Foursquare Ministry Training - Amazon Web Services

616 Pages·2010·16.81 MB·English

HHAANNDDBBOOOOKK OOFF
OOPPEERRAATTIIOONNSS
Revised Edition

Foursquare Ministry Training
Rev. Glenn Burris, General Supervisor
Dr. Daniel Hedges, National Director, Foursquare Ministry Training

1910 W. Sunset Blvd. Suite 500, P.O. Box 26902 Los Angeles, CA 90026-0176
E-mail: [email protected] • Voice 213.989.4258 • Fax [phone]

HHAANNDDBBOOOOKK OOFF
OOPPEERRAATTIIOONNSS
Revised Edition

Foursquare Ministry Training
Rev. Glenn Burris, General Supervisor
Dr. Daniel Hedges, National Director, Foursquare Ministry Training

1910 W. Sunset Blvd. Suite 500, P.O. Box 26902 Los Angeles, CA 90026-0176
E-mail: [email protected] • Voice 213.989.4258 • Fax [phone]
© 2008, 2009 Foursquare Ministry Training Institutes
Copies of this Handbook may be duplicated and adapted for use in Foursquare Ministry Training
Institutes, Schools of Ministry and Church-Based Bible Colleges.
It may not be sold or reproduced for other purposes without written permission from
Foursquare Ministry Training.
Foreword

Peter Wagner called it “the new wineskin” in theological education. He was referring to the phenomenal
emergence of Bible Institutes and Schools of Ministry throughout the body of Christ as a significant
alternative to traditional theological education. His own career mirrors this remarkable trend. Leaving
his prestigious chair at Fuller Seminary after decades of successful work as the church growth expert, he
is now pioneering Schools of Ministry in Colorado Springs. Utilizing what he calls the “impartation
model,” he is making a new and somewhat controversial mark in theological training through
empowering his students with a more practical and spiritually vital experience than traditional education
affords.

Almost ten years ago, I was asked to write an article for Ministries Today Magazine about this new trend
in theological education. For over two decades I had been working with various phases of developing
Bible Institutes as professor and ministry consultant with Regent University, Oral Roberts University,
and my own organization the International Christian Accrediting Association (Post Secondary Division),
through which I eventually became involved in the accreditation of institutes becoming full-fledged
colleges.

The article, “The New Charismatic Bible Schools” caused a response from pastors and institute leaders
that was overwhelming. It was apparent that churches throughout the body of Christ are doing serious
work in developing new approaches to leadership training and are asking for help. As the growth and
multiplication momentum builds in our own denomination, we must fulfill the great mandate for quality
leaders to serve God in the ever-expanding harvest. The practical answer entails recognizing every
healthy church as a potential training center and taking intentional steps to adequately empower those
churches to succeed in the training mission.

As the Foursquare movement looks toward the future with vision and goals for church planting, it is
clear that a key factor of this expansion is the training of pastors for the harvest. Licensed Foursquare
pastors will be training in a variety of venues, including distance learning programs, traditional Bible
Colleges and Seminaries, and several emerging models of church-based ministry training including
Schools of Ministry, Bible Institutes, Church-Based Bible Colleges, immersion discipleship programs,
and intentional mentoring. Over the last ten years, there has been an explosion of new church-based
ministry training sites across our Foursquare movement, from just a handful of Bible Institutes and
Schools of Ministry in 1998 to over 130 church-based ministry training sites in 2008. The success of
these sites in training healthy ministers has shown this new trend to be a viable leadership development
model.

Early on, the leaders of the Foursquare movement recognized this trend as a move of God that would
significantly increase our ability to train workers for the harvest. They chose to embrace this move and
try to provide support, guidance, and structure for these emerging church-based ministry training sites.
Every Foursquare church uses the Handbook for the Operation of Foursquare Churches for the
ministries under its covering. In addition to the Handbook of Operation, churches that operate an
Institute, School of Ministry, or a Bible College must also consider educational and legal standards set
by the academic world and their state government. These factors were the impetus behind the
publication of the first Foursquare Bible Institute Manual in 2000 under the leadership of Rick
Wulfestieg and Johnell Loop. Revisions were made in 2001 by Johnell Loop and in 2003 by Rod Light,
when it was renamed the Foursquare Ministry Training Manual.

