BRIEF PROFILE

WHY BIBLE COLLEGE?

The Bible is clear on the importance of studying the Word of God; see our studies ''Is the Bible inspired by God?'', ''The Most Important Book'', ''Is the Bible scientific and trustworthy?'', ''365 Fulfilled Prophecies''.Here are some questions many ask regarding BIBLE COLLEGE TRAINING:1. ''THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES ME (1Jn.2:20:27), WHY WOULD I NEED MEN TOTEACH ME?''ANSWER:The ''anointing teaches you" v27 means that you have the HOLY SPIRIT of the ''Holy One'' (Rev.3.7), Jesus; JESUS GAVE TEACHERS (men) to the church Eph.4:11-12, Mat.28:18-20, these teachers are used by the Holy Spirit to teach you; just verify your (or our) teachers are indeed led by the Holy Spirit (ask me for our studies ''Spirit Filling'', ''Shepherds according to the heart of God'', ''How to choose a local assembly'');The Holy SPIRIT USED PHILIP to evangelize the Ethiopian leader in Acts 8:29;Paul said to Timothy: ''THINGS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM ME, TEACH OTHERS THAT WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS'' 2Tim.2:2; Jesus said to the 11 Apostles in John 16:5-15 that when the Comforter, the HOLY SPIRIT, WILL COME, HE WILL TEACH THEM ALL THINGS; they are the only ones (with Paul added later) that were taught directly by Jesus, then Jesus sent them to preach, to teach and to make disciples Mat.28:18-20; the Holy Spirit inspired them to write the New Testament and to lay the foundation of the early church; --verses about the importance of trained believers teaching believers: Ex.18:20, Lev.10:11, Deut.4:9,1Sam.12:23, Ezra 7:10, Ps.51:13, Is.28:10, Ez.44:23, Acts 4:18, 5:42, Rom.12:7, 1Cor.14:19,26, 1Tim.1:13, 3:2 (a shepherd should be able to teach), 4:11, 13, 16, 5:17, 6:2, 3, 2Tim.2:2, 24, Tit.2:1,4, Col.1:28, Heb.5:12, 2Jn.1:9,10;2. ''I DONT NEED TO KNOW THE BIBLE IN ORDER TO KNOW GOD!!”ANSWER:THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES BELIEVERS THROUGH THE BIBLE, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, 1Pet.1:11, 2Pet.1:21, 2Tim.3:16; some claim that they are taught by the Holy Spirit without the Bible: if so, then why did the Holy Spirit inspire the Bible? Jesus answered Satan: ''it is written'', in Matt.4 and Luke 4, also Jesus said a few times, ''Have you not read the Scriptures...?'' see Matt.12:3,19:4, 22:31. Some claim they moved to a spiritual level superior to the Bible: therefore they claim to be superior to Jesus and the 12 Apostles who lifted up the Bible.3. ''I DONT NEED A BIBLE COLLEGE TO TEACH ME, I LEARN IN CHURCH!!''ANSWER:Bible college should never replace church attendance: our students are our witnesses that we ask them to be in their churches on Sundays, even if that means to drop attending some or all of our Sunday classes; Jesus said in Matt.16:18 ''...I will build My Church...'', not ''I will build my Bible College''.Most churches have 0.5 to 3 HOURS OF TEACHING PER WEEK (in church we have 40min to 60min sermons on Wednesdays and Sundays); songs are not categorized as teaching, even though songs do transmit a small amount of teaching; some churches do 2 to 4 hours of songs in a church service and 1-3 hours of other activities (testimonies, 'miracles', several fund raisings, motivational speeches) but only 15 minutes of preaching and teaching; in our Bible college we teach about we teach until a student have enough at most 3 hours per Module. College has the advantage of doing THOROUGH COMPLETE STUDIES ON CATEGORIZED SUBJECTS, which in church service could not be done, as there you have people with different levels of understanding, teenagers, elderly, visitors, newly saved or even unsaved;Bible college offers the OPPORTUNITY TO CHOOSE SUBJECTS OF STUDY, while in church you can't offer that option; over a 3and half years period we offer different courses (or subjects of study, like ''Counseling'', ''Methods of Evangelism'', ''Survey of Doctrine'', ''Church History'', ''Theology of Grace'' and others, ask me for the list of courses)Bible College offers the OPPORTUNITY TO ASK QUESTIONS, which most churches don't; however, in many of our churches we do weekly/monthly times of 'questions and answers' (or seminars), usually on Sundays after the morning or evening church services; some pastors are never approachable for Bible questions;By taking ATTENDANCE in Bible college we enforce a discipline that can't be done in church for obvious reasons; as children might be forced by parents and attendance sheets to attend school at first but after a while they might enjoy school and attend with a willing heart: so with our students;In Bible College you can do EXAMS AND VERIFY BIBLE KNOWLEDGE, which you can't do in church; however life is the best exam testing if the teaching has reached only your short-term memory and not the heart (character, will, decisions, self-image, faith, testimony, meditation).Bible college gives CERTIFICATES, DIPLOMA AND DEGREES: this is not the purpose of Bible study but is a method of certifying that someone underwent some Biblical studies; a piece of paper does not guarantee a victorious spiritual life; a piece of paper should not be the criteria of employing someone as a church minister; some of our students told us they came to our Bible college in order to get a certificate but after a few weeks of classes they said their motivation has changed: now they come because they love the Bible teaching;MOSTLY OUR CHURCHES WITHIN OUR WORLDWIDE MINISTRY OFFER BIBLE COLLEGE TRAINING (or a few churches that are in the same area offer one central Bible college with teachers coming from these churches); many churches do not offer Bible college training because their pastors and leaders are not properly trained and can't teach a full 35 hours course on a specific subject; Bible College is an arm of the church, not an independent entity; Our Bible College is mainly intended for people from our church; however, we register students from other churches as well: we are not selfishly competing with other churches, we are of the same kingdom of Jesus, in the same team;In our Harare Bible college we have students from different churches, some have been attending or even graduating from 1 or more Bible colleges from other ministries;Bible College is not replacing your personal reading and study of the Scriptures but complements it;

