FEBC Yesterday and Today
Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo
FEBC Yesterday
Seeing that “The Trend is Towards the Trained,” the Rev Dr Timothy Tow was moved by the Lord to found the Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC) in 1962. He made known his burden for a Bible College in the Malaysia Christian of September 6, 1959, “The strategy of Christian Missions in this day of social change is not so much in western issionaries (though we heartily welcome them) as in the sending forth of our own. But how can they be sent except they be called—and be trained?
“Hitherto we have sent some of our young people to the West for theological training. But if the Lord will call another half-dozen, how can we afford to send all? The solution to training future ministers of the Gospel, I believe, is in the founding of a Bible College in Singapore. Yes, a Bible College, a college that reverently teaches the Bible to be the infallible, inerrant Word of God, that seeks to obey all his commands, that will make no compromise whatsoever with the subtle forces of Satan that are so actively undermining theological institutions everywhere today.
“We need to found a Bible College that will nurture future leaders of our Churches who will be able to stand in the gap in an evil day, and pursue the Word of the Lord by opening more and more preaching centres that the Kingdom of God might be extended to the uttermost part …”.
The words, “Without the Bible College, the Church would die,” came from a friend of FEBC—the late Rev Dr Paul Contento—who was an OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) missionary to China, Vietnam and Singapore. The Rev Dr Contento was invited by the Rev Dr Timothy Tow to lay the foundation stone of FEBC on April 28, 1962, at 9A Gilstead Road, to train godly and faithful men for the Lord’s service. Contento prayed for a Moody or a Wesley to arise from the halls of the College.
FEBC is a “spiritual SAFTI (Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute)” in the words of the founding principal—the Rev Dr Timothy Tow—to prepare men and women called of God to full-time Christian ministry to become faithful servants and good soldiers of Jesus Christ who will “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
Dr S H Tow—a founding leader of the Bible-Presbyterian Movement and Senior Pastor of Calvary Pandan Bible-Presbyterian Church—also noted the importance of the Bible College for Church growth and spiritual succession. Dr S H Tow wrote, “Church Growth of the Biblical pattern does not come by attending a course in ‘missiology’ in some high-powered ‘School of Missions.’ Church Growth is simply the work of the Holy Spirit through obedient men and women heeding our Lord’s command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. It is the founding of Bible-believing God-honouring churches, standing on the Word of God against the floodtide of the end time apostasy now sweeping around the world.”
Dr S H Tow went on to say, “No church can grow and prosper without a succession of good and strong leaders for future generations. The apostle Paul, church planter and wise masterbuilder, was ever mindful of this basic need. His instructions to Timothy are vital for church growth: ‘Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ’ (2 Tim 2:1-3).
“And who is sufficient for the continuing task of the church in teaching, nurturing, reproving, correcting, instructing from week to week, and year to year? Leaders such as the apostle are all too conscious of their own transience, and the need to train up a generation of leaders for the future—faithful men who share the same vision, and conviction.
“… Our prayers and perseverance in training have ensured a supply of younger leaders to whom we may pass the Gospel torch in time to come. The role of the Far Eastern Bible College in equipping workers for God’s vineyard is of inestimable value. Without FEBC the B-P Churches would fade away in a generation.”
There are many kinds of students or graduates, but which of them will succeed and be true servants of God’s holy and spiritual work? The Rev Dr Timothy Tow says, “If a student is industrious and not lazy, and loves his God with all his heart and respects his teachers and can live peacefully with his roommates and performs his duties meticulously, though men say he has not earned a degree and is not learned, I will certainly say that he is. The secret to continuing church growth is the Bible College that trains men and women of character.”
FEBC Today
Now, in its 45th year, FEBC has graduated over 600 students who have come from Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, England, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Palau, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, United States of America, and Vietnam. The majority of these graduates are now serving the Lord as pastors, teachers, missionaries, and church workers in different parts of the world.
FEBC remains steadfast and uncompromising in teaching and defending the 100% inspired and 100% preserved words of God in the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus on which the Authorised or King James Version is based. While most Bible Colleges and Seminaries today deny the present infallibility and inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures in the apographs (copies), FEBC stands unequivocal in affirming that the Holy Bible which we have in our hands today is 100% perfect, without any mistake based on God’s promise of special providence that He alone shall keep His inspired Word pure and intact (Ps 12:6-7, Matt 5:18, 24:35, John 10:35,WCF 1:8).
According to Dr Philip Jenkins (Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University, and author of The Next Christendom published by Oxford University Press in 2002), the life of Christianity is moving away from USA and Europe towards Latin America, Africa and Asia (see chronicle.com/free/v48/i29/29b00701.htm). If this be the case, then we can expect a similar shift in the locus of fundamental and conservative theological education. In light of the changing face of Christendom, FEBC, in order to stay relevant and vibrant, must resist every neo-evangelical and postmodernistic wind of change, and steer a straight course along the narrow straits of Biblical Christianity according to the everlasting words of life as found in the forever infallible and inerrant Scriptures. This is the key to church life and growth in the new millennium.
What more can FEBC do? FEBC can speed up missions and church growth by way of the Bible College movement to assist in the establishment of new Bible Colleges, or to serve as consultants to or cooperate with younger and growing colleges in Asia and Africa. The faculty of these colleges can earn their Master’s and Doctor’s degree in a theologically conservative and multinational environment as found in FEBC.
FEBC aims to assist the Church in fulfilling the didactic aspect of the Great Commission, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Such a teaching ministry is also in keeping with the infallible Pauline formula for theological education and church growth as found in 2 Timothy 2:2 requiring faithful doctrines and equally faithful teachers. While many colleges and seminaries are focusing on administration, psychology, and church marketing courses, FEBC will stick to its age-old curriculum that is heavy on Bible, Theology, the original languages, and supplemented by Church History and Pastoral Ministry for a full-orbed theological education. We also need faithful students who truly love the Lord and His Word, who will sincerely feed God’s children and not betray the Faith.
The most important asset of FEBC is its faculty. The College has a total of 10 spiritually and academically qualified lecturers in Biblical Studies, Systematic Theology, Church History, Pastoral Ministry, and Christian Education, and 5 tutors in English and music. FEBC lecturers are themselves graduates of the College. As such, they understand well the vision and mission of the College, and can be trusted to serve as effective teachers and mentors to our students. Most of the lecturers are also pastors in their respective churches. Being skilled in practical ministry themselves, they are no “ivory tower” professors. The 10 lecturers are: Rev Dr Timothy Tow (Principal), Mrs Ivy Tow (Matron), Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo (Academic Dean), Rev Dr Das Koshy (Dean of Students), Rev Koa Keng Woo, Rev Stephen Khoo, Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew, Rev Tan Kian Sing, Mrs Jemima Khoo and Miss Carol Lee. The 5 tutors are: Eld Han Soon Juan, Eld Geoffrey Tan, Mrs Koa Keng Woo, Mrs Janice Lai, and Mrs Anne Lim. The faculty is united in doctrine and spirit.
FEBC commenced its new academic year on July 16, 2007 with a blessed day of prayer. Rev Stephen Khoo was the Lord’s messenger, speaking from 2 Timothy 2:1-3. The students were exhorted to love the Lord Jesus Christ, be faithful to His inspired and preserved Word, and be prepared to face hardships and persecutions for the sake of the Lord and His Word.
We thank the Lord for giving us 13 new students this semester. They come from 7 countries, namely, Cambodia: Div Vanna; Ethiopia: Engida Tefera Zeleke and Molla Dessie; India: Kekhrieleto Kera; Indonesia: Daisy Susanty Tehupeiory and Evelyn Laiya Rebecca; Kenya: Titus Kilonzo Nzoka; Korea: Jeong Mi Yeong, Kim Pyung Sik, Ko Woong, and Roe Sun Young; Singapore: Eileen Chee Siew Juan, and Joshua Yong Boon Keong.
FEBC Tomorrow?
This is FEBC yesterday and today by the grace of God. But what about FEBC tomorrow? Are there not rich and powerful ones who want nothing more than to silence, and if possible, destroy FEBC? A modern-day Inquisition is afoot! The Reformation Bible on trial! But let us “in meekness instruct those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim 3:25). “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” (2 Cor 13:8). May the Lord continue to preserve His words and His saints! Will you not keep FEBC in your prayers? God bless!
