Dear BPCWA worshipper, In our first pastoral of this series, we saw that the church must feed her worshippers as God intended, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).  A Bible college is not a church. It must not perform this aspect on the church’s behalf. God’s purpose is for worshippers to learn through their local church. When the Bible college and/or the church lose their primary focus and mission, it is a lose-lose situation for both. Bible colleges focus on training those called into full-time ministry so that pastors and preachers can fulfil their roles and people can learn through the churches. Their focus is to train ministerial students to know and discern deep theological truths (2 Pet 3:15-16) so that they can teach accurately and feed spiritually. Their training and publications must fulfil this well. If pastors are supposed to dig deep, then the Bible college must dig deeper in their teaching. It must not offer easier courses so that lay people can learn alongside full-time students, diluting the depth of learning that ministerial students need. Neither should lay people expect the Bible colleges to offer courses and homework “at their level”. The church is in dire need, especially in the last days, for faithful and well-trained workers not just to defend God’s truth now, but also to pass on the holy faith in the church in every generation (2 Tim 2:2). In the defence of His Truth, we will need men with strong theological training to know and rightly divide God’s Word. Following God’s perfect plan and design, there should be no tension between the teaching roles in the church and the Bible college which supports her.

The lecturers at a Bible college. Some Bible colleges have lecturers who are full-time theologians. This is a useful contribution to the training of ministerial students since they do not have the “care of the church” (1Ti 3:5) and hence have more time to understand and address trends from a theological basis and include such topics in the curriculum. Others are pastors of churches. I have certainly benefited from experienced pastors sharing the tough lessons they learned through the school of hard knocks and handling challenges in the ministry. Full-time students can learn from these experiences instead of making mistakes. This is the valuable insight that a Bible college provides to ministerial students, some lessons of which may not be suitable for the laity. But they are still ultimately pastors to their own churches, and not to all students who are attending their classes.  The line must not be blurred. Emails and flyers are being sent to churches these days to promote courses for the laity, citing testimonies and the number of sign-ups. We see how when a Bible college aims to attract large enrolments of lay Christians, the great danger is that it can become a numbers game instead of focusing on producing ministers with theological depth.

The pastor is responsible for teaching his church. A notable aspect of Bible-Presbyterian Churches is that we preach thoroughly through the books of the Bible during Worship Services and at Bible studies. The pastor must know the spiritual needs of the flock he under-shepherds. And God gives him the applications that are needed to feed His flock. Another church pastor or the Bible college does not know the church’s flock this way. Hence, a pastor should never relegate the feeding of the flock to the Bible college. It is to the pastor that the injunction to “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2Ti 4:2) is given. God places the pastor in the church “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12). Moreover, learning from your local church allows the whole church to grow in tandem.  God’s duties for both the individual and the church are fulfilled when both parties do so. There is certainly a place for a Bible college working together with the churches it supports. As our Bible-Presbyterian college, we support the Far Eastern Bible College. We pray for its success in fulfilling God’s purpose every week at our prayer meetings. We earnestly want it to teach those called to the full-time ministry well, according to the truths we stand for. If worshippers are nourished and fed through Bible colleges instead of their local church (again with the caveat that good sound pastures are available in their churches), there may be the danger that the local church sees no necessity to teach well. It can become a vicious cycle. Local churches may become complacent as they depend on these “auxiliary means”. Full-time workers graduating, who are used to seeing laity from the Bible college study with them, must be careful. They must not begin to think that it is the norm for church worshippers to get their regular feeding from the Bible college. If they are not careful, they may not see the need to study diligently, be updated, and teach deeply and fervently. They may be satisfied with cursory preaching at only the Worship Services since their congregation can always depend on the Bible college. This must never be so. Worshippers may also feel that learning from an impersonal teacher, i.e. one who is far removed from them compared to their own pastor, will probably mean that the teacher will never address the personal conscience pricking issues that may need to be addressed. Those training for the full-time ministry will need more than just book studies. And as more lay people attend the Bible colleges, there will be the tendency or temptation to lighten the depth of the courses offered to “help” the laity. When this happens, it is a lose-lose situation, simply because that is not God’s design.

Parachurch organisations and Bible colleges with sound teachings may be of help in instances where there is an absence or lack of teaching within the church. It can fill gaps in manpower and resources. But this should be a temporary stopgap, not the ongoing and intended norm. Worshippers should follow God’s plan to learn from the green pastures of their local church if God has provided soundness of teaching from the pastor of that church. Worshippers in BPCWA must never substitute their in-person learning in the church with signing up for FEBC or any other courses elsewhere. The priority and criteria for choosing someone for service in BPCWA is firstly attendance at our fellowship meetings and Bible studies, before even considering if they do sign up for FEBC classes. This is simply following God’s revealed purpose. I am very thankful that most of our worshippers do attend our meetings. But simply because the situation is so, I cannot assume that we understand God’s purpose. Today, online classes are easily available from many sources that directly promote their courses to your email inboxes. They can offer the convenience and comfort of doing the courses in our homes and at our own time and pace, while church fellowship meetings are designed to be in church and at fixed schedules. Following God’s plan is every Christian’s responsibility. If we fight it, we are only hindering the growth of the body, His church, in the way God intended. When we follow God’s design for His church, it allows the body to grow together to the fullness He intends.  The church pastors, the Bible colleges, and the worshippers must remember and keep to God’s intended design for them. We must pray that Bible colleges train full time workers well, and God to give every church a well-trained pastor who will earnestly teach God’s truths to perfect that church that He calls them to and not be lazy to relegate the feeding of the flock to Bible colleges.

“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” Acts 20:28

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor