Theological Education by Extension (TEE) as a Tool for Twenty-first Century Mission Graham Aylett and Tim Green (a chapter in OCMS Regnum Edinburgh Anniversary Series Volume 27, Reflecting and Equipping for Christian Mission. Edited by Stephen Bevans, Teresa Chai, Knud Jorgensen and Nelson Jennings. Reproduced with permission) We live in a rapidly changing world: a world of fragmentation, inequality, environmental challenges, continuing disease and poverty, populations on the move. All this change and dislocation has created much human need to be met in the name of Christ. It also fuels new trends in church growth. This chapter discusses the contribution that TEE (Theological Education by Extension) can make, and is making, as a tool for twenty-first century mission in its different dimensions. God calls the global Church to equip all her members for mission in this contemporary context. This call is above all theological, because it issues from the mission of God Himself. Then comes the strategic question, of how training institutions and local churches can best work in partnership to provide accessible training to all church members. There is also an educational dimension, so that busy working Christians can be trained in ways that fit their capacity, interests and learning styles. In this chapter we show how these considerations helped to shape TEE’s philosophy and methodology when it began in Central America fifty years ago and then became a worldwide movement. The story is continued up to the present with examples of remarkable fresh growth in contemporary TEE, especially in Asia. However, no movement can afford to be complacent, and the chapter concludes with proposed areas for renewal and development of TEE in the 21 st century. 1. A vision for equipping the whole Church Jesus taught his followers to pray, ‘Hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. Throughout Scripture, there is a close connection between the people of God and the hallowing of his Name. 1 A watching world sees the practices and character of God’s people and either gives honour and praise to his Name, or feels free to mock, or ignore their God. The prayer that Jesus taught encapsulates the mission of God, in which God’s people are intimately involved. The Common Call issued at the Edinburgh 2010 conference recognizes the call of the church to share in God’s mission: ..we believe the church, as a sign and symbol of the reign of God, is called to witness to Christ today by sharing in God’s mission of love through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. 2 For the church to play this central role then all church members, in all their relationships both inside and outside the church, are important. 3 Full-time church leaders are rarely on the front-line of missional opportunity because their main ministry is pastoral. Rather, it is the other members of the 1 See especially Ezek. 36.16-32 2 Kirsteen Kim and Andrew Anderson (eds), Mission Today and Tomorrow (Regnum Books International, 2011), 1 3 Especially Eph. 4.11-16 and 1 Cor. 12