Shaanxi Bible College

China

Christianity is growing rapidly in China. There are currently 30 million Christians in China. Every day, six new church buildings are opened. One new church was built to hold 3,000 members, and when it opened its doors for the first service, 10,000 people were waiting to worship. Because of the closing of theological seminaries during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, there are only several thousand ordained ministers for 50,000 churches. The shortage of pastors is a serious problem for the church in China.

In response to the lack of ministers in China, along with approximately 20 other seminaries, Shaanxi Bible College was founded in 1988. The school began by offering a three-month training program. Now two different types of programs are offered at the Shaanxi Bible College. The first is a one-year program for lay leaders. Lay leaders’ ages range from 18 to 50, and approximately 45 students are enrolled each year. The curriculum includes an introduction to the Old and New Testament, the life of Jesus, pastoral ministry, hermeneutics, sermons, the spirituality of the Christian, pastoral counseling, church administration, church history, the theology of the bible, and general music and organ. Over 900 students have completed this training in the past 20 years. About 200 of these students have been ordained as elders.

The second type of program offered is a four-year, college-level seminary with students aged 18 to 35. In addition to courses offered for lay leaders, the curriculum includes theology, English, Hebrew history, geography of the Bible, Christian ethics, philosophy, Chinese literature, modern theology, theological thought, introduction to Christian education, and ecumenical theology.

Seven classes have completed the four-year program, totaling 300 graduates. 81 students are enrolled in the four-year program, and 47 in the one-year class. The Shaanxi Bible College draws students who have only a middle school education. Most come sponsored by their local churches and return after the four-year program to serve the local church. The school aspires to be a seminary but is more equivalent to a high school or junior college.

There are nine full-time professors at Shaanxi Bible College, all of whom have graduated from Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. Three of the nine teachers have Master’s Degrees, and the other six have Bachelor’s Degrees. There also are more than eight instructors who come from local universities or are local pastors. 

There is a significant need for seminaries and Bible schools in China. Contributing to the Shaanxi Bible College enables them to train people to guide and help Christians in China develop their faith. Scholarships from Global Ministries gifts have helped students attend both the four-year program as well as the one-year program for lay leaders. Scholarship recipients are generally from impoverished areas and from churches that cannot afford to send pastors to school.

What your gift can do:

• $50 can provide texts for several students at the Bible School
• $500 can provide a scholarship to send one student to the Shaanxi Bible School for two semesters.   

June 2014 Update

Two different types of programs are offered at the Shaanxi Bible College.

The first program is a one-year Lay Leader Training Program (current students are ages 18 to 50) that has been in operation for 24 years with more than one thousand graduates. These graduates can be ordained as Elders at their local churches. 

The second type of program offered is a four-year, college-level comprehensive seminary program. Students come from Shaanxi, Ganso, Qinghai, Ningxia, Shanxi, and even Xinjiang province, which is further away. The four-year program (current students are ages 18 to 30) has operated for nine years. With limited space, the school can only have a new class every two years. There are over one thousand students who have graduated from this four-year program. After several years of practice, these graduates can be ordained as Pastors at their local churches.  

Most students at the Shaanxi Bible College come from rural areas in northwest China and need financial support to study there. For years, Global Ministries has provided scholarships for students. Since students come from several provinces in northwest China, the school is becoming a regional seminary recognized in this part of China, being used to prepare church workers for proclaiming the Gospel to this area.  

Funds still are needed to help fund scholarships to the Shaanxi Bible School.

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• 100% of your gift will be directed to Shaanxi Bible College
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