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SEAN began at real ‘grass-roots’ level, which is where
we try to keep it - but adaptable enough for all to use! The seeds
of the idea came and were developed initially in a rural area of
southern Chile by a missionary, Tony Barratt, running a Bible institute-cum-agricultural
training centre. This was for local indigenous Mapuche Christians
with leadership potential.
They were intelligent, able and keen but, with their minimum primary
education (and that in Spanish, their second language), it was impossible
for them to meet the entry requirements of the national church for
standard theological training. Also, in their poverty, they couldn’t
leave their smallholdings and families to go away to an alien environment
for a year or more for conventional theological training.
A different approach
Tony recognised the potential in the students - and also the total
unreality for them of the normal entry requirements, curriculum,
vocabulary, costs, etc, of ‘traditional training’. So
he experimented with new methods and courses, using them in the
Bible Institute and in another mission’s Theological Institute
in the nearest town.
Tony and Peggy Barratt
Both here and later, when he was transferred, in Paraguay and then
Argentina, gradually Tony developed a method that looked promising
- of programmed, self-study materials, combined with weekly group
tutorials. In both countries, a similar situation to that in southern
Chile reigned - potential leaders being excluded from traditional
theological training, together with a great shortage of pastors
for the growing number of churches in the vast indigenous rural
areas and also in the expanding capital cities. He realised the
only way to prepare them for leading the growing numbers of congregations
was to take the Bible College to the local church, instead of the
other way round.
Gradually, he and a small team developed the materials - initially
the Life of Christ Compendium. This was tested in depth with different
groups in the city and in the Chaco - and it worked. New leaders
were trained and began to take on the pastoring of churches. Tony
continued to write special programmed courses and leaders’
manuals which were first field-tested, then used for preparing pastors
and leaders in the local churches and, later, in other denominations
too.
Producing the books
This was no easy task in the early days! Every ‘frame’
(teaching paragraph/question) had to be typed on to wax masters
for reproducing on a Gestetner ink duplicator. On testing with volunteers,
whenever a ‘frame’ was found to be ambiguous or deficient
in any way, that whole master page had to be re-typed and, if the
change was radical, usually all the subsequent pages had to be re-typed,
too. It has been calculated that it would often take up to 600 hours
to produce one study/lesson before publishing!
Initially, everything was done at Tony’s family home - or
rather, in his garage. Writing, testing, duplicating hundreds of
copies, collating, stapling, storing, despatching, etc, involved
the whole family. From the outset, SEAN has always been prepared
to make maximum use of minimal resources!
Once photocopiers became available, paper masters could be made
for professional printers. Corrections could be written and pasted
over the previous version, rather than retyping whole pages; this
saved a great deal of time and money. Sometimes a course needed
up to six field-tests before it was considered adequate - and even
today, in 2001, modifications and updating are still in progress!
But what a revolution came with desktop computers; corrections and
amendments could be made with all the ease we now take for granted.
Praise God for modern technology!
And today, when groups apply to print and use SEAN in other countries,
we don’t have to send them a kilo or so of paper masters for
each text; one or two complete courses now fit easily on a single
CD weighing only a few grams - and can be reproduced easily, whether
it be five copies from a home computer, 50 copies from an ‘on
demand’ digital printer, or 500 or 5000 printed conventionally.
Responding to growth
When, eventually, the missionary returned to the UK, the SEAN International
Foundation was set up as an interdenominational mission and a registered
charity, to cope with the increasing demand from potential users
all over the world.
Initially storage and despatch of materials was undertaken by SAMS
(South American Mission Society) at the mission’s headquarters,
using volunteer help. As demand grew, however, it became necessary
for SEAN to have its own storage depot and full-time administrator
in the UK. In the 1980s and 90s, a caravan in rural Devon acted
as office and store. However, as the number of titles increased,
so did the weight of books and the amount of work involved - until
the reality of the inaccessibility of the situation was more than
apparent, and the caravan sagged as the work and number of titles
grew.
A move was essential to a more accessible and suitable UK site.
For six years, from 1996-2001 SEAN functioned in South London, in
a small location which acted as both office and storage space, but
with much of the stock stored in a garage (shades of its South American
origins!). As staff changes came about through retirement and the
needs of a continually-growing ministry, the SEAN UK office re-located
in June 2001 to a bigger and more easily-accessible site (back in
Devon - at Weycroft Hall - and not in a caravan this time) and with
new personnel.
To the ends of the earth
SEAN is a mission society - but without missionaries; it’s
a ministry - but without ministers! It doesn’t send people
overseas to teach and train nationals for ministry. Rather, it provides
the means - TEE tools, these SEAN courses - for enabling the local
church to evangelise, to nurture and disciple, to teach, and to
train leaders. In fact, to do mission and ministry themselves. It
trains them where they are, whether it be in Outer Mongolia or in
Mozambique, in Yakutsk or York, in Uzbekhistan or Ulster, in Albania
or in Axminster (and these are just a few of the places where there
are SEAN programmes).
SEAN International's current office
at Vina del Mar, Chile
So we thank the Lord for the way that, from that first vision,
He has caused this ministry to grow; and we thank Him, too, for
the hundreds of thousands of students worldwide who are committed
to growth and ministry in His service.
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new office conversion work can be completed, work for which is now
well under way.
