Colombian Christian Mission

Opportunities & Obstacles

The first order of business upon my return to Colombia was a series of meetings related to the beginning of our Bible College here in Colombia. I met with the people who were willing to join with us in an educational consortium several times. I could not have asked or hoped for more, they will cover us with their accreditation and the only thing we must do is allow them to send their students to our classes as well. When they send a student they will receive the tuition that student pays. When the students come from our churches, then we will charge them as we see fit. I made it plain that I would be teaching a New Testament doctrine of Christianity and the Church and not some human theology. They had no problems with that. As a result, the Colombian Christian College is now up and running and credits earned by the students will have full accreditation and would be transferable to most other educational institutions in the world.

I begin teaching my first class in the Biblical doctrine of man, sin, and the nature of Christ. It is considered a class in basic soteriology, or the doctrine of salvation. I have about fifteen students registered for that class. It will meet one day a week for the next two months. Then I have an advanced class in the doctrine of salvation scheduled for April of this year and there are currently seventy students registered for that class. Both of these classes are being taught in the Graduate School because that is where the greatest interest was shown and where we have a ready pool of committed and dedicated students. We will be working to bring our first class in the undergraduate level online as quickly as possible.

The reason our efforts seem to be so popular is that we carefully analyzed the needs and the limitations of the Colombian church and the potential students. We are teaching all of the classes on a schedule that allows the students to continue to work in their job or ministry even while attending classes. This is one of the very few institutions to offer that flexibility. As a result, we have had great interest throughout the country as the desire for better theological education is evident. It appears that God directed us to offer the right product in the best format in order to meet the greatest need.

But I never imagined that we could accomplish so much so fast. This is all so much faster than I had imagined or dreamed, the Bible College is now up and running. Obviously the class schedule will be a bit limited at first until I can get more of our Colombian leaders qualified to teach. But in spite of that, we are now at a point where we can off both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees that will be fully accredited. God has opened the door of opportunity so much more rapidly and widely that I could have hoped for, and the number of interested and committed students is far greater than I had expected. Surely my faith was small. We now face the opportunity of surpassing the number of students in some of the Bible Colleges in the States in our very first year.

With these rather spectacular opportunities and open doors we meet some inevitable obstacles as well. We have been working for the last five years with an increasing pressure on our general fund. That is because the improving political situation here in Colombia has strengthened the Colombian Peso to the point that it has rapidly increased in value in relationship to the American Dollar. In the year 2000 we were getting nearly 3000 pesos to every dollar we exchanged. Today the exchange rate is much closer to 2000 pesos to the dollar. That means we have lost a full one third of the purchasing power of our income in the last five years. At the same time, inflation here in Colombia has been running in the double digits. That has further eroded our ability to effect ministry with our current income. In order to avoid going deeper into the red we have been forced to cut programs.

But now that we are faced with such tremendous opportunities for Christian higher education, and the desperate need in the churches for more and better educated leaders, we simply must increase our monthly support in order to keep things moving ahead. We have always worked on an indigenous principle of church growth and planting. We have insisted that the Colombian church carry much of the load. That is the case with this Bible College venture as well. But in the beginning, they cannot be expected to do it all. So in order for this college to continue to move forward and grow, we need to increase our monthly committed support so that we can take advantage of the opportunities that God has given us.

In presenting what God has done and the doors He has opened, it is now our hope that you too will see the spectacular nature of these opportunities. If that is the case, we hope and pray that you will also be challenged to join with us in taking advantage of this great open door. There is the very real potential of not only educating the ministers for the Colombian New Testament Church, but also in spreading New Testament ideals across a much wider spectrum. We pray that you will be moved to increase your support so we can take full advantage of what God is offering. If you or your church does not yet participate in this exciting ministry, then now may well be the time to become a partner in one of the most exciting and fruitful ministries anywhere in Latin America.

New Publicity Pack

This March we are going to be redoing all of our publicity. We will have new posters, booklets, bulletin inserts and brochures. If you would like a pack for your church please let us know. We’ll put you on the list and send you a pack when we get everything printed.

Scholarships

If you would like to support you same student again this year please let us know ASAP.

New Phone Number

The Colombian Christian Mission has a new phone number.

It is: (330) 294-0725