The Singapore-Africa Partnership in the Bible College Movement
Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo
Since 2001, the Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC) in cooperation with the Bible College of East Africa (BCEA) has offered a programme leading to the Bachelor of Ministry (BMin) degree to qualified students/graduates of the latter. FEBC lecturers visit BCEA twice annually to teach the BMin courses at BCEA.
Despite the pressing legal matters pertaining to the lawsuit instituted by Life Bible-Presbyterian Church against FEBC that requires my time and attention, the Lord by His directive will (Prov 3:5-6) made a way for me to visit BCEA in Kenya and in Tanzania this year, from 15-29 June 2009. This time I taught two Bible courses (1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians) to 4th year and BMin students of BCEA Kenya. I also spoke at two graduation services, the 2nd Graduation Service of BCEA Tanzania on 28 June 2009 (5 received their CertBS) and the 6th BMin Graduation Service at BCEA Kenya which saw 13 being conferred the BMin degree, including Degu Genffe of Ethiopia who is now pursuing his graduate studies at FEBC.
Elder Tan Nee Keng, a missionary of Berean Bible-Presbyterian Church (Singapore), serves as Principal of BCEA Tanzania. We thank the Lord for giving Eld Tan a heart for Africa. He has been serving in Tanzania for a year already, since he graduated with the Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree from FEBC. Judah Pallangyo (a graduate of BCEA and FEBC), Joseph Amos (who earned his Advanced DipTh from BCEA and was just conferred his BMin degree from FEBC) and Chano (a BCEA graduate) are serving with him in the faculty. Miss Yoon Ho Young, a Korean Baptist missionary, serves as Principal of the Chemchemi Kindergarten on the College grounds, and is a great help to the work there.
BCEA Tanzania is in the process of being registered with the Ministry of Education of Tanzania, and is in the final stages of approval. The building, health, and education inspectors have given good reports on the College. We are hopeful that the College will be officially recognised soon. The education officer says that a primary school is needed in the Usa River district where the College is located since there is none at present. If the Lord makes a way for us, we will build a primary school in the future. The College has about 8 acres of land and there is certainly room for expansion.
Eld Tan has applied well this saying of our late founding pastor, the Rev Dr Timothy Tow, “Self help with God’s help is the best help.” He has put the land to good use by cultivating maize, beans, sweet potato, and vegetables. Chicken is reared and there are two fish ponds for Tilapia. All the meat and vegetables will end up on the College dining table. The College has built a pipeline to channel freshwater from the springs of nearby Mt Meru. The College freely shares this water with the surrounding community. I drank the water right out of the tap, and the water was very clean and sweet, cool and refreshing. The only other time I remember drinking such excellent water was in the Holy Land, from Jacob’s Well in Shechem.
Eld Tan and Judah have also done well to travel by bus, train and boat to visit the churches in the western part of Tanzania to introduce the College and recruit new students who wish to be trained for full-time ministry. The College accepts students from all denominations who are willing to be trained with the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
In Tanzania, I was pleasantly surprised to see Bae Kyungsik whom I had taught at FEBC, who graduated with a BRE in 1999. She is now serving with her husband in a Methodist Bible school in Arusha. She shared how the Lord had mercifully saved her from a potentially fatal accident recently when her car collided with a 10-ton lorry. Her car was totally wrecked but she emerged with only a small cut on the bridge of her nose. We thank God for faithful missionaries who brave the unknown and the dangers in a foreign land to fulfil the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20).
BCEA Kenya under its long-time Principal—the Rev Dr Mark Kim—an FEBC alumnus (DipTh 90, EdD 09) continues to grow from strength to strength. The faculty comprises mainly FEBC graduates: Rev Stephen Masila (BTh 83, MDiv 00), Bishop Richard Kivai (BTh 83), Miss Bae Eun Young (BRE 02, MRE 04), Rev Eben Yoon (MDiv 05) and BMin graduates like Ibrahim Kiarie (who will begin his MDiv studies at FEBC in July), Lazarus Ngige, and Bernard Akhwale, Others who teach at BCEA Kenya are the Rev Julius Kiagiri, the pastor of Thika Road Baptist Church, and Miss Judith Collins, veteran missionary of the Independent Board of Presbyterian Foreign Missions, USA. The College this year has a record-breaking enrolment of 130 mostly Kenyan students and a good number from other African countries like Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan.
The 6th BMin Graduation Service was held on 27 June 2009 at the College Church. The oral examination revealed that all 13 graduands are committed to the Verbal Plenary Inspiration and Verbal Plenary Preservation of the Holy Scriptures. Special mention goes to the Rev Henry Ngige, pastor of Kahawa West Baptist Church, who has put to effective use what he has learned from BCEA and FEBC. As a result, his congregation has grown from 300 to more than 500 in just over a year by the grace of God.
The Graduation Service was attended by about 300 well-wishers and many stayed back after the service to enjoy their picnic on the sprawling sylvan grounds of the College campus. The 10-acre campus is beautifully landscaped by Mrs Mark Kim and is like a botanical garden with many fruit trees and flowers. Recently, she planted three durian seedlings and one of them is already a couple of feet tall.
The Rev Dr and Mrs Mark Kim continue to labour tirelessly at BCEA Kenya. As the Chairman of the Board of Directors of BCEA Tanzania, he has to travel frequently to Tanzania to oversee the ministry there. On top of the two colleges, he also oversees the Lenkijape Church and Primary School, and the Kiluani Church, Clinic (under RN Chan Pui Ming, missionary of Life BPC) and Secondary School ministries among the Maasais. He is praying for more missionaries of like mind and spirit to serve in Kenya and Tanzania. Will our local FEBC graduates answer this African call? Mark Kim’s eldest daughter—Hayoung—is pursuing her ThM degree in an American seminary. If God so moves, she will study for her doctor’s degree at FEBC in preparation for her ministry at BCEA.
May the Lord raise up more faithful young men and women for the Bible College movement to teach and defend the forever infallible and inerrant, inspired and preserved Words of God especially in these last days of rampant apostasy and neo-evangelical and neo-fundamental compromises. Please remember BCEA and FEBC in your prayers.