4. WHY SHOULD I COME TO YOUR BIBLE COLLEGE? DO YOU NEED MY $$?

ANSWER:

We are sad to notice that most Bible colleges in Africa charge huge fees compared to the average income in the respective countries; in our main Bible College branch in USA. You would have to pay average  and reasonable amount per semester; those who enroll with us in Zimbabwe we also offer scholarships for an International Certificate only. For our Discipleship Training Centre we charge $5 registration fee, $25 per semester, which helps us pay part of our 4 digits monthly rent. Our branches charge according to their currency but to accomplish the will of God; you can still attend our classes without paying but you will not write exams or attain a certificate; in Micah 3:11 God is rebuking those who teach for the purpose of money; see also 1Pet.5:2; our teachers are volunteers; most of our worldwide teachers have regular jobs or businesses and are not paid by our Bible colleges;

5. IS ''BIBLE COLLEGE'' BIBLICAL?

ANSWER:

The Bible does not say how we should organise our teaching method just that we have to study and to teach. The Apostles spent 3.5 years, 24/7 with Jesus, the best teacher ever; we offer 3 and half years of training plus practice opportunities afterward, it is our conviction that 1-2 years of study is not sufficient;Apostle Paul taught every day for 2 years in the school of Tyrannus Acts 19:9;1Sam.19:20, Samuel had a group of prophets under training;In Nehemiah 8, Ezra read the Bible for over 4 hours and the levites were explaining it in small groups (they were 42.000 Jews) Church history shows that great revivals were motivated by proper anointed Bible studies; emotional movements without Bible training have led masses astray Hos.4:6;

6. "I DON'T BELIEVE IN THEOLOGY!"Word "theology comes from greek words "theos" ("God") and "logos" ("word") which means 'word about God'. Every person on Earth has a certain "theology", even unbelievers. So "your theology" is what you believe about God. Some Christians' theology is so small that it can sadly fit on a page A4.If you are a Christian, you do have a theology but it might not be in line with the Bible; you may build up your theology from church services, songs, and friends but not really from the Bible. You might say, "I don’t need theology in order to worship God"... Do you mean that you would worship someone whom you don’t know? Would you ignore God's command to study the Word (see Mat.4.4)?Would you marry someone whom you don’t know, a complete stranger? (If you would, you are danger!)

