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The young John Frame teaching at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia

Dr. John M. Frame has distinguished himself as a prolific author and one of America’s foremost theologians and philosophers—significantly shaping the thought of Evangelicalism today. Many of today’s most influential Christian leaders and authors, like Tim Keller and John Piper, readily acknowledge the significant impact John Frame has had on them.

“I should like to think that tomorrow’s Reformed leaders will add John Frame’s name to that list; I believe they should.” – J. I. Packer

Commenting on the continuation of protestant reformation theology since the time of Martin Luther and John Calvin, J. I. Packer writes in his foreword to Frame’s Systematic Theology:

“Three parts of the world have since made major contributions to the Reformed heritage, each engendering its own conflicts and loyalties:

  • England saw the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Puritan development, from William Perkins to John Owen, exploring life in Christ in and through the Holy Spirit;
  • nineteenth-century Holland produced the Kuyperian theology of human and Christian culture within a Reformed frame; 
  • and the twentieth-century witnessed, within the conservative Presbyterian world, the ongoing quest for Reformed methodological authenticity, in which B. B, Warfield, Geerhardus Vos, J. Gresham Machen, and Cornelius Van Til are, by common consent, the leading names.

I should like to think that tomorrow’s Reformed leaders will add John Frame’s name to that list; I believe they should.”

After 49 years of distinguished service as a seminary professor at three seminaries, Dr. John Frame retired in 2017. But his influential writing ministry continues today. Although widely known and deeply respected in church leadership and academic circles for decades, his works are now, finally, becoming well known to the general public.

Framing John Frame: 4 Parts

With the goal of helping introduce Frame and his writings more widely to the general public, Childers wrote this four-part series below called “Framing John Frame,” that was later published as the foreword for the book, John Frame’s Selected Shorter Writings, Volume 1, by P&R Publishing. The goal of this series is to help more people begin mining the rich theological, philosophical, and practical gems that have for too long been mostly in the hands of academics and church leaders.


The Applied Theology Project

Since 2016, John Frame and Steve Childers have been collaboration on the Applied Theology Project. The mission of the Applied Theology Project is to provide accessible, affordable, seminary-level courses to underserved church leaders in their language and adapted to their culture wherever they live and serve.

The vision for the Applied Theology Project is to use the latest advances in educational technology to help bring all the loci of Systematic Theology to the millions of church leaders, especially in the developing world, who have no access or cannot afford high quality traditional seminary education. – John Frame

Childers and Frame have written 9 book manuscripts so far and published their first four online courses called Foundations of Theology, Essentials in Theology, Perspectives in Theology, and Applications in Theology – on the Pathway Learning online library of courses. Books and courses on Justification in Theology, Gospel in Theology, Theology of Faith: Apostles’ Creed, Theology of Hope: Lord’s Prayer, and Theology of Love: Ten Commandments coming soon.


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I’d like to introduce you to some of my friends and the ministry partners we serve, but I can’t use their photos because they’re serving in the underground church in China, facing persecution.

So this is a photo of one of our recent monthly secure video conference meetings with church leaders and seminary students in several Chinese cities who are taking a Pathway Learning course in church planting. The man in the photo is Moses, my translator, an ordained minister in Orlando, and part-time director of Pathway Learning’s curriculum development. 

The church in communist China is facing some of the most severe persecution in decades. In 2016, Pathway Learning began providing the essential training needed to equip Chinese leaders to develop strong, healthy churches that transform lives and communities in the face of great suffering.

I can show you this picture below taken in Chengdu China in December 2018 with pastor Wang Yi, one of the top national leaders of the underground church. He was taken into custody a few days after this photo was taken and is still in prison today for his faith. This is his third Christmas in prison.

Steve Childers with pastor Wang Yi in December 2018 just days before he was imprisoned. This is his third Christmas in prison for his faith.

But the good news is that the churches in the underground movement in China are continuing to flourish – even in the face of persecution and the Covid pandemic.

I haven’t been able to return to China since the last wave of persecution. But in God’s providence, because our online learning platform was already developed, Pathway Learning is continuing to equip these leaders and many more.

In 2020 we began a new partnership with one of the most influential seminaries serving the Chinese underground church with more than 600 students, mostly from mainland China.

This month we’ll complete our first pilot course in church planting, with more than 30 Chinese leaders using our innovative online platform that is designed for interactive learning in group cohorts. Last week the seminary president sent me this encouraging message:

Our use of Pathway Learning has been a great success. These leaders must normally study online alone … but now through their Pathway Learning courses they experience the joy of learning together, being equipped, growing, and serving in the same class as though in a physical seminary.

When you give to Pathway Learning, you help equip underserved church leaders with the training and tools they need to plant and develop churches among the persecuted church in China and around the world.

Give today, and bring lasting hope to those facing persecution for their faith.

For the King!

steve

Steven L. Childers
President and CEO, Pathway Learning

WAYS TO GIVE

Online
Give using your credit card through our secure online form

Phone
Call us at 407-682-6942

Check by Regular Mail
Pathway Learning, P.O. Box 2062
Winter Park, FL 32790

Matching Gift
Your employer may also be able to double your gift. Please ask them.

Give a Gift of Stock
You may give securities either by transfer of the certificate of ownership or through account transfer arranged by your broker. In each case, you avoid the tax on any potential gain and receive a deduction for the full fair market value of securities. To give a gift of stock, email us at staff@pathwaylearning.org, call us at 407-682-6942, or write us at P.O. Box 2062, Winter Park, FL 32790.


We help underserved church leaders develop churches that transform lives and communities

Happy New Year and Great News!

Steve —  December 29, 2020 — Leave a comment

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From all of us here at Pathway Learning, we want to wish you a very happy and safe new year!

And we have some great news: We have received a matching grant for up to $50,000. Your gift will be doubled and will help Pathway meet the extraordinary demand we are receiving for our training.

When we first designed our innovative online and onsite courses for church leaders who could not access affordable training in traditional schools, we had no idea that the world would be turned upside down by a pandemic.

But today we give thanks to God for the remarkable compatibility of our courses with the new realities of our COVID-19 world, and the amazing new doors God is now opening for us to serve around the world.

The map above shows the areas of the world where church leaders are taking Pathway Learning online courses. But we also serve hundreds, maybe thousands, more church leaders around the world who do not have access to the internet – especially in Muslim West African and the persecuted in China.

For a closer look at some of our major global projects, just pick one below, click the link, and praise God with us for what he did in 2020:

Can we count on you to help us in 2021? Your help now tells us that you want to join with us and be a vital part of this unique ministry opportunity to help church leaders develop strong, healthy churches that transform lives and communities worldwide this new year.

May God richly bless you and your family in 2021.

For the King!

steve

PS: Donate now. Remember, a gift of $100 means $200 to Pathway Learning. Please prayerfully consider us in your end of the year giving. Thanks again!

Steven L. Childers
President and CEO, Pathway Learning

WAYS TO GIVE

Online
Give using your credit card through our secure online form

Phone
Call us at 407-682-6942

Check by Regular Mail
Pathway Learning, P.O. Box 2062
Winter Park, FL 32790

Matching Gift
Your employer may also be able to double your gift. Please ask them.

Give a Gift of Stock
You may give securities either by transfer of the certificate of ownership or through account transfer arranged by your broker. In each case, you avoid the tax on any potential gain and receive a deduction for the full fair market value of securities. To give a gift of stock, email us at staff@pathwaylearning.org, call us at 407-682-6942, or write us at P.O. Box 2062, Winter Park, FL 32790.


We help underserved church leaders develop churches that transform lives and communities