It is important to remember that up to the time of the Enlightenment there was only one discipline of theology.

Under the influence of the Enlightenment a division between theory and practice emerged. This division developed further into the four separate disciplines of Bible, church history, systematic theology and practical theology.

Integrated Leadership Development does not work with these separate disciplines but seeks to integrate them through the practice of interactive theology.

A particular subject like salvation (soteriology) will for example be covered through the process of exegesis. The Biblical answers obtained are then applied to a specific context for the individual and society. How to effectively communicate these answers in the specific context is then worked out.

The way in which the church through the ages has answered its questions will also be taken into consideration. The answers are to be applied to the present situation to test their relevance. In this way all the different theological disciplines are integrated. 

Self-theologising

 By developing a curriculum that equips the church to find theological answers for itself, a major need is fulfilled. Where missiology has been proposing for a long time that churches should be self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating, it has neglected the element of self-theologising.

The latter is probably the most important one of all these 'selves'. For example how can a planted church in a poor country be self-supporting if it follows a model of ministry that can only function within a wealthy Western setting? In such a case the planted church should know how to develop a model of ministry that could be self-supporting and that is based on Biblical absolutes.