The big launch of the Video Enhancements of the TLT courses

By Finn Kier-Hansen and Mette Bjergbæk Klausen

Pastors from all over Cameroon are preparing to travel for workshops right after Easter. This is part of the big launch of the Video Enhancements of the TLT courses which we have worked on for the past two years, and the approximately 50 participants are travelling to be trained in how to use them, and use TheWell, to bring the courses to church leaders across the country.

Why Cameroon is a good choice

We chose to have the big launch in Cameroon because both the Anglican Church and the Baptist Convention are keen to have their people trained and they are facing challenges in this, which the Video Enhancements and TheWell were designed to help overcome: Cameroon is a huge country, and threats from different terrorist groups makes travelling difficult, dangerous, and at times impossible. There are many church leaders in remote areas, who have no or very limited access to training. Especially bi-lingual training is scarce, and if the churches in the French-speaking areas will have to do different training programmes from their colleagues in the English-speaking areas, there is a risk of creating division between the churches.

The goal

With this launch, we hope to achieve several things. First and foremost, we wish to see the programme rolled out across Cameroon, so God’s churches can have well trained church leaders and God’s people hear the gospel preached in all corners of the country. For this to happen, we need many participants trained, and many of them to become strong facilitators, and soon commence facilitating new groups. So, we need the Video Enhancements put into good use, as these are made to ease facilitation and make it possible for more people to become facilitators. For this we need TheWell to be introduced and distributed to as many facilitators as possible, so they can access the Video Enhancements regardless of internet access, and have the training organised in the integrated learning management system on TheWell. And we need the Training Coordinators to be taught on how to monitor and support facilitators, regardless of where they are in the country. We also hope to be able to harvest feedback on how the courses are received, and how we can best prepare these facilitators and administrators in the future.

As we hope to achieve so many things, we are a bigger team travelling: Rev. Istafanus Bahago, our former colleague and expert TLT facilitator, will come from Nigeria representing TLT. Ms Djamina Maguey, anthropologist and course producer for DECIBEL Training, will come from Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Rev. Finn Kier-Hansen, CEO of DECIBEL, and Rev. Mette Bjergbæk Klausen, COO of DECIBEL Training, will both travel from Europe.

The workshops

There will be two initial workshops. One in Bafoussam in the west, where the 25 participants from the the Cameroon Baptist Convention will convene. Rev. Ngalla Godlove is Training Director for the Baptists, and when he first heard about these courses, he quickly reached out, as they fulfil many of the needs for training he sees in his church: The courses are Biblical, practical, relevant, and contextual. Moreover, they are easy to bring to even remote areas, as they are group based and led by facilitators, so there is no need for a full faculty of teachers travelling. Rev. Godlove has chosen his participants based on their ability to become facilitators for the next batch of groups.

The other workshop take place in Douala in the south, where 20 participants from the Anglican Church will convene. They have already completed the courses using the written manuals, so they are all ready to set up their own groups. In their workshop, they will be trained on how to use the Video Enhancements of the courses and TheWell.

We cannot do this without your help

As all are preparing to travel for these workshops and help bring forth Kingdom changes to churches in Cameroon, we rely on your support. We need prayers for safe travels for all, for the workshops to go well, and for all participants to feel empowered and well equipped to bring the courses to their home churches.

We would also appreciate financially support so both the Cameroon Baptist Convention and the Anglican Church of Cameroon can get TheWell boxes for their participants, so they can serve effectively as facilitators. They both hope to get five TheWell boxes (four to five facilitators will use the same box), so we are looking for funding for ten boxes in total. For US$ 200 (£ 158) you can put a TheWell in the hands of a facilitator to use for two years (the cost of hardware as well as two years subscription to the cloud, so the programme can be monitored, and the system and content updated).

If you want to donate, please click the link below which will bring you to DECIBEL’s current platform for donations. If you prefer to pay by credit/debit card, please send an email to fkh@decibel.training to receive an “invoice” and a link.

Thank you in advance for any support rendered.

https://www.stewardship.org.uk/pages/thewellcameroon