T-NET: Training and Coaching Pastors to Finish the Great Commission…Worldwide
What’s Emerging in the Future of the Church?
I’m currently looking for an educational degree program to help me become an ordained minister in order to formally fulfill The Great Commission through my own church plant - a vision and mission God had given me as a young child coming to Christ, which now, as an adult, I am willingly and passionately able to fulfill.
The following is a collection of important excerpts I gathered from the T-Net Center for Pastoral Leadership: Training Center Handbook 2016-17 Updated – Summer 2016 for my future reference:
Fulfilling the Great Commission
After 2000 years, why have we not already finished the Great Commission?
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No Responsibility – Most churches and denominations practice “FUBU” (For Us By Us). They do not take responsibility for anything that does not build their own local church. They have no value for finishing the Great Commission. Do you?
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No Disciples – Finishing the Great Commission requires disciples, not just converts, but most churches do not know how to effectively transform converts into disciples, so churches are limited to what the pastor and a few leaders can do by themselves. Have you ever been trained how to make the kind of disciples Jesus made?
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No Strategy – While a few churches have a strategy to saturate their neighborhood plus a few remote places, hardly any have a strategy to reach the entire world. If you could reach the entire world, would you be interested?
Instead of simply training pastors to transform their churches, T-NET trains them to train other pastors to do that, and to multiply. It is the simple principle found in 2 Tim. 2:2, “Teach faithful men who can teach others also.”
The vision for T-NET began with Bill Hull a pastor committed to returning his church and others to their disciplemaking roots. While establishing his own church in disciplemaking, Bill wrote several books showing how the gospels describe in detail Jesus own method of making disciples and how we can use His method. Hull brought in church consultant, Bob Gilliam, to develop the process for instructing churches and in 1991 T-NET (short for Training Network) was born. Nurtured under the umbrella of the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) T-NET is now an independent interdenominational ministry.
Since T-NET helps churches apply biblical principles it is equally applicable to independent Bible churches, Charismatic churches or churches from mainline denominations. Over 1200 churches in North America have completed T-NET’s US training which now serves under the name “DisciplePath Church Training.”
T-Net International
T-NET International (www.T-NETwork.com) is a world-wide, Protestant, Evangelical Christian training organization whose purpose is “To train pastors and Church leaders to finish the Great Commission in their own churches, their own regions, and even in every country of the world.
T-Net accomplishes this purpose through the use of 10 modular basic courses, each with coaching and homework applied in the student’s local church.
T-Net Training Center curriculum has been taught at many of the top seminaries and graduate schools in the USA. Because of the exceptional quality of T-NET’s curriculum students accepted into the T-Net Training Center can also earn an accredited Bachelor Degree or Master’s Degree from the Minnesota Graduate School of Theology (www.MNGST.org).
T-Net International is a recognized Associate Training Center of the MGST
The Minnesota Graduate School of Theology (MGST) is an evangelical training institute with over 4,000 students on extension campuses worldwide. The T-NET Center for Pastoral Leadership is recognized as an associate school of the Minnesota Graduate School of Theology. Through this affiliate relationship T-NET Training Center participants can apply for and receive college or graduate degrees.
Requirements for Application
All students must begin by enrolling in the T-NET 10 - Course Training Center program of study (see MGST application in the Appendix) . Typically, students must be pastors, Bishops, church planters or spouses to be accepted into the 10 - Course Training Center as this is an outcome - based training program that demands that student apply what they have learned. Participation and successful completion of the 10 - Course Training Center program is a prerequisite to entering the Masters or Doctoral degree programs in Organizational Management for Ministry Multiplication.
General Description of Diploma and Degrees offered by T-NET International
After 20 years of thought and discussion, much prayer and careful planning, the Board of T-NET International has arrived at the following position. 1. We believe that finishing the Great Commission will take m ore pastors and church planters than could ever be trained by all the existing Bible Colleges and Seminaries in the world. 2. We believe that the Great Commission will best be finished when pastoral leaders are well trained. 3. We believe that this training must focus more on competence in ministry than on academic knowledge. 4. We believe that pastors mastering and practicing this competence deserve just as much recognition as those mastering theological knowledge and should be able to earn a professional accredited degree.
Therefore, the board of T-Net International of the United States of America as an affiliate of an accredited institution of Christian higher education does hereby establish and offer the professional degrees of Master of Ministry (MA.Min), Bachelor of Ministry (BA.Min), and Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) as well as a Diploma level for those taking their courses, mastering both material and competences and applying these in such a way as to significantly contribute to finishing the Great Commission. We believe that those who earn these degrees are better equipped and trained to finish the Great Commission than almost any other degree program extant, and that those who earn these degrees can display them with Christian pride as approved workmen, never ashamed!
T-NET Strategy - Theological Education by Extension
T-NET Center for Pastoral Leadership h as a unique strategy and role in Theological Education by Extension. T-NET’s goal and strategy is entirely focused on Finishing the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19 - 20) in each nation of the world by empowering indigenous pastors. T-NET is NOT in competition with traditional Bible Colleges and Seminaries. In fact, T-NET’s core materials have been taught at a Masters and Doctoral level by several of the most prominent evangelical seminaries in the world – Bethel Seminary, Columbia International University, Dallas Theological Seminary, Trinity Divinity School, Western Theological Seminary, West Africa Theological Seminary, Hindustan Bible Institute and many more. Because Minnesota Graduate School of Theology recognizes the quality and unique value of T-NET Training Centers courses MGST offers accredited degrees for those completing our training - a Bachelor of Arts in Ministry (B.A.Min) for those with a high school diploma and a Master of Arts in Ministry (M.A.Min) for those who already have a Bachelor degree and a Doctorate of Ministry (D . Min) for those completing our advanced degree in Organizational Management. Or, pastors may choose to simply attend a T-NET Training Center and receive a non - accredited T-NET Diploma that certifies the successful completion of this training.
We are committed to finish ing the Great Com mission. If we wait for schools to train all the pastors needed, we will never have enough schools nor will we have enough pastors who can afford to attend those schools. That is why the majority of pastors in your country have never attended a Seminary or Bible School. We need a way to train pastors who then will train other pastors who in turn will train other s . Let us show you how that can look, if we were to take it seriously and determine to multiply in this fashion. That means we will train you and at the same time train you to train others. After five courses, we will have equipped you to train a small group of pastors just as you are being trained.
Doctrinal Statement
A. The Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation of men and women and the Divine and final authority for Christian faith and practice.
B. In one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
C. That Jesus Christ is true God and true man having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. Further, He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He i s now our High Priest and Advocate.
D. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, and during this age, to convict men and women, regenerate the believing sinner, and indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
E. That mankind was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is, therefore, lost and only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.
F. That the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe. That the new birth comes only by grace through faith in Christ alone and that repentance is a vital part of believing, but is in no way in itself a separate and independent condition of salvation; nor are any other acts such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful service to be added to believing as a condition of salvation.
G. In the bodily resurrection of the dead; of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord; of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.
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