7. BIBLE COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS there is no requirement other than respecting our Bible college standards: attendance, decent dress code, Doctrinal statement (see ''Standards'' list and ''Doctrinal Statement'')We register men and women as well: all Christians need to know the Scriptures; if you don't know the Bible, you don't know God.We don't require any level of studies, (no A, O levels or other). We accept you even if you can't write and read: that was the case of the Apostle Peter; all the disciples were fishermen, ignorant and unlearned Acts 4:13 without any formal training (except Paul who was a highly trained Pharisee, Matthew was a tax collector therefore he knew Mathematics, Aramaic and Greek; Judas was educated also according to history, his father being a Sadducee).We don't require you to get permission from your pastor to attend our Bible college; unfortunately we have heard of cases where pastors forbid their members to attend any Bible college because they might feel threatened or challenged; if they forbid you to come to our Bible college, he should be honest to help you go to another Bible college, or he should start a Bible college, even if he would only offer 1-2 courses per week.

8. WILL I BECOME A PASTOR AFTER GRADUATING?

ANSWER:

NO! Bible training is necessary in order to become a pastor (1Pet.5:2 pastor should be ''apt to teach''; 2Tim.2:15 ''study to show yourself approved unto God, workman/teacher that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth'') but training alone does not qualifying one to be a pastor: you must be called by God to that office and your call should be recognized and ordained by your pastor; Sadly we hear of many pastors that even though having good intentions, they hurt many by not being properly trained. Would you allow a second year medicine student to operate on your heart? Hopefully you wouldn't, but in the spiritual area many do that error.

The Bible is clear on the importance of studying the Word of God; see our studies ''Is the Bible inspired by God?'', ''The Most Important Book'', ''Is the Bible scientific and trustworthy?'', ''365 Fulfilled Prophecies''.

Here are some questions many ask regarding BIBLE COLLEGE TRAINING:

1. ''THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES ME (1Jn.2:20:27), WHY WOULD I NEED MEN TO

TEACH ME?''

ANSWER:

The ''anointing teaches you" v27 means that you have the HOLY SPIRIT of the ''Holy One'' (Rev.3.7), Jesus;  JESUS GAVE TEACHERS (men) to the church Eph.4:11-12, Mat.28:18-20, these teachers are used by the Holy Spirit to teach you; just verify your (or our) teachers are indeed led by the Holy Spirit (ask me for our studies ''Spirit Filling'', ''Shepherds according to the heart of God'', ''How to choose a local assembly'');

The Holy SPIRIT USED PHILIP to evangelize the Ethiopian leader in Acts 8:29;

Paul said to Timothy: ''THINGS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM ME, TEACH OTHERS THAT WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH OTHERS'' 2Tim.2:2; Jesus said to the 11 Apostles in John 16:5-15 that when the Comforter, the HOLY SPIRIT, WILL COME, HE WILL TEACH THEM ALL THINGS; they are the only ones (with Paul added later) that were taught directly by Jesus, then Jesus sent them to preach, to teach and to make disciples Mat.28:18-20; the Holy Spirit inspired them to write the New Testament and to lay the foundation of the early church; --verses about the importance of trained believers teaching believers: Ex.18:20, Lev.10:11, Deut.4:9,1Sam.12:23, Ezra 7:10, Ps.51:13, Is.28:10, Ez.44:23, Acts 4:18, 5:42, Rom.12:7, 1Cor.14:19,26, 1Tim.1:13, 3:2 (a shepherd should be able to teach), 4:11, 13, 16, 5:17, 6:2, 3, 2Tim.2:2, 24, Tit.2:1,4, Col.1:28, Heb.5:12, 2Jn.1:9,10;

2. ''I DONT NEED TO KNOW THE BIBLE IN ORDER TO KNOW GOD!!”

