Brazilian evangelical churches often depend on their pastors to do everything and in turn their pastors exercise a kind of managerial role over the flock. In Brazil, it is often only the pastor who can baptise or preside at the Lord's Supper. This becomes complicated when churches find themselves without a pastor for long periods at a time. Even in the general running of the church its members are sometimes restricted to the role of onlookers with a sense of admiration and frustration as the pastor takes charge.
In this book, I look at the theology behind this and, also, share examples of how this tendency to focus on the pastor as the centre of gravity within the local church was challenged through the creation of courses of theological education by extension, resulting in the equipping of ordinary Christians for their God-given vocation on the frontline of Christian mission.