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A big thank you to having been
introduced to our principal, the Mukanu principal, and obviously
the organizer of this conference. And thank you to all the other
organizers as well. We slept well. This is a very
cold country. I really will be going back to
Zimbabwe. I'm not going to stay around. I know a lot of Zimbabweans stay Let me begin by advertising a
book which is in our Christian bookshop, 12 Ways Your Cell Phone
is Changing You. I thought this book is quite
relevant to the talk that we are going to have this morning.
12 Ways Your Cell Phone Someone said it's artificial,
isn't it? And I said there is nothing artificial
about artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is only
artificial because it tries to mimic human behavior. Actually,
we are trying to make it be so accurate to human behavior. But
there's nothing artificial about artificial intelligence. to actually do research in cancer
research. AI right now is being used in
ground-breaking ways of coming with cancer treatments. So there
is nothing artificial about artificial intelligence. What is it all
about? Well, predicting the future by
reflecting on Now, we're supposed to prophesy
the future. Now, in order to go forward,
you need to go backward. So we need to reflect and say,
how is the Church of Africa doing in terms of its authenticity
and integrity in the moment? Lo and behold, there comes a
book by this gentleman, Archie, I'm sorry, it's a tiny print
at the moment, so we cannot all see. see it, but this gentleman
here, our Archim is a priest in Austria. What basically he
did, he did a great service to us as the African continent.
He went back 25 years and looked at all the PhD dissertations
that had been submitted by Africans specifically. Africans who are
now running theological institutions were now presidents and were
now bishops in the African continent. And what he did then, he discovered
that all, most of those institutions he was looking at, about a hundred
of them, all these bishops, all these presidents, all these men
and women that were running theological education, all of them plagiarized. the corruption of the original
institution by plagiarism in dissertation. Therefore, if I
plagiarized and now I am hating Kanyu, what it means is that
if I went to Harvard School, that means that the professor
with oversight over me did not do a proper job. That means that
the name of Harvard is to be put under disrepute because of
me. Do not undermine what a lack
of integrity will do to the witness of Jesus Christ. The corruption
of theological institution by dissertation. education that we have right
now. And my proposition is going to be in this way. Let's look
at our visions right now. So I'm going to begin by looking
at the vision of a very wonderful institution called Mukanya. You can see that they paid me
well. Mukanya gives glory. This is
the mission. So I'm just going to be capturing the aims, the
visions, and the mission statement of these institutions. Mukanya
gives glory to God by equipping pastors and other Christians
in Africa. The same institute is a state
its vision is following. Mukanya College is decentralized
training network with the multiple sites delivered in Africa that
provides biblical education for church and society. and other Christians by offering
education at various levels and within several disciplines, including
theological studies and teacher training. The multi-ethnic body
of students at Mukanyo receive biblical in-service training
for ministry in Africa. In the African context, Mukanyo
serves churches by equipping their pastors and other Christians Now, let me go yonder and go
to a college called Dombo Shaba Theological College. I can see
you, sorry. I can see the smile. The purpose
of Dombo Shaba Theological College is to offer contextually relevant
programs that bring theological soundness and increase the effectiveness
of the church. Central Africa Baptist University,
I can see you brothers, I can see you, is committed to facilitating
obedience to great commission until Christ has been made known
by reproducing gospel, preaching churches in every village, town,
city, and across Africa. What is common about these institutions? I know that you're mission, your
institution. I'm sorry time does not permit
me to do so. What is common about these institutions? These institutions seek to produce
church leaders that are faithful to the mission of God. These
men and women who must faithfully follow the mission of God. So
there are three things that actually define Bible education. These are, the Bible is the only
text. The Bible is the only text. Secondly,
the transformative nature of our theology. And finally, the
church is a critiquing community of our learning. Now, let's begin
by looking at this philosopher. This philosopher, he said, we
are not riding the train, but the train is riding us. Right? He all of a sudden realized
one day that as technology develops, technology begins to run those
that created it. Just let a phone ring right now
and see what happens. the Creator becomes run by the
being that He created. So this is what we are going
to be looking at together. The aim and vision of Bible education,
the content of Bible education, the process of Bible education,
the policies of Bible education, the institution of Bible education,
the personnel of Bible education, and I'm going I want you to fight with the
time keeper if he lets me stop before I've given you recommendations.
Right? That's how you set yourself up.
Now, the aim and vision of Bible education. What will change? To produce change leaders whose
sole mission is to glorify God. That's why we exist. Three ingredients
of Bible education. The Bible is the only text. Hebrews
4. I hope the Bible is still the
only text of the Bible institutions. The church is the only critical
community. First Timothy, chapter three,
verses one to seven. Someone will say, why would you
put that text there? Because that's about the qualifications
of an elder. An elder must be this, an elder
must be that. The question is, which are these
looking in eyes? Who are these people that are
evaluating? What a leader should be is the
church that evaluates the leaders that we produce. Transformation and spiritual
formation is the only goal of theological education. Romans
12 verses 1 and 2. Let's look at this text here. Transformation and the biblical
foundation. Romans 8 verse 29 and 30. For those whom He foreknew, He
also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order
that He might be the firstborn among many. And those whom he
predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he
also justified. And those whom he justified,
he also glorified. Transformation is then the heart
of every spiritual formation. Hoti hos progon kai pro aboresi
soma phos tes egnos to quios autu. The image of His only Son,
etnos, from where we get the word image, or idol, etnos, the
image of His only Son. We have been called to be conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why are these things
important? These things are important because
AI We will transform these things. If we are not careful, AI is
going to transform all of these things. AI is going to challenge
the Bible as the only text of Bible education. AI is going
to challenge the church as the only critical community for our
Bible education. AI is going to challenge the
transformative nature of our education. Because in AI, you
have access to data without a demand for transformation. So that's why we need to remind
ourselves are important. So this is what
our education is all about. The content of Bible education. How is AI going to change the
content of Bible education? If I may then tip ourselves the
apologetics between the Western world and our world, the Western
church and our church. The African apologetics, we are
still trying to prove the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is the African apologetic. I can see the powers of the ancestral
spirits. I can see the challenges of the
continent, the disease and everything. Is Jesus Christ and Christianity
sufficient enough to address those needs? Versus the Western
apologetic. The Western apologetic says,
does God exist? They are now into the existence
of God debate. Therefore, whenever you use AI,
AI automatically ushers you into that discussion. As an African,
you find yourself talking about openness of God theory. Basically, the openness of God
theory says that God is not self-determining. God waits to negotiate with human
beings. That was the first thing that
approached me when I went to go to a seminar in America. First
year student, and I went to argue about the openness of God. Come
on, I'm an advocate. Bible software. We have BibleWorks,
we have Accordance, we have Locus. These are very expensive software,
right? Most of our institutions, year
in and year out, we must pay in our membership into these
Bible software, right? In fact, BibleWorks decided just
to cut off the program without giving you any money. This was
a 350 US dollar program that I bought. Coming to Africa, I
only had the software forever in perpetuity to use. But they
just cut it off. Good news. If you say AI, give
me the whole text of John 1-1 in Greek, AI just goes and gives
it back to you. Not only is AI able to give you
John 1-1, the whole text to you, but AI will conjugate and replace
for you. Do you know those Greek students? Those sleepless nights? Remember
those sleepless nights? Yeah, you know the 1 o'clock
to 5 o'clock pacing and conjugating verbs and nouns? But right now,
in a split second, AI can give you all the information that
I need. Manuscripts in Greek and Hebrew. The Western institutions, your
Harvard, your Gordon Coulter, your Trinity, they used to bribe
themselves. Come, if you want to the center
of living, because we have the original manuscripts. And we
bought them by 10 million millions of dollars. AI can give me that
right now, even in Syria. Bible translation. Let me talk
about a Zimbabwean context. There is Ndebele translation.
In 2003, we had a particular version, but in 2022, we have
now produced another version, because the Ndebele of Zimbabwe
keeps on evolving, language change. Therefore, if we are going to
have translation being done traditionally, we are not going to keep up,
but praise God for AI. Local but global discussions. Our students and our lecturers
right now, you can sit down and have discussions with people
in Austria. You can have discussions with
brothers and sisters in Nigeria on a specific topic. So you can
be local, but your conversation now becomes global. The challenge
is, do you know how to critically engage with the material that
you are receiving? The question of contextual relevance. AI claims to be contextual relevant. It does, it does, it does. It
will claim that it is contextual relevant. However, AI is not
African context sensitive. AI is not Africa context sensitive. When will AI become contextual
sensitive? It is only when we, as Africans,
enter data into its algorithms. And how is your participation
into AI so far? Do I belong to the devs? Let's move on to the process
of Bible education. Lecture educator benefits in
AI. Let me give you some benefits.
I know that this is not, I know there is a, how we can use AI. I'm sorry, I'm now gravitating
to your field here. I'm the first one to speak, so
I have the mic. Sorry. The lecture on Educator
Benefits of AI. As a lecturer right now, you
can ask AI to help you prepare for your lesson plans. You can
ask AI to just summarize the whole book of Regan Hebrews.
It will do that for you. You can ask AI to help you draft
quizzes. and exams, you can actually ask
AI to mark for you. Yeah, I'm painfully, painfully
positive. Student benefits to AI. Wow. Yeah. Do you feel the bed?
Yeah, it's cold, so that's why I'm bedding. I'm here and I'm
supposed to warm myself, you know, as we are beginning Student
benefits we have. A student can, if you just tell
the student, this is what we are studying. With the rightful
terms and terminologies, a student can instantly know more than
their lecturer. If a student can enter the right
terms and terminologies, quiz AI in the rightful way, they
can know more than you as a lecturer. Can do. Right now, If I had time,
if Brian had given me time, and I would ask you what to teach,
I'm not a church history person, I'm a biblical guy. I live in
biblical studies. If I ask you as a historian,
to say, you know, to ask me all these particular questions, and
I entered in those details, right now, I can know more. As you
know. AI can write these things for
students. AI can write assignments for
students. AI can write reports for students. AI can write notes for students. AI can transform student voices
into text. I know you're looking angry.
You need to be exorcised of that demon of thinking that lecturers
know more. You need to be exorcised. Come
on. Breathe in. Breathe in. Breathe in. Breathe in. Because most of us,
we went to school so that we can be cool-jacketed. Professors
who know more than our lecturers. Where if I stand here, I'll just
pools of knowledge and my students know nothing. And just watch
them just with googly eyes just leaning from me. I'm sorry. Content engagement versus focused,
no, content engagement, please read, not contents. Content engagement
versus not processes, right? I've taken, I do history lessons. Professors, history professors,
can I see your hands? Can I see your hands? Let me
teach this. That's why you're not here. Oh, there's one of
you. There's one of you. God bless
your soul. The taking of notes in the history
classes. But now, we can forget about
taking notes. You can just tell us as students
to write notes and AI can provide those notes for us. And you get
the notes for us. And instead of us spending time
writing notes, we can begin to engage. in the content than wasting
time taking notes. In fact, we can even summarize
all those beautiful historical volumes and begin to focus on
engagement. If critical engagement with the
content so that then I arrive at my own position is not learning,
then what is learning? Promotion of critical thinking
and reflection. The words critical thinking are
going to be the words of the next generation. Critical thinking. That's what it's going to be.
Because that has been made available to us. But the question is, are
we poised for critical thinking? Our African students are the
students that we've taught in a rote way. The professor reads, and we just
master what the professor has said, we don't, I think, critically
engage with the data ourselves. That needs to be something for
the STI. Please, if I'm left with 20 minutes,
tell me, because at the moment, I'm just waffling stuff, which
is not as important to me as I would like it to be. Now, as
an African scholar, as an African scholar, as an African scholar,
I've learned a lesson, historical lesson in academia, which is
having people discuss about you and never asking you I don't care the way you lecture
or whatever. We all, you know, you visit America
and they talk about, this is Brian, you know, he's doing a
wonderful job in Africa. And then they start talking about
how they love you, how they want to sponsor you. And they're not
asking you how they should sponsor you. That is our African story.
Now, I did not want to do the same with AI. So what did I do? I asked the AI. And I said, AR,
I've learned lessons in a hard way. So AR, tell me, what are
some of the benefits that you're going to give to the African
context in the coming? And AR gave me seven ways in
which it's going to transform our learning. Here are the ways. AR said, through chat, I'm using
a platform called ChatGPT, because there are many platforms. I know
that some of us that are gurus IT, so please, you will correct
us when we get there, but now, just let me go with this one.
ChatGBT. So, ChatGBT, number one, it says
to me, it says, one, I'll give you access to education. Number
two, I'll give you personalized learning. Number three, language
translation. Number four, enhanced scholarship,
community building, cultural relevance, resource So now let's talk about the process
of theological education, right? Let's talk about the process
of theological education. So we've already spoken about
that. So promotion of critical thinking, the question of curriculum
completion period, let's talk about that one quickly. Now, it takes one to two years to
complete a certificate or a diploma. It takes three years to get a
degree. are now old and you're still
doing your PhDs for 10 years, 15 years, or whatever you've
done. Now, if we are no longer grappling for resources, if we
are no longer grappling for the data that we need, and the data
has been made available to us, do we still need to take the
same time to complete qualifications? I'm not going to answer that.
That is a question of air. That is a question of air. No,
Jesus Christ, he slept with this example for three years. Really.
So that's why students must suffer for three years. I remember,
I remember... I'm not a bright person, but
I remember I did a thesis paper on an MA dissertation work, and
I remember a professor saying to me, this is a PhD work. And
only for me to be turned down by one professor to say, but
a PhD must take four years. But the work was good enough,
but the period wasn't good enough. You see how happy I am with it? Now, this is where I would like
to dwell. And I have more than... Praise
God. Praise God. I have 20 minutes,
right? Thank you, sir. 20 minutes. This is where I would like to
dwell. If your institution has not already
begun We all need to revisit our academic
policies, our regulations, and include in them the new baby
on the block, AI. What are the permissibles of
using AI? And the non-negotiables of using
AI? How are you empowering your students
to use AI? Because if you ignore AI and
think that it's something that's going to go away, let me just
prophesy to you, AI is not going away. It's not one of those things
where people say, ah, you know, it's just these young people,
they like shiny, shiny things, it's going to go. AI is not going
away. And why am I saying AI is not
going away? The amount of money that the
children of the world are investing in AI, tells me that AI is not
going away. So, policy updates. Our policy
was formed by our missionary in 1957. That is what we are
still doing. And so, possibly the students
that you passed this semester used the AI And when we finally,
when a guy like that guy then finds them later on and they
are president in the middle, your institution is going to
be corrupted. Your institution is going to
be corrupted. So there's a need for us to consider AI seriously. This is a statement, you can
see that I'm trending on a train here, it has moved. This is a
statement that I've crafted, it's not coming from somewhere
else. And it says this, if the statement, authenticity and integrity
are tools of God's missiological agenda to reconcile the world
to himself, I'll read it again. If the statement, authenticity
and integrity are tools of God's missiological agenda to reconcile
the world to itself, is allowed to govern attitudes
towards plagiarism, then the past and present status quo cannot
be allowed to prevail. Remember Ezekiel chapter 36,
verse 20 to 23, where God says that my name is being maligned
in the world because of you. If we allow church adolescence
to go on, we as the African church, we have a 2030 agenda, 2050 agenda. We have this positivity about
the African church in 2030 is going to be the biggest church,
the African in 2050 is going to be the biggest church, and
it's going to influence the world. Please don't talk to Zimbabweans
about 28, because there's someone who wants to be the president
then. He's always talking about 28, 28. So when we talk about
28, we're also thinking, okay, but there is a positivity about
the future of the African church. Here comes the question. What
sort of contribution is the African church going to make to the global
church? when we are committed on steroids. What then that means is that
every African produced, declared by our dissertation is going
to be suspect before being read. I want the African nation to
make a contribution. God has done something to Africa.
We cannot ignore this. So plagiarism is a huge problem. And, therefore, here comes the
issue. How do we deal with plagiarism? How do we deal with plagiarism?
We deal with plagiarism by giving it its proper definition. You
know, in academia, when you say plagiarized, plagiarized, it
sounds nice, you know, it's like plagiarized. Ah, just plagiarized,
I mean, plagiarized. No, call it by its proper name. What is plagiarism's proper name? It is sin. It's not stealing. It is sin. In fact, in fact,
let me show you how plagiarism breaks six of the commandments
of God. Just watch this. Commandment number one. You shall
have no other gods before me. The plagiarizer intentionally
ignores the command of God in order to attain a grade for a
qualification of sorts. In other words, nothing will
stand between the plagiarizer and the qualification, which
has, in a sense, become a god in itself. Commandment number
two, you shall not make idols. An idol is defined as anything
that takes the place of God. Plagiarism is done at a high
risk of the plagiarizer who has determined that the qualification
to be attained is worth their every integrity and honor. In
short, an idol. Commandment number three, you
shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain or by goodness. When an educator or student in
Bible education plagiarizes, they place the reputation of
God, His people, and institutions on the line. God's mission to
redeem the world through exemplary say in our devotion, you showed
us that at the center of fellowship is the transformation of those
that are in fellowship. Because we are in fellowship
with one another, but we are in fellowship with the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. In fellowship with one another
and being transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. God's mission to redeem the world through exemplary living
and reputation is undermined. Therefore, this is taking God's
name in vain. Commandment eight, you shall
not steal. When an educator or student of
the Bible claims that someone else's wickedness, such an act
is stealing proper. Since academic work attracts
financial reward and other related benefits, when an individual
claims that someone else's work is their own, they have not robbed
the original owner only financially, but of other unmeasurable benefits
like accolades and reputation. We are here at Muganyo. Some
of you are living two by two, some of you are living three
by three, but those that are presenting some work are living
by themselves in nice and comfortable homes. Accolades. These are benefits. Commandment number nine, you
shall not bear false witness. This is my work. Do I need to
even read that one? Commandment number ten, you shall
not carve it. A plagiarizer. Am I supposed
to stop? Okay. Sorry, me and technology,
we are friends. So when it rings, I think that
it wants me to do something. You shall not covet. A plagiarizer
goes beyond coveting. That is wishing that what belongs
to someone else should be theirs. The plagiarizer gate is literally
taking someone's work and they say, now it's mine. Six of the
commandments just broken by plagiarizing. And what does that do? That goes
against the grain of the aims and the mission of theological
education. You are seeking to transform
someone, but they are now a thief. So they should not live, they
should not qualify. That totally goes against the
transformative nature of our theological education. So if
the African church is going to make a worldwide contribution
to the world, we must learn how to deal with the issue of plagiarism
in the age of AI, where AI is now providing us with all the
data that we need. So if you as an institution have
not drafted a policy that shows the students their limits and
their permissions on using AI, you have not begun. You can't
regulate that which you don't understand. I know we have time to talk.
I know we have time to talk. Now, how will AI change institutions
of theological education? We are going to hit these ones
very quickly. In terms of infrastructure, resources, the manuscripts are
made available, discussions and so on. Administrational benefits.
Through AI, you can put on the names of your students and ask
AI to do wonders with that. You mark the register, how many
students are paid, and so on. AI can help you do that. I know
that general technology can help you do that, but AI can exponentially
help you do that. Library benefits. Remember our
sufferings for the Lord. I have suffered for the Lord.
