Welcome to the world of Church Transformation Network (CT N), where unprecedented times and rapidly changing contexts are reshaping global missions. In this dramatic historical moment, God is actively fulfilling the prophetic promise of Jesus: “l will build my church.” As the gospel spreads through both traditional methods and innovative global media, we are witnessing the most significant expansion of the Christian church since Pentecost. This surge is especially evident in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, where millions of new believers are gathering and earnestly seeking pastoral leaders who are both called and competent.

Despite this remarkable growth, the urgent pleas of these new believers for trained pastors have largely gone unanswered. The rapid expansion of the church has outpaced the capacity of traditional theological schools to prepare and deploy adequately equipped pastors. This immense need for trained pastoral leaders is now recognized as the greatest crisis facing the 21st Century Church.

Dr. Manfred Kohl of the Lausanne Movement has highlighted this challenge, stating, “The biggest crisis facing the evangelical global church today is the fact that most pastors, missionaries, and lay leaders have no formal and often inadequate theological training.” Other leading voices in the evangelical community concur with this assessment. Data from the Center for Global Christianity at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary reveals that only 5% of pastors worldwide possess any formal training or a theological degree. As a result, over 95% of current pastors around the globe are untrained and unprepared to lead effectively.