Resolution on theological education

1) Theological education is central to our theological heritage and identity. 
We know that without proper theological education questions around identity and unity of the church grow exponentially complicated. - General Secretary Martin Junge

2) The LWF and its member churches must take steps to ensure theological education also takes account of different contexts and is open to all. 

3) Our contextual readings of the Bible must be connected to our theological identity. The contextual readings must hold sola scriptura, solus Christus and sola fide as interrelated.

4) Pastoral formation must integrate the social, political and economic dimensions and the changing landscape of theology.

5) The Assembly calls upon the LWF Communion Office to develop and publish a strategy by 2020 for collaboration to provide greater access to theological education. This increased access may occur through scholarships, shared teaching, online resources, and by facilitating concrete partnerships among theological schools, including faculty exchanges. This strategy should ensure that anyone called to lay or ordained ministry can access and participate in theological education even if they do not have a theological school in their home region or country. 

6) Further, the Assembly calls upon member churches to:
a) Support women in theological education with attention to the accessibility of that education;
b) Strengthen efforts at increasing local resources for scholarships;
c) Practice transparent procedures in the selection and awarding of scholarships; and
d) Critically reexamine their models and systems of theological education and ministerial formation in order to bring contextual realities in contemporary issues into theological training and ministerial formation of future church leaders.