The current student body is made up of mature people who have been out of school for some years. About 95% of them have served faithfully and sacrificially in their congregations for some years as evangelists and full time church workers with very low, and in some cases without pay. About 70% of them are married students who have left their wives and children back in their home areas. Their local congregations pay 75% of their salaries to maintain their families while the breadwinner comes to College. They get to visit their families on semester breaks every 4 months.
Some of the students have given up careers in the secular sector, often at great personal sacrifice because they have heard the call of the Lord to full time spiritual ministry. In the student body can be found former school teachers, accountants, government employees, medical personnel, military men, Orthodox priests, Muslim sheiks, policemen, business people as well as many farmers who have heard the call and became servants of the Lord. There are even a few former shamans, witch doctors and wizards. These various backgrounds all make classroom discussions interesting!
This training means a lot to the students. In their lives as pastors, evangelists, teachers, and leaders, they encounter many difficult questions, conflicts, and ethical situations that tax their creativity and understanding. There is also a flood of new doctrines and teachings, some of them heretical, and others unbalanced, that trouble the immature Christians. Leaders are challenged to provide answers and guidance. However, into the new liberal arