CBTE Needs Common Language Without a Universal Mould

Theological educators need language through which they can compare what they mean by a formed minister. Without it, one Bible college may speak of character, another of learning outcomes, another of ministry skills and another of spiritual maturity while each assumes that the others mean the same thing. A shared competency framework can make differences visible and collaboration possible.

Yet a framework can also become a shortcut. Once competencies are placed in a polished table, institutions may import them as curriculum, regulators may treat them as a universal occupational profile and providers may claim outcomes before learners have demonstrated them. Common language then becomes a common mould, and contextual formation is displaced by compliance.

CBTE means Competency-Based Theological Education. It remains distinct from Kenya's general occupational Competency-Based Education and Training, or CBET. For Bible colleges and church-based ministerial formation, the CBTE approach discussed here is a contextual, mentored and competence-demonstration model integrating knowing, being and doing. A shared framework should serve that purpose without pretending that one document can define every faithful pastor in every community.

The current CBTE 2027 conference page, available on 16 September, announces that the gathering scheduled for 24–27 January 2027 will present what organisers describe as the CBTE community's first shared competency framework for effective pastoral leaders in twenty-first-century churches. The organisers say that more than twenty denominational frameworks and…