Annual Report 2011
Respected Rev. Scott Alan Norling, founder president- Gospel Mission of India, Founder President-Bethel Bible College and honorable graduation speaker; Rev. Dr. P.N.S. Chandra Bose, president BBC; Mrs. Melody Norling-Vice President Gospel Mission of India; Mrs. Leela Bose-Member Executive; other dignitaries, graduating students, guests, friends, professors and students:
I have great joy in welcoming you all to the First BD graduation service of Bethel Bible College on this day the 26th March 2011. Particularly, hearty congratulations to all graduating students who have successfully completed their studies and ready to receive their college diploma this day.
At the outset, I sincerely acknowledge the immense contributions of Joyce Meyer Ministries to Bethel Bible College. Very specifically, with profound gratitude, I appreciate the earnest efforts of Rev. Scott Alan Norling- the International Consultant and Asia Director of Joyce Mayer Ministries and his beloved wife Mrs. Melody Norling in sharing the concerns of Bethel Bible College with Joyce Meyer Ministries and other like-minded ministries.
Special gratitude and appreciation to Gospel mission of India for the fervent support, encouragement and inspiration to provide sound, credible and enduring theological education to meet the various ministerial need of the church at large.
I also greet and thank all the dedicated and committed individuals, organizations and churches that are recommending candidates for theological education and ministerial formation at Bethel Bible College.
A Special Day
The 26th March 2011 is a special day in the history of Bethel Bible College. BBC was serving the multifaceted ministerial need of the churches from the year 2000 by offering G.Th., B.Th. and M.Div. programs with accreditation from Asia Theological Association. Although these programs continued until 2009, the vision of the founders of the college to offer a widely accepted degree program for committed men and women for ministerial training came into fruition in 2005 when the college got affiliated with the Senate of Serampore College to offer BD degree studies. As the first batch of 24 BD students are going to be graduated today, we rejoice in the Lord for enabling us to witness this eventful day. We give all glory and honour to God with humility and humble before him to seek his grace and guidance as we continue our sincere commitment for theological education. We earnestly pray that God will effectively use these 24 graduating students for the extension of His kingdom.
Students and Faculty: A Brief Report (2010-11):
From the inception of BD programat BBCthere has always been a steady inflow of students representing different churches, regions, languages and cultures. We thank God that the trend continues. The 2010-11 session of the college was started on the 6th June 2010. Compared to the previous years there was a marked increase in the inflow of students for the academic year 2010-11. Due to constrain of accommodation and other infrastructure shortages we were unable to accommodate all the students who applied for admission. However, we were able to admit altogether 50 (fifty) new students who are committed to serve and confident of the call for ministry.
Of the fifty new students including five female candidates, 1 is from Shalome Church (GMI), 12 are from at least five different orders of Baptist church, 3 are from ECI, 21 are from CSI, and 13 are from different independent Churches.
In the process of screening the students we found that many students have left their previous prospective/lucrative jobs or studies and are committing themselves for ministerial training. Even some of them have joined the college after considerable years of ministry. Good number of married students has joined the program. At present we do not have family accommodation and it is one of our concerns.
The new student body represents the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Nagaland, New Delhi and Mizoram. As on today BBC has 163 students. Of them 11 are day scholars, 19 women and 152 hostlers. Of them, 24 students are going to be graduated today.
I thank all the students who have sincerely participated in the regular college activities and ensured the smooth functioning of day-today activities.
Faculty:
At present there are thirteen faculty members teaching different subjects in accordance with the curriculum of the Senate of Serampore College. I sincerely thank all of them for their dedicated service. Special word of appreciation to Mr. Maongtoshi Walling and Ms. Enolyne Lyngdoh for taking care of the students in the hostel; Mr. Saju Varghese N. for taking care of chapel and worship related matters of the community, Mr. George Philip for practical work, Mr. Sean D. House for being bursar and library-in-charge and Ms. Sonia John for guiding SCMI. I also thank all the faculty members who have been contributing to number of other programs.
I also earnestly acknowledge the contributions of the non-teaching and support-staff of BBC for the smooth functioning of the college
Besides, Rev. Khup, three of our faculty members are doing their doctoral studies with partial support from World Council of Churches. BBC also is instrumental in helping many of our faculty members to go for higher studies after teaching here for three years.
Our faculty members represented BBC in different programs. Mr. Sean D. House and Mr. Maongtoshi Walling participated a seminar held at Gurukul Theological College, Chennai on Green theology. Ms. Enolyne Lyngdoh and Mr. George Philip attended a Bible translation seminar held at Serampore College. Mr. Saju Varghese N. represented BBC in two seminars held at National Council of Churches at Nagpur and Ecumenical Christian Centre at Bangalore, respectively. Dr. Joy Panikkar, Ms. Sonia John and Mr. Rampaukopoing Michui involved in the pedagogical seminar held at Gurukul to orient the faculty members with the new curriculum which was introduced from June 2010.
One of our faculty members Mr. George Philip and a student Mr. DILEEP KUMAR KANDULA were invited by the Senate of Serampore College as faculty representative and student representative respectively to attend the Board and Senate meetings of the Senate of Serampore College held between 2nd to 5th of February 2011 in Nagaland.
I represented BBC in a meeting organized at HMI, and presented a paper “Role of religions in the context of divisions”. I also presented a paper at Gurukul Theological College in relation to the pedagogy of religions. Besides I wrote an article for SPCK, England titled “Sonship in John’s Gospel”.
Practical Work
Week-end and intensive practical work are integral part of theological education at BD level. As week-end ministry, this year our BD students were able to minister in 17 different centers which include Churches, Sunday school, prayer meetings, women fellowship, children home etc. We want to specially thank Rev. Scott Alan Norling for his warm welcome, rich hospitality and time to our students and providing our students with the possibility of visiting and learning from different concerns in Hyderabad. We also look forward to move forward in this regard as it paves way for widening our relationship with various ministries and exposing our students to the various need of the church and society. Special word of thanks is to Mr. George Philip-the practical work-in-charge for all the initiatives. I also thank Rev. Dr. P.N.S. Chandra Bose, the President of BBC for encouraging and supporting all our initiatives.
Events:
Apart from the routine programs of the college, the decennial college day celebrations were organized on the 4th November 2010 with a thanks giving worship service, to thank God for his grace and guidance during the past ten years. We recalled the different phases of transitions that have taken place during this period. The celebration also included sports and cultural events.
To mark the fifth death anniversary of Bishop Rev. Dr. Victor Premasagar, a lecture by Rt. Rev. Dr. Surya Prakash, was organized on the 1st December 2010.
Future of BBC
As BBC is growing fast we are faced with the shortage of accommodation for students and faculty members. I gratefully appreciate all the sincere efforts of Rev. Dr. P.N.S. Chandra Bose for constructing one more floor on the existing hostel building to meet the accommodation need of single students. Of course the work is half way through. We hope it will be completed before the beginning of next academic session in the first week of June. I also thank Dr. Leela Bose for accommodating 30 of our students in the school building during the current academic year. She also generously donated money towards the college sports prizes. Planning for family accommodation for married students is another concern.
At present majority of our faculty members reside out side of the college campus in rented houses. As theological education is a residential program, a comprehensive accommodation plan for the faculty will be of much help.
A spacious library is another immediate need. The existing library is too small in terms of capacity, and facilities in accordance with the number of students. As some of our faculty members who are on study leave will return to BBC soon, a spacious and improved library will be of significant booster to move our ministerial training from Bachelor level to master and further.
It is inspiring that Rev. Scott Alan Norling and Rev. P.N.S Chandra Bose along with their entire family members are leaving no stone unturned to cope with the increasing need of the college in terms providing quality education, better accommodation, improved facilities and congenial atmosphere for theological education. I sincerely thank them from the bottom of heart.
Once again I profusely thank Joyce Meyer Ministries, particularly, Rev. Scott Alan Norling and Mrs. Melody Norling for the continued encouragement and inspiration to deeply commit ourselves for theological education. May the good lord help us to substantially contribute towards theological education through BBC.
Thank you
From 26th March 2011
Principal
Bethel Bible College
Guntur