ANSWER:

THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES BELIEVERS THROUGH THE BIBLE, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, 1Pet.1:11, 2Pet.1:21, 2Tim.3:16; some claim that they are taught by the Holy Spirit without the Bible: if so, then why did the Holy Spirit inspire the Bible? Jesus answered Satan: ''it is written'', in Matt.4 and Luke 4, also Jesus said a few times, ''Have you not read the Scriptures...?'' see Matt.12:3,19:4, 22:31. Some claim they moved to a spiritual level superior to the Bible: therefore they claim to be superior to Jesus and the 12 Apostles who lifted up the Bible.

3. ''I DONT NEED A BIBLE COLLEGE TO TEACH ME, I LEARN IN CHURCH!!''

ANSWER:

Bible college should never replace church attendance: our students are our witnesses that we ask them to be in their churches on Sundays, even if that means to drop attending some or all of our Sunday classes; Jesus said in Matt.16:18 ''...I will build My Church...'', not ''I will build my Bible College''.

Most churches have 0.5 to 3 HOURS OF TEACHING PER WEEK (in our church we have 40min to 60min sermons on Wednesdays and Sundays); songs are not categorised as teaching, even though songs do transmit a small amount of teaching; some churches do 2 to 4 hours of songs in a church service and 1-3 hours of other activities (testimonies, 'miracles', several fund raisings, motivational speeches) but only 15 minutes of preaching and teaching; in our Bible college we teach about we teach until a student have enough at most 3 hours per Module. College has the advantage of doing THOROUGH COMPLETE STUDIES ON CATEGORIZED SUBJECTS, which in church service could not be done, as there you have people with different levels of understanding, teenagers, elderly, visitors, newly saved or even unsaved;

Bible college offers the OPPORTUNITY TO CHOOSE SUBJECTS OF STUDY, while in church you can't offer that option; over a 3 and half years period we offer  different courses (or subjects of study, like ''Counselling'', ''Methods of Evangelism'', ''Survey of Doctrine'', ''Church History'', ''Theology of Grace'' and others, ask me for the list of courses)

Bible College offers the OPPORTUNITY TO ASK QUESTIONS, which most churches don't; however, in many of our churches we do weekly/monthly times of 'questions and answers' (or seminars), usually on Sundays after the morning or evening church services; some pastors are never approachable for Bible questions;

By taking ATTENDANCE in Bible college we enforce a discipline that can't be done in church for obvious reasons; as children might be forced by parents and attendance sheets to attend school at first but after a while they might enjoy school and attend with a willing heart: so with our students;

In Bible College you can do EXAMS AND VERIFY BIBLE KNOWLEDGE, which you can't do in church; however life is the best exam testing if the teaching has reached only your short-term memory and not the heart (character, will, decisions, self-image, faith, testimony, meditation).

Bible college gives CERTIFICATES, DIPLOMA AND DEGREES: this is not the purpose of Bible study but is a method of certifying that someone underwent some Biblical studies; a piece of paper does not guarantee a victorious spiritual life; a piece of paper should not be the criteria of employing someone as a church minister; some of our students told us they came to our Bible college in order to get a certificate but after a few weeks of classes they said their motivation has changed: now they come because they love the Bible teaching;

MOSTLY OUR CHURCHES WITHIN OUR WORLDWIDE MINISTRY OFFER BIBLE

COLLEGE TRAINING (or a few churches that are in the same area offer one central Bible college with teachers coming from these churches); many churches do not offer Bible college training because their pastors and leaders are not properly trained and can't teach a full 35 hours course on a specific subject; Bible College is an arm of the church, not an independent entity; Our Bible College is mainly intended for people from our church; however, we register students from other churches as well: we are not selfishly competing with other churches, we are of the same kingdom of Jesus, in the same team;

In our Harare Bible college we have students from different churches, some have been attending or even graduating from 1 or more Bible colleges from other ministries;

Bible College is not replacing your personal reading and study of the Scriptures but complements it;

4. WHY SHOULD I COME TO YOUR BIBLE COLLEGE? DO YOU NEED MY $$?

ANSWER:

We are sad to notice that most Bible colleges in Africa charge huge fees compared to the average income in the respective countries; in our main Bible College branch in Canada. You would have to pay average dollars per semester; those who enroll with us in Zimbabwe we also offer scholarships for an International Certificate only. For our Discipleship Training Centre we charge $5 registration fee, $25 per semester, which helps us pay part of our 4 digits monthly rent. Our branches in Africa charge according to their currency but to accomplish the will of God; you can still attend our classes without paying but you will not write exams; in Micah 3:11 God is rebuking those who teach for the purpose of money; see also 1Pet.5:2; our teachers are volunteers; most of our worldwide teachers have regular jobs or businesses and are not paid by our Bible colleges;

5. IS ''BIBLE COLLEGE'' BIBLICAL?

ANSWER:

The Bible does not say how we should organize our teaching method just that we have to study and to teach. The Apostles spent 3.5 years, 24/7 with Jesus, the best teacher ever; we offer 3 and half years of training plus practice opportunities afterward, it is our conviction that 1-2 years of study is not sufficient;

Apostle Paul taught every day for 2 years in the school of Tyrannus Acts 19:9;

1Sam.19:20, Samuel had a group of prophets under training;

In Nehemiah 8, Ezra read the Bible for over 4 hours and the levites were explaining it in small groups (they were 42.000 Jews)

Church history shows that great revivals were motivated by proper anointed Bible studies; emotional movements without Bible training have led masses astray Hos.4:6;

6. "I DON'T BELIEVE IN THEOLOGY!"

Word "theology comes from greek words "theos" ("God") and "logos" ("word") which means 'word about God'. Every person on Earth has a certain "theology", even unbelievers. So "your theology" is what you believe about God. Some Christians' theology is so small that it can sadly fit on a page A4.

If you are a Christian, you do have a theology but it might not be in line with the Bible; you may build up your theology from church services, songs, and friends but not really from the Bible. You might say, "I don’t need theology in order to worship God"... Do you mean that you would worship someone whom you don’t know? Would you ignore God's command to study the Word (see Mat.4.4)?

Would you marry someone whom you don’t know, a complete stranger? (If you would, you are danger!)

7. BIBLE COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS

there is no requirement other than respecting our Bible college standards: attendance, decent dress code, Doctrinal statement (see ''Standards'' list and ''Doctrinal Statement'')

We register men and women as well: all Christians need to know the Scriptures; if you don't know the Bible, you don't know God.

We don't require any level of studies, (no A, O levels or other). We accept you even if you can't write and read: that was the case of the Apostle Peter; all the disciples were fishermen, ignorant and unlearned Acts 4:13 without any formal training (except Paul who was a highly trained Pharisee, Matthew was a tax collector therefore he knew Mathematics, Aramaic and Greek; Judas was educated also according to history, his father being a Sadducee).

We don't require you to get permission from your pastor to attend our Bible college; unfortunately we have heard of cases where pastors forbid their members to attend any Bible college because they might feel threatened or challenged; if they forbid you to come to our Bible college, he should be honest to help you go to another Bible college, or he should start a Bible college, even if he would only offer 1-2 courses per week.

8. WILL I BECOME A PASTOR AFTER GRADUATING?

ANSWER:

NO! Bible training is necessary in order to become a pastor (1Pet.5:2 pastor should be ''apt to teach''; 2Tim.2:15 ''study to show yourself approved unto God, workman/teacher that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth'') but training alone does not qualifying one to be a pastor: you must be called by God to that office and your call should be recognized and ordained by your pastor; Sadly we hear of many pastors that even though having good intentions, they hurt many by not being properly trained. Would you allow a second year medicine student to operate on your heart? Hopefully you wouldn't, but in the spiritual area many do that error.