Why? How have you suffered for the Lord? I brought five suitcases
full of books from America. And when I got to the border,
they wanted me to pay. And I said, no, the lotters don't
want me to pay. And they let me through. The facilities management, however,
here comes the challenge. Job losses are a reality. And here's my advice to you,
my brothers and sisters, a quick one, quick advice. My advice
to you is start using AI or you will lose your jobs. That was
the adage that I heard in America. That's how the Americans are
speaking. Let's start using AI or we are going to lose our jobs.
Because when you begin to use AI, you are inputting into AI
and learning how to critically engage with AI. Then when you
critically engage with AI, AI gives you time. And when you
have time, then you have time to do research. And when you
have time to do research, then you can write articles. Then
you become someone that we need for opportunity. start using
AI or you will lose your jobs. The final one, educators of Bible
education, the benefits to the students and the benefits to
the lecturers. Educators of Bible education,
the relationship is being transposed. The relationship of Bible education
is that the lecturers are the mentors. They take the place,
in a particular way, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Disciples learned
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we teach what we call
the explicit curriculum and the implicit curriculum. The caught
curriculum and the uncaught curriculum. What is the caught curriculum?
The caught curriculum is me looking at the life of Dr. Roy Msasua. teaching that, what he does,
how he prays, how he relates to his wife, how he talks to
others, his demonstration of humility. That is why we buy-book
education institutions, because we have what we call the null
curriculum. And that may be changed by AI,
because there's no person in AI. Discipleship is relational versus
data access. Right? I think I put it there. Luke chapter 6 verse 38 to 40. This is Jesus. He told them a
parable. Can a blind man eat a blind man?
Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above
his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be
like him. When AI becomes a teacher, who do you emulate? in the air. Here are my quick
recommendations. Don't be angry with me. Please
just talk with her. Thank you. Thank you. I like people to be
happy. When you get angry with me, I
just misunderstand what's going on. All right. So here are my
recommendations. Here are the recommendations.
Four recommendations. High-leveling evaluation. Let our questions
and our course material be those of higher learning evaluations. What is higher learning evaluation?
Higher learning evaluation is the evaluation that demands a
student to demonstrate. Demonstrate your skills. Demonstrate
your evaluation skills. Give me examples rather than
just give me data. Right? Let's stop asking for
data because we are not the sources of data anymore. Professor, your
head is not full of data anymore. Data is out there. It is in the
clouds. So if you want to know if a student
has learned something, let them demonstrate the skill. Let them
be like Jesus. After Jesus had been with the
disciples, he sent them out to demonstrate the skills that he
had taught them. Right? They went, he sent them out,
and they came back, gave the report, and he said, alright,
good, I think you've done a good job, but remember, it's about
you being saved, not about demons and stuff like that, right? Remember? Minister skills versus data transfer. Critical thinking and reflection.
Africa, we need critical thinking. Maybe we should have a, just
a, Or maybe we should just have
a seminar on critical thinking. What is critical thinking? Institutional
principles updates a yesterday call. Please hear me out. Please
hear me out. Please revisit your institutional
policies. And finally, how will AI change
education in Africa? This discussion here, you may
disagree with me. It's fine. We'll have a cup of
coffee later. I'm saying, I'm arguing that
AI will definitely change education in Africa, and in these ways.
Benefits for lecturers, educators, and the challenges therein. Benefits
for students, and the challenges therein. Institutional benefits,
and the challenges therein. So I am glad that amongst the How do we look at the challenges
that AI brings, and we hone the benefits that AI can also give
us. May the Lord, the gracious Lord,
bless us as we move forward.
How Will AI Change Bible Education in Africa?
Series TEASA Consultation 2024
| Sermon ID | 61924102343347 |
| Duration | 44:14 |
| Date | |
| Category | Conference |
| Language | English |
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