Commission for Theological Education in the Anglican Communion (CTEAC)

CTEAC Resources Bulletin

September 2025

Welcome to the latest edition of the CTEAC Resources Bulletin, bringing news about July's landmark CTEAC workshop for the Americas and Caribbean in Brazil. 

It was the first time theological educators and church leaders from across North and South America and the Caribbean gathered to discuss Decolonial Theological Education for Discipleship.

The gathering built on earlier consultations in Bangalore (2023), Limuru (2024), Auckland (2025), and Manila (2025) and marked a major step forward in preparing the Communion for its next decade of discipleship.
 

Participants at the CTEAC workshop held in the Diocese of Brasilia, Brazil

Decolonial Theological Education for Discipleship

Held in the Diocese of Brasilia,  the workshop opened with reflections on why theological education must be reshaped for the future of discipleship. It asked a central question: how can seminaries and training programmes equip the people of God for this vision?

Three key drivers shaped the conversation:

• The conclusion of the Decade of Intentional Discipleship (2016–2026) and the need to prepare for what comes next.
   
• The strong call from the 2022 Lambeth Conference for every Anglican to live out “the loving, liberating and life-giving way of Jesus Christ.”
   
• Plans from the Commission on Evangelism and Discipleship for a new decade, Vision36 (2026–2036): a movement where every disciple helps another grow in Christ and every church plants or renews a congregation.

Four Essential Tasks for Theological Education

A presentation from Dr Kwok Pui Lan of the Episcopal Divinity School, set out four essential tasks for decolonial theological education:

1. Disperse – theological education should be opened to the whole people of God, not restricted to clergy. Participants shared examples of lay formation already being pioneered in parts of Brazil and the Caribbean.
    
2. Disrupt – education should move away from externally imposed curricula and instead form disciples for mission in their own local contexts. Delegates noted the importance of adapting training to indigenous and Afro-descendant communities.
    
3. Develop – theology and pedagogy must be created within each cultural setting, allowing people to learn in diverse ways.
    
4. Deepen – discipleship must nurture mind, body and spirit, empowering women and addressing entrenched patterns of discrimination.

She summed these insights up with a Chinese proverb:

“Tell me something and I will forget it;
Show me and I will learn it;
Involve me and I will understand it.”

Dr Kwok’s forthcoming book with Bishop Ian Douglas, Living Postcolonial Anglicanism: Prospects for a Polycentric Anglican Communion (Lexington Books, 2025), will offer further resources for theological educators.

Provincial Action Plans

Workshop groups created action plans for their provinces.  

Mentorship and women’s leadership were identified as urgent areas for development, as delegates acknowledged the barriers faced by women, especially indigenous women, in accessing leadership opportunities. Proposals were made for mentorship programmes to give space for storytelling, healing and growth, equipping women to lead within decolonised and affirming spaces.
 

Other priorities in the action plans included:

• Working through provincial church structures, seminaries and indigenous networks.
• Publishing reports through provincial newspapers and newsletters.
• Organising online panel discussions as follow-up to the Brasilia workshop.
• Involving Houses of Bishops and ministry networks to embed discipleship in every level of church life.

Looking Ahead: Vision36

The Brasilia workshop concluded with a sense of momentum and commitment to the future. Participants recognised that their work feeds directly into the wider Communion process preparing for Vision36 (2026–2036).

If approved at ACC-19 in Belfast in 2026, Vision36 will call every disciple and every church in the Anglican Communion to grow and to help others grow in Christ — with a focus on discipleship, mission and church planting.

Delegates left Brasilia convinced that theological educators have a vital role to play in this vision: dispersing, disrupting, developing and deepening discipleship for the next generation.

Other Updates

New Book on Theological Education after the Pandemic

A new publication has been released from the 2023 CTEAC consultation in Bangalore:

New Wine for New Wineskins: Theological Education in South and Southeast Asia after the Covid-19 Pandemic
Edited by Muthuraj Swamy, Stephen Spencer and A. Israel David (Delhi: ISPCK, 2025).

Launched at United Theological College in August 2025, the book reflects on how seminaries adapted to the challenges of Covid-19 and what this means for the future of theological education. It will be made available online in due course.

CTEAC Resources Bulletin

Thank you for reading this edition of the CTEAC Resources Bulletin.

Contact the CTEAC staff:

Stephen Spencer, Director of Theology and Implementation, based at the Anglican Communion Office in London
stephen.spencer@anglicancommunion.org

Rachel Parry, Commissions and Networks Support Officer, based at the Anglican Communion Office in London

rachel.parry@anglicancommunion.org