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Impressed with the quality of training being provided by the institutes, and even more so by the quality
of the graduates coming out of our institutes, in 2002 our Foursquare leaders passed a pivotal resolution
that stated that graduates of ICFG certified institutes and two-year schools of ministry will be eligible
for international ministerial licenses affording them the same recognition as graduates of our Foursquare
Bible Colleges. This resolution raised the status of our institutes by recognizing their newly found place
of preparing ministry leaders anointed to serve at the highest level.

Since that time, the variety of church-based training models has multiplied. Several Formal Bible
Institutes have matured into two-year and four-year church-based Bible colleges, and the Emerging
Leader Network has paired church-based immersion discipleship with schools of ministry. Clearly the
Foursquare Ministry Training Manual has been in need of revision and updating to address the new
developments that have been occurring at our church-based ministry training sites.

Rather than merely updating and revising the FMT Manual, it has been thoroughly reworked, drawing
upon the expertise gained over the last ten years by those who have led our most successful Bible
Institutes, Schools of Ministry, Church-Based Bible Colleges, immersion discipleship programs, and
intentional mentoring programs. The result is a comprehensive operational handbook, The Foursquare
Ministry Training Institutes, Schools of Ministry and Church-Based Bible Colleges Handbook of
Operations. It will soon be accompanied by a Foursquare Ministry Training Resource CD and an
abbreviated Start-Up Manual for New Foursquare Ministry Training Institutes and Schools of Ministry.

Grateful appreciation is extended to the following leaders for their contribution to the development and
updating of this Handbook:
Dr. Gil Albelo, Dr. John Amstutz, Dr. Randall Bell of ABHE, April Brangenberg, Dr. John
Brangenberg, Rev. Rob Buzza, Dr. Paul Chappell, Rev. Sue Detweiler, Rev. Dennis Easter, Rev.
Juan Galloway, Dr. Jack Hayford, Dr. Dan Hedges, Rev. Harold Helms, Jim Kahler, Rev. Rod
Koop, Rev. Mike Larkin, Rev. Rod Light, Rev. Johnell Loop, Rev. Ginnie Lunt, Rev. Frank
Markow, Dr. Larry McKinney of ABHE, Rev. Rob McWilliams, Rev. Debbie Meyer, Rev. Tim
Mossholder, Dr. Doretha O’Quinn, Rev. Jim Scott, Rev. Steve Smith, Rev. Larry Spousta, Rev. Dan
Stewart, Brian Tomhave, Dan Ussery, Gloria Ward, Rev. Rick Wulfestieg and The Chronicle of
Higher Education.

Dr. Daniel Hedges, National Director,
Foursquare Ministry Training
[email protected]

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Thoughts for the Senior Pastor

There is an inexpressible delight that stirs my spirit every time newly
equipped leaders step into service. Foursquare Bible Institutes, Schools of
Ministry, and Church-Based Bible Colleges are readying leaders with a
full-hearted commitment to God and His Word, as well as with a fully
ensconced dependence upon the Holy Spirit. Leaders emerging from our
church-based training sites exude a spiritual vitality and motivation that is
reflective of the brightly burning fire within our Foursquare churches.
May these fires blaze and refine empowered and called pastors for
churches and new plants! I anticipate Foursquare Bible Institutes, Schools
of Ministry and Church-Based Bible Colleges continuing on the keen edge
of developing trained leaders.

Dr. Jack Hayford, President
[email protected]

The handbook you are about to review has been designed as a practical
resource to assist you in the development of a Foursquare Bible Institute,
School of Ministry or Church-Based Bible College. Our vision is to release
you to meaningful service. We trust this handbook is the perfect tool for the
job. Today’s church will benefit from well-organized and clearly defined
church-based ministry training. These church-training centers, within the
context of the local church, will result in healthy church leaders through
practical modeling and instruction.

Rev. Glenn Burris, General Supervisor
[email protected]

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Introduction to the 2000-2003 editions of the
Foursquare Ministry Training Manual

As the Foursquare movement looks toward the future with vision and goals for church planting, it is
clear that a key factor of this expansion is the training of pastors for the harvest. Licensed Foursquare
pastors will be trained in a variety of venues, including Bible Colleges, Schools of Ministry, Bible
Institutes, and mentoring and distance learning programs. The increased interest in Foursquare Bible
institutes, as a viable leadership development model, is the reason for the release of this manual.

Every Foursquare church uses the Handbook of Operation of Foursquare Churches for the ministries
under its covering. In addition to the Handbook of Operation, churches that operate an Institute, School
of Ministry, or a Christian day school must also consider educational standards set by the academic
world. A new set of legal, educational, and financial concerns must be addressed. The Foursquare
Ministry Training Manual will address these concerns, as they relate to higher education and preparation
for ministry.

This manual creates a foundational structure upon which any institute can be built. The minimum
standard, outlined below, allows each institute the freedom to take on the mission, schedule, and training
philosophy that best fit the vision of the local pastor.

• All certified Bible Institutes must incorporate a minimum of 750 hours of training. This is
equivalent to a two-year program in most colleges.
• All certified Schools of Ministry must incorporate a minimum of 375 hours of training. This is
equivalent to a one-year program in most colleges.
• All certified Foursquare Bible Institutes/Schools of Ministry must teach basic doctrine, including
Theology, Christology, Anthropology, Harmartiology, Pneumatology, Angelology, Soteriology,
Ecclesiology, Divine Healing, and Eschatology.

Though Foursquare Bible institutes across the country will vary, they will all have the same foundational
structure. This will make it easy for institute graduates to move from one location/district to another. For
example, an east coast supervisor will know that a graduate of a certified Foursquare Bible Institute in
another area, desiring to pastor in his district, has received at least 750 hours of balanced training which
includes Foursquare doctrine.

Grateful appreciation is extended to the following leaders for their contribution to the development and updating of this
manual from 2000-2003: Dr. Jim Adams, Dr. Gil Albelo, Dr. John Amstutz, Rev. Mario Barahona, Rev. Roanna Bennie, Dr.
Sterling Brackett, Rev. Wanda Brackett, Dr. John Brangenberg, Rev. El Clark, Mrs. Marty Lindberg, Rev. Johnell Loop,
Rev. Debbie Meyer, Mr. Dick Schmidt, Rev. Herb Schneidau, Rev. Naomi Shivers, Rev. John Wolfe, Rev. Rick Wulfestieg,
and Mrs. Patti Wulfestieg.

Contact Information
For general institute information, news and events check our web site, http://institutes.foursquare.org.
You will also be able to view and print current and future editions of the Foursquare Ministry Training
Manual, and additional valuable resources and forms for beginning and operating Foursquare Ministry
Training Institutes on this site. For additional information you may contact the following individuals:
Legal concerns – El Clark, 213.989.4211 or [email protected]
Foursquare polity courses – contact your district office
Education and administrative issues – Dr. Daniel Hedges, 213.989.4500 or [email protected]
Administrative support – Beth Mead Voice 213.989.4258 or [email protected]

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Purpose of this Handbook

It is our hope that this handbook will provide you, our pastors and ministry training leaders, with the
necessary information, standards, and resources to investigate and organize your school for effective and
fruitful ministry training. This handbook is designed to help you in the following ways:

1. To help you begin well and avoid having to backtrack and make corrections later. The forward,
introduction, and overview of Foursquare Ministry Training sections will help you clarify the focus
and vision of your institute so you can follow the proper operational standards from the beginning.

2. To provide parameters that will help you function legally. Pastors and educational leaders must
be increasingly aware of legal and financial concerns. The section on legal regulations will help your
school to operate within the laws that govern higher education in each state and according to federal
standards.

3. To encourage you to utilize high quality educational and operational standards. The sections on
academic standards as well as academic and administrative operations will help your school function
within the academic and administrative standards expected of higher education in the USA.

4. To make excellent resources readily available to you so you don’t have to “re-invent the wheel”
at your school. The sample forms and other information included in the records and record-keeping
section, the sections on libraries and student life and student services, and the section on faculty
resources, may be utilized, copied and adapted to meet the needs of your new or existing school.

5. To clarify transfer requirements and ease transferability of credit from your church-based
ministry training site to established Foursquare Bible Colleges. This handbook outlines the basic
standards of transferability employed by Foursquare colleges as well as other Bible colleges, and
will guide you to set academic standards that will provide for transfer of credit and guide you in the
process as you pursue articulation agreements for transferability of coursework for your students.

6. To encourage you to make strategic alliances and partnerships with Emerging Leader
Network, Ignite, Foursquare Missions International, Foursquare Church Multiplication,
Urban and Multicultural Ministries, and the Association for Biblical Higher Education.

7. To help you network with other directors and provide you with contacts for further
information. Beyond the information contained in this Handbook, the staff of the Foursquare
National Church Office, the Foursquare Ministry Training Office, and the Center for Global
Leadership Training, is available to you for consultation. Also, the directors of several established
institutes and schools of ministry have made themselves available to serve as mentors to you, if you
are a director of a newly established institute or school of ministry. If you desire mentoring, you can
contact the Foursquare Ministry Training office to be assigned an appropriate mentor.

The annual Foursquare Ministry Training Symposium has been established as a forum to help you
network with other ministry training leaders, exchange ideas, methods and best practices, and to
keep you, our Foursquare Ministry Training leaders, up-to-date on developments in Foursquare life
and ministry training initiatives.

Agreeing with you for the harvest!
Dr. Daniel Hedges, National Director, Foursquare Ministry Training
Dr. John Brangenberg, Handbook Editor

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How To Use This Handbook

This Handbook was designed to be utilitarian. It is intended to be an easy access toolkit for every
aspect of running a Foursquare Ministry Training Institute, School of Ministry or Church-Based Bible
College. This Handbook is designed to encourage you to utilize high quality educational and operational
standards and to maximize operational efficiency by encouraging you to make use of excellent readily
available resources rather than having to start from scratch at your new or existing school.

It is designed in such a way that you will be able to drag-and-drop forms from the Handbook into MS
Word, easily place the name of your school on each document and add information such as your school
address, phone number and e-mail address, and be ready to print them out and use the forms for school
administration.

Likewise, by adding your name as school director, the school name and address and your contact phone
numbers to the Emergency Preparedness Plan, and then selecting the emergency situations that apply
to your geographic location, you will have an Emergency Preparedness plan ready to distribute to
faculty and staff. Other sections, like the Faculty Resources Section are meant to be able to be printed
out in their entirety and given out to all faculty members as an Institute Faculty Manual, with just the
addition of a brief letter of introduction from you, as Institute Director, to your institute faculty. The
section on the Library can be printed out and given to the person overseeing the school library and any
library volunteers or student workers as a Library Operations Manual.

Section One is designed to provide you with an introduction to Foursquare Ministry Training, its
history, structure, basic formats and models for training, basic standards for operation, guiding
principles for church-based ministry training, Foursquare distinctives, and preparation for Foursquare
Ministry Licensing. Much of this is in chart form for simplicity and clarity. The remainder of section
one is intended to provide you with an overview of additional models of training and ministry
partnerships that will enhance the training offered at your school. These include enhancing the training
with intentional mentoring or immersion discipleship. Partnerships that may enhance specialized
training at your school include Foursquare Missions International, Foursquare Urban and Multicultural
Ministries, and Foursquare Church Multiplication (Church Planting). Key academic partnerships for
your school include the degree completion program in Ministry and Leadership at Life Pacific College,
and partnering with Pacific Life College in Canada for transfer of credit into their degree programs.
Foursquare ForeRunners, an association of retired Foursquare ministers, provides a valuable pool of
potential mentors and instructors for your school.

Section Two is designed to teach you the basic legal and academic standards that any school must
operate under. Included in this section are standards that will help you develop a clear and concise
mission statement, choose an educational format and term format, and choose basic curriculum
appropriate to your local church needs and adapt it for your specific ministry context. Most of the
policy statements as well as the standards of conduct are written in such a way that they can be dragged
and dropped into an MS Word document, together with sections 3.25-3.56, and customized by adding
the name of your institute and relevant contact information, as the beginnings of the school’s first
Academic Catalog.

The second half of section two is primarily for leaders of more mature schools seeking to develop
articulation agreements with local and Foursquare Bible colleges for transfer of credit. Standards for
pursuing affiliation or accreditation with ABHE, including institutional assessment and strategic
planning are also discussed. Section two concludes with a discussion of the standards for pursuing

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