CBTE Must Form Ministers Across the Whole Life Course

A call to ministry may endure for decades, but no minister completes formation in one season. Scripture must be interpreted again in changing contexts. Character is tested by new authority, loss, technology, conflict and responsibility. Ministry practices that were once effective may become unsafe, inaccessible or inadequate. Younger leaders need inherited wisdom, while experienced leaders still need correction, new knowledge and accountable evidence.

Competency-Based Theological Education is well placed to serve this reality. CBTE means Competency-Based Theological Education and remains distinct from Kenya's general occupational Competency-Based Education and Training, or CBET. Its principal concern here is contextual, mentored and demonstrable formation for Bible colleges and church-based ministry.

A life-course approach does not divide the Church into young learners and older experts. It asks what each person already knows, what present ministry requires, what must be learned, how competence will be demonstrated and who is protected by the decision. It honours experience without confusing years of service with current proficiency. It welcomes technology without treating speed on a platform as spiritual maturity. It receives elders as teachers while preserving their right to remain learners.

The governing principle is simple: formation has no expiry date, and competence has no age exemption.

The United Nations has marked 1 October 2026 under the theme The Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives. The Secretary-General's message projects that the…