Africans themselves. Topics such as preaching, counseling, worship,
African traditional religion, and marriage and family life involve so
many cultural particularities that books produced by and for Americans
or Europeans will be of only limited usefulness. But developing the new
generation of African Lutheran theologians will not be easy, quick,
automatic, or cheap. It will require, I believe, a sustained and
intentional commitment to identify, recruit, educate, involve, and
publish the best minds from African Lutheran churches.
That kind
of strategic commitment implies a willingness to be involved in various
ways in Africa for the long haul. The financial investment need not be
huge in absolute dollar terms; but we must use our resources (money and
personnel) in an intentional and sustained way that shows we take
seriously God’s own desire that the gospel be proclaimed and believed
in Africa. That, after all, is what Lutheran theology is for.
Written By: host
Date Posted: 11/16/2006
Number of Views: 818
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