Teaching in Latin America during this missionary term has been a learning experience for the Morales family. Even though both of us were born in Latin American countries and then as young adults, migrated with our families to USA, we had no idea of the dimensions of this new journey God had for us and that in BIM words is called " working in leadership development and theological education at the Baptist Seminary in Cochabamba, Bolivia." We knew that in the world we have two major paradigms of thinking and learning, the Eastern and the Western Cosmo visions, but did not know how its differences could materialize at the Seminary and what role we could play in this journey.

The Major Differences We Discovered

1. Diversity Based On Western Influence

Bolivia is a diverse Latin American country at the seminary. We have students of Aymaran, Quechuan, Mestizo and Güarani descent. The central difference we experience in them is based on how much they have become westernized. For example, we have a few Aymaran and Quechuan students, who have lived in the city for many years and thus, have a good command of Spanish language, computers, internet, books in the library. Some of them even speak English and dress in tennis shoes and jeans. They are a clear example of people influenced by globalization. They are not afraid of speaking in public and generally occupy key leadership positions within churches or the Bolivian Baptist Union. Then we have the majority of students that despite their cultural origin, they are characterized by being far from Western influence. Computers are rare for them, books in the library are intimidating and they dress in their native garb. Their command of the Spanish language is limited because they feel more comfortable speaking their native language. They come from small Baptist Churches in small villages from different parts of Bolivia.

2. Telling Rather Than Writing

These students, who seem far from Western influence feel more comfortable by telling stories rather than writing reports.Their writing skills are limited and their concept of history is totally different than the one we with a lot of Western influence have. They exemplify what historians would define as part of an oral tradition.

3. God Can Never Be Questioned

These students believe that God is in control of everything even their class exams. They may approach the professors and say something like"Professor, if it is in God's will, I may pass your course..." This, contrary to our Western Cosmo vision that makes us say, "Professor, I am working hard according to the syllabus to pass this course!"

4. Different Concept Of Distance and Time

Students with less Western influence in their lives have a different concept of distance and time. This is due to the way they move around in their villages. When they travel, they do it by foot, so it may take two to three days to walk from one village to another. Thus, when visiting a certain place with a student and you ask about where this place is located, he will answer "ahi sito no mas" (around the corner). Then you proceed and you may drive for an hour.Surprised you ask: Didn't you say the place was right there? The answer is, yes it is "ahi sito no mas." What happens is that the student is comparing two days of walking with only four hours that may take him to drive to that place. This in turn affects their concept of time. Instead of being task oriented, they are relational oriented. It is more important to be a friend with the professor than to turn the term paper in on time, which in western culture can be perceived as "fishy."

5. The Concept Of Education

To go to seminary and become educated in theology does not mean to become an effective and unique leader of the church. Instead, most of the students who are not influenced by the western Cosmo vision go to seminary because they want to become like a prominent leader, who is usually a person of influence in their community or their church. That is why many times these students may say, "I am here because I want to serve God as such and such pastor."

The Origin Of These Differences

These noticeable differences in our students sent us back to research and reflect in order to cope and find relevant answers to our task of developing leaders. What we found is very interesting and complex, but we will share it with you as simply as we can.

1. Before and after Aristotle

The great Greek Philosopher, Aristotle is called by many historians, the Father of logic and systematic thinking and learning. He inspired many modern thinkers such as Hegel, Kant and Voltaire. In fact, science is in debt to him because he created the basis of the research method. Many historians agree that all cultures that were influenced by this great Greek Philosopher became anthropologically oriented in their way of learning. Before him however, great cultures such as Chinese, Hindu, Egyptian, Babylonian and even Mayan, Aztec and Inca were defined as Cosmologic in their way of learning.The major and most profound difference between anthropological and cosmological learning is in the way the person acquires and uses knowledge. In cosmological learning, the person considers himself as an integral part of the cosmos and is interested more in being in harmony with this. Whereas in the anthropological epistemology, man searches within himself through his mind using a systematic approach that helps him to accumulate knowledge, and the more knowledge that is accumulated the more control is acquired over the cosmos. In this sense, it is not a surprise that Alexander the Great, who was the first conqueror who wanted to own the world of his time, was a disciple of Aristotle.

2. Anthropological Learning and Science

We all know about what happened after the Middle Ages, when science and theology were separated by the motto "thereto think" presented by the age of reason or modernism.At the end of the XIX Century, Friedrich Nietzsche said that God was only a word in our vocabulary. History and time was understood on the basis of knowledge. The differences among cultures were now defined by the terms savage vs. civil.Europe became atheist through the influence of Hegel, Voltaire and Kant, who were indirect disciples of Aristotle. However, the rest of the world remained cosmological and did not change its mind about God in their traditions.In the mean time, Reformation took place in the Church and European and North American theologians became more and more systematic focusing on the research method in order to respond to the intimidation of an atheist modern science.

3. Theological Education From The North and Europe

Latin America was evangelized twice. Once, by the colonial missionaries and then by post reformed missionaries starting in the early XIX century. In both cases, there was a clash between anthropological and cosmological thinking. This clash was what we were experiencing at the Baptist Seminary in Cochabamba with our students. When we discovered these differences and found a theory on which to base it, we understood why many of our students were not successful with our western methodology of learning theology. Our methods and theology were from the North, where we were educated and we were expecting our students to become western systematic thinkers when they grew up in a cosmological context.

The Changes We Had To Make In Our Ministry From This Point On Are The Challenges For Theological Education In Latin America:

We found ourselves reading the wisdom of educators and found two, who made a deep impression on us because of their philosophy of teaching and what they said about education had a direct connection with the Discipleship of Jesus in The New Testament.

Paul Fraire said, "To model the solution to problems is an answer to the education for the oppressed. The educator who models the solution to problems constantly reforms his own reflection in the reflection of the student.The students do not become docile listeners but become critical investigators along with the teacher."

And Os Guinness said, "If one looks carefully in Scripture, one may find that profound knowledge can not be thought with words. Some things can only be learned under the guidance of a teacher, under his experience and authority." Discipleship means to learn the how of things. All methods of training are profoundly rationalist.

1. To understand the student as a person, an autonomous, intelligent and capable human being instead of thinking of our students as incapable. Because of this, we developed innovative strategies of evaluation as a formative event instead of measuring the students' accumulation of knowledge. In cosmological cultures, it is more important to be wise and help the community than to be an individualistic know-it-all.

2. To develop educational models centered on the student as a generator of change in his own context.

We created an innovative approach to the curriculum with a lot of flexibility because it has to be done in this way in order to relate to the students' contextual needs. This helped us to design LEADERSHIP AND PASTORS' CLINICS, a place for learning where we move from the context to the theoretical answers.

3. We had to develop new strategies of interaction with our students where to be a facilitator means to model for the student.

This means cooperative learning, generated by the fact that the teacher is not a master who knows it all, but a facilitator, a disciple. In this sense, we integrated our two sons, Benz and Mario into our ministry as a way to experience cooperative learning and be a model to our students on evangelistic trips where they acted as clowns to share the Gospel.Cosmological cultures are based on models, archetypes that can be imitated instead of the self-made men from the anthropological learning cultures.

Finally, we became convinced of the need of for a democratization of theological knowledge for the church. Theological education has always been vertical from its European and North American origins and has been offered only to a selected group of people, who eventually become clergy as though the only gift in the church is that of the Teacher or Pastor. Seminaries must provide theological training to develop the rest of the spiritual gifts present in the local church.

Iris & Mario Morales