There’s still time to register for one of our new virtual classrooms which start next week.

We have new modules on Practical Praying, the Doctrines of Christ, The Church and The Holy Spirit, and one on Apocalyptic Literature.

Registration is necessary but very simple, and the cost works out at just £5 per hour of inspirational teaching.

A reminder that next week, on Thursday 22nd April, we have a special online day seminar on Creation Matters, with Prof Steve Taylor of Liverpool University. This should be inspirational and informational and only costs £30 (registration required). You can register here

You can register for this and our other new modules here.

Details of this subject can be downloaded here.

Edinburgh Bible College has only been in existence for a relatively short time but already, in the Lord’s goodness, we have been privileged to equip students who are now serving in, among other places, Poland, USA, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as others who have just got to know their God and their Bibles better. Humanly speaking, none of this would have been possible without the prayerful and financial support of many people, and we are enormously grateful to each one.

We have big plans and dreams for the future, all of which need to be financed and supported in different ways.  In line with most non-denominational Bible Colleges in the UK, income from student fees only accounts for about two-thirds of our core costs and so we are dependent on the generosity of our supporters to maintain and develop the ministry.

Could you become a Friend of EBC and help us in this way?

As a Friend of EBC, you would give a monthly contribution of £10 or more to help us cover our core costs. In return, we would send you regular updates about how this support helps us move forward in providing quality training for God’s people. By joining Friends of EBC you can play an important part in helping us equip the next generation of church leaders.

Here’s what one of our financial supporters said:

Using our God-given financial resources wisely and strategically is a priority for believers, and few causes are more strategic than investing in the training for the work of the kingdom of well-equipped, Bible-believing, gospel-centred men and women, who are on fire for God and for the honour of His Name. That’s why I am a partner with Edinburgh Bible College and why I encourage you to consider doing the same.”

If you want to join Friends of EBC, or would like more information, please contact Kerstin Prill (kerstin@edinburghbiblecollege.co.uk) and she will send you our bank details.  Kerstin and her husband Thorsten joined the EBC staff team in January 2018 and she will be the contact person for Friends of EBC.  You can find out a bit more about Kerstin here.

Principal John Brand shares the second of our 7 core characteristics that we are committed to.

2. Ecclesial Training

EBC is committed to a training that is accountable to, and in partnership with, local churches

At EBC

• our governing Board is made up of representatives of local churches and our governing documents constrain us to be accountable to the local church
• ‘full-time’ Diploma students will only be accepted in consultation with, and with the full agreement of, their home church
• the leadership of students’ home churches will be provided with regular updates and reports on their student’s progress and, wherever practical, involved in the training
• those students who live away from their home church will be placed in and committed to a local evangelical church during their time at college
• a large proportion of the teaching and training will be done by church leaders and other Christian workers, experienced in their own fields of service

Ecclesial– I admit it’s not the best known word in the world, but it is a real word and it is vastly better than ecclesiastical. Most importantly of all it highlights a key aspect of the vision and burden of Edinburgh Bible College which is to work with and serve the church of Christ.

At EBC we take the local church very seriously. The church is God’s agent for world evangelisation and the primacy of the local church is fundamental

That means that in practice there needs to be a strong relationship and partnership between the local church and the training institution so that the church can play its part and exercise its primary authority and the training institution can do what very few churches can adequately do themselves, but do so with accountability to local churches and for ecclesial rather than academic ends.

IN THIS RELATIONSHIP,

the local church is best at and responsible for:

• initial discipling and training
• recognising and developing spiritual gifts
• assessing any call to, and potential for, ministry

while the training institution is probably best at

• providing a breadth of biblical, doctrinal, historical and practical training by those with breadth of experience
• providing a community of, and facilities for, learning on a bigger scale
• providing recognised and credible learning qualifications where these are needed

FOR THE PARTNERSHIP TO WORK WELL,

the local church should

• expect accountability and insist on a meaningful partnership with those to whom it delegates the training of its members
• ensure that all major decisions are made jointly
• recognise and affirm the special role of the training institution

while the training institution should

• have a purpose statement with a strong commitment to the primacy of the local church in the purposes of God
• have procedures and policies that constrain it to act in a meaningful partnership with the home churches of its students
• ensure that the students are involved in and committed to a local church while away from their home church
• provide a training that is primarily delivered by ecclesially minded rather than academically minded teachers

If you are a church leader, with responsibility for helping someone make a decision about going to Bible College, or if you are a potential student, exploring the possibilities of training, let me encourage you to explore these areas when you do your research about courses and training institutions.

You can register for this and our other new modules here.

Details of this subject can be downloaded here.

You can register for this and our other new modules here.

Details of this subject can be downloaded here.