We’ve been talking about my role as coordinator for United for Training, an initiative of UWM to equip our missionary trainers to more effectively. In this post, I want to tell you a little bit more about my partner in crime, The Reverend Professor Doctor Ashish Chrispal.
Dr. Ashish Chrispal is my co-leader in this initiative, and though he humbly resists being labeled as such, he is a man of deep wisdom and rich experience. Ashish was discipled by The Reverend Doctor John Stott, and he was the first Langham Scholar from India. He has decades of experience teaching in seminaries and churches across Asia, and he has trained countless pastors and professors.
Ashish, like Jose, is the best example of what advanced theological education can bring about. And yet, Ashish doesn’t want to create more PhD’s in theology. No, his heart beats to produce more pastors who are formed into the image of Christ, well-equipped to not only preach but also to care for the souls of their people. You see, Ashish says that the purpose of theological education is to strengthen the church. And, I think he’s right.
For the past two years Ashish has been in Australia, covid-trapped there. But that hasn’t stopped him from being on Zoom calls at all hours of the day and night, preaching in India, praying with pastors’ families, ministering the souls of former students and their churches.
In the year plus that we have been working together, I have learned a lot from Ashish about reproducible training methods, the importance of orality in oral preference cultures, and how to ask good questions. But, the best parts of our Zoom calls, are not the logistics and learning, but the times we spend praying for one another. I always leave feeling cared for, encouraged, and motivated to work hard.
If you want to know more about the kinds of training we are doing, check out some of the links below.
In this video, Ashish shares his vision for where theological education and the training of pastors needs to go.
In this article, Ashish talks about the challenges of training pastors around the world, the great need for training those pastors, and the hurdles we face in doing so.
In the first chapter of this book, Ashish tells his journey into full time ministry and his subsequent education and training of pastors. It’s a remarkable story of God’s faithfulness.