Our Vision
The Size of the Opportunity
It is easy for those of us immersed in the western world to lose sight of the sheer scale of the Christian church in the majority world and the size of the opportunity to provide communities with exposure to the Bible and ultimately to personal faith in Jesus.
It is estimated that there are currently 10 million evangelical leaders and 600 million evangelical Christians.
Many of these leaders face challenges which are uncommon in the western world, yet often they play a broader community leadership role which is difficult to appreciate from the perspective of a western society with well-developed social and civic infrastructure.
A Well-Established Need
A significant proportion of these leaders have no formal theological training and do not have access to the educational resources and leadership networks we take for granted in the western world. In addition, as might be expected, funds are extremely limited, and for most the costs associated with accessing commercially published Christian literature and training materials are simply unaffordable. Even when the material is provided at an affordable price point it is often not well suited to their needs having been developed with a western audience in mind.
These leaders and, indeed, their congregations and broader communities, require affordable, well-structured, and easily digestible teaching material, which will effectively breach the gap between a willing leader with limited training and a pastor equipped to deliver sermons and training programmes which will lead their community to mature personal faith.
Recognizing & Responding
Dr Ben Dean recognised this need whilst teaching theology at George Whitefield College, Cape Town, and working with preacher-training and literature charities focussed on the majority world.
Ben, who studied in London and Cambridge, has extensive experience of both theological research and practical training for African pastors. Most of these were in essence the blessed minority who had the opportunity and funding to attend formal ministry training and pastoral studies. But for most of their countryman this was simply not possible.
The Problem
There are plenty of excellent Biblical teaching resources BUT access is impossible for many who need it most. Majority world pastors and believers face three main issues:
1. Price
- High-quality material is expensive
- Paywalls are often unaffordable
2. Availability
- Distribution is limited by commercial publishers (IVP, Crossway, Eerdmans, Baker, Zondervan etc.)
3. Content
- Generally aimed at a western audienceUsually assumes
- formal theological training
The Solution
- Direct focus on permanent Biblical essentials –
Themes, Books, and Passages - Free access to comprehensive MULTIMEDIA content
- Downloadable audio
- Online video
- Electronic text & eBooks
- Paid for access to INTERACTIVE content
- 2-way relationship
- Integrated community-style platform
- Live classes and special events
- Learning management system
- Hosting questions, feedback, discussion, dialogue
- Beautifully presented
- User-friendly
- Popular mainstream style
- Does not assume formal training
- Accessibility and affordability
- Worldwide distribution
Current Offerings & Their Limitations
Third Millennium Ministries | Biblical Training App
Free multimedia seminary-level curriculum in the world’s major languages BUT
modules designed for full-scale theological training are
- overly long, detailed, technical – difficult to find the exact
- content you want
too time-consuming for a typical pastor to easily and frequently use - complex page layout difficult to digest, easy to lose your place
The Gospel Coalition Essays
Free short high-quality expositions of a wide range important topics BUT
- no audio or video (only available in text/essay format)
- often overly brief
How Big Can it Get?
Targets for 2023 are ambitious and include:
- 3000 users from 4 African and 2 Asian countries
- audio, video, and eBook production
- pilots in Uganda, Ethiopia, Serbia, India, Ghana, and Nigeria (potentially 2024)
- content covering 20 key topics
- translation into Romanian, and Amharic (Ethiopia’s national language)
- distribution to 10,000 pastors in Ethiopia’s Kale Heywet Church (12 million members) and 8,000 pastors in the Church of Uganda (11 million members)
