{"id":122,"date":"2017-11-20T23:41:23","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T23:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/?page_id=122"},"modified":"2020-03-13T10:36:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-12T22:36:03","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Welcome to PTC Extension Education!<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

We believe in\u2026..Theology for All for Life\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most inspiring movements in the Church around the world since the 1970s has been that of TEE \u2013 Theological Education by Extension. That means ordinary believers opening their minds and hearts to theological exploration in their normal, day to day lives. No College required. I\u2019ve had the huge joy of meeting and working with TEE groups from Churches in Zambia, Brazil and Sri Lanka, to name just three places. And TEE is right here in the Pacific too: ready to serve, ready to equip. By the grace of God, helping a diverse variety of believers to do just what 1 Peter 3.15 urges: Always be prepared to make a defence to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence. (RSV)<\/em><\/p>\n

Theology \u2013 we might call it \u2018God-talk\u2019 – is relevant whoever we are: market stallholders, managing directors, rugby players, farmers, sailors, teachers, taxi-drivers, nurses, teachers, police officers, parents, grandparents \u2013 you name it. If we claim to have faith then we seek understanding too. Christian faith and spirituality in Pacific people is deep, strong and sincere: commitment and loyalty to the Church commendable. But how\u2019s our theological education doing – honestly? Do we know what we believe and why? Does faith enable us to understand and respond constructively to the changing and challenging contemporary world?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simply not enough to leave theological education to Pastors, Priests and College lecturers. They may not be conveniently to hand when we find ourselves in a gripping theological discussion with our friendly, Muslim taxi-driver about why Christians recognise Jesus\u2019s divinity and don\u2019t regard him only as a prophet. Or when our children, who\u2019ve been learning about Pacific climate change at school say, \u2018But Mum, we learnt in Sunday School that God promised there\u2019d be no more floods after Noah\u2019s time\u2019. Or when you come out of Church on Sunday having listened to a preacher saying things in a sermon that you felt were very suspect, but you don\u2019t feel confident to challenge them theologically and respectfully. Have we found ourselves in any of those situations, or similar ones? What theological responses did we have?<\/p>\n

And let\u2019s remember, \u2018theology\u2019 isn\u2019t about being brilliantly \u2018academic\u2019 and having super-human brains. The word (from theos<\/em> and logos <\/em>in the Greek) just means understanding or knowledge about the things of God. We can never get enough of that, surely?<\/p>\n

TEE students generally study by themselves, in their own place and at their own pace, benefitting from courses which are accessible, affordable and fully accredited to international standards. \u00a0TEE is also a thoroughly ecumenical movement, not a denominational one, and our courses are studied by Methodists, Catholics, Anglicans, Pentecostals and those outside the mainline Churches. All are welcome. PTCEE is an open door not a closed shop.<\/p>\n

So, what are you waiting for? Contact us<\/a> at PTCEE to sign up for one of our courses; print based and online too. You can find all the details by clicking on the \u2018Courses\u2019<\/a> tab. We look forward to you joining the global movement of TEE with a particularly Pacific flavour \u2013 PTCEE.<\/p>\n

Theology for ALL for LIFE. What a vital vision for the 21st<\/sup> Century.<\/p>\n

Blessings,<\/p>\n

Revd Dr Val Ogden (Former Director: PTCEE)<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to PTC Extension Education! We believe in\u2026..Theology for All for Life\u00a0 One of the most inspiring movements in the Church around the world since the 1970s has been that of TEE \u2013 Theological Education by Extension. That means ordinary believers opening their minds and hearts to theological exploration in their normal, day to day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-122","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9pfs5-1Y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1708,"href":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122\/revisions\/1708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ptcee.ptc.ac.fj\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}