Centre for Missional Leadership

The Centre for Missional Leadership (CML) is the London School of Theology's second campus based in Watford, 20 miles northwest of central London. CML teaches applied theology with the aim of equipping Christians to be influential and transformational in each and every sphere of life.

About CML

Located on the Watford High Street, CML is an urban centre for Christian learning in the fields of applied theology and mission. The new facility has the express aim of equipping ordinary Christians to live as missional leaders in the secular sphere. As such the centre seeks to be a place of cultural engagement in which the students can explore ways in which they can most effectively relate God’s word to God’s world.

CML is unique in that it is exclusively committed to training Christians for non-church based ministries. Most theological colleges have an emphasis of training the minority of Christians who enter various forms of church based ministry. Many non-church based ministries have been developing over recent years and CML aims to be active in providing for the increasing need in this particular area of ministry.

Workplace ministry

Many people spend significantly longer working during the week than the time they spend at church. Movements that aim to equip people in the workplace are trying to create a shift in attitude from seeing work as a “necessary evil” to an incredible opportunity .

CML draws inspiration for its mandate from a paradigm shift in recent decades that rejects the false dichotomy and dualism of the sacred and secular divides . An early proponent of this thinking was the theologian John Stott, who through his seminal work with the Lausanne movement, sought to affirm the central calling to ministry and mission of all Christians, regardless of their field of work. A particular expression of Stott’s thinking reached culmination in the founding of LICC in1982, now lead by Mark Greene, who has been a visiting lecturer at CML. The aim of LICC is to encourage evangelical Christians to put all areas of their lives under the lordship of Jesus.

“Every honourable work should be seen by Christians as some kind of co-operation with God, in which we share with Him in the transformation of the world which He has made and committed to our care” (Stott, 1991, p. 148).

C. S. Lewis is said to have spoken enthusiastically about William Tynedale’s rejection of the secular/sacred divide . This is based on the Puritan ideals of leading an ordered and disciplined life that integrates both secular and religious aspects .

The Business as Mission Movement also seeks to equip Christians in the workplace. The movement was inspired by Billy Graham, and is a growing global movement that resources Christians to live out their faith in all aspects if the life and to have purpose, perspective and impact that glorifies the Kingdom of God.

Another inspiration of CML is the ‘Seven Mountains Movement’ that emerged after a meeting in 1973 between Bill Bright founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCCI) and Loren Cunningham founder of Youth with a Mission (YWAM). A consensus emerged from their meeting stating that if post-modern secular western countries where going to be re-evangelised, then the wider church needed to take seriously sending some of its best and brightest advocates into various secular spheres rather than encouraging them to leave such spheres of influence and serve the church. This was not a negative attitude towards the church, but it recognised that the church had retreated from cultural engagement and aimed to face the issue. Seven areas of strategic influence were highlighted, namely Arts and Entertainment, Business, Education, Family, Church, Government, and the Media. These fields are seen as particular culture shapers that are especially influential within the post-modern era. As the Seven Mountains movement emerged, the church was encouraged to repent for its retreat from these places of influence and instead infiltrate and permeate these areas as strategic mission outposts. CML stands within this line of thinking and is in the vanguard of seeking to provide theological and ministerial training that can rise to the challenge of this understanding.

CML and contemporary church history

The church in the UK has experienced an increasing set of challenges since the Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th century. It was at this point that science became more distinct from religion than it had ever been and people sought scientific proof for things that had not previously demanded explanation . Increasing pressures of the 18th century resulted in changes in society such as an increase in population, urbanization and increasing multi-culturalism. These changes led to society becoming increasingly materialist and “individualistic”. There has been criticism that the church is out of touch with the pressures that people in secular jobs face, and there have been moves to try and educate church leaders, such as the third Lausanne congress in Cape Town 2010.

CML is non-denominational and works with people from a variety of evangelical denominations. It does not seek to be a church, but to be a place that has the resources to equip the majority of people that live out their faith in the working world - an aspect that many churches struggle with in this rapidly changing country. The community at CML recognizes that participation in the wider church is a fundamental sphere of Christian life.

CML is an evangelical college and is part of the London School of Theology, the largest evangelical theological college in Europe. The Evangelical tradition places emphasis on personal conversion, sharing the Gospel, the inerrancy of the Bible and this historical event of Jesus’ death and resurrection. CML exists specifically to equip people for whole-life discipleship, reflected in courses offered such as Mission and Bible Overview.

History

CML was started as the Watford School of Leadership (WSOL), opening its doors in September 2009. Steve Cardell, a successful business man, along with Greg Downes, an Anglican priest, theologian and evangelist, pioneered WSOL. The college emerged relationally from St Andrew’s Chorleywood, where Steve Cardell was a member and Greg Downes was on staff as an associate minister.

In Spring 2010 it was announced that WSOL was to merge with the London School of Theology (LST), under the new name ‘Centre for Missional Leadership’. This change officially took place on September 1, 2010. CML operates as the Watford campus of LST, the largest evangelical theological college in Europe.

The future of workplace ministry

Over the past thirty years, significant progress has been made. However, there is still a long way to go.

“I believe one of the next great moves of God is going to be through the believers in the workplace". - Dr. Billy Graham.

Courses

CML offers a Certificate in Missional Leadership, a one-year programme that provides a bible overview, training in evangelism, mission and leadership skills. Everyday practitioners of these areas serve as lecturers of the course including: Mark Stibbe, William Challis, Gerald Coates, Charles Foster, Mark Greene, and George Verwer.

External links

CML Homepage: [1]