Christian theological education is an enterprise which is particularly wide-ranging in its scope and its efficacy. The purpose of theological education is essentially the equipping of men and women for appropriate leadership and ministry within churches and associate institutions. This process of equipping is termed ministerial formation – the provision of what is needed to form theological students into people with the appropriate blend of qualities which will enable them to work effectively in their communities (Harkness 2001:142).

With great passion church leaders, theological educators, administrators, students and congregations debate whether theological education is providing the right kind of formative training for leaders of the church (Gundani, Masenya, Maluleke & Phiri 2002, Naidoo 2008). On the one hand, there is an assumption that theological institutions in South Africa ought to be shaping and forming church leaders who can serve the almost insurmountable social needs of our country, be visionary with moral integrity and be able to attend with competence to the many pastoral tasks at a local church level. On the other hand, theological institutions must determine how to take on the difficult task of forming leaders with fewer resources within the changing landscape of higher education in South Africa. In the middle of these well-intended struggles rests a central question about the purpose and meaning of ministerial formation and its connection to theological education. Each student brings expectations and life experiences into theological training, as well as various levels of connection to denominations and local churches. As students enter ministry they are expected to assume a pastoral role while their personal identity is still being formed. How does a theological college or institution partner with a denomination and others in providing formative experiences for these students? Precisely what are we forming pastors to be and do as we attempt to meet the needs of church and society in the changing South African context?

In theological education, one of the recent advances is the growing recognition that theological education should attend to the development of the whole person, in other words, that spiritual and character formation and relation skills are as significant as cognitive development in preparing people for successful Christian ministry (Overend 2007, Percy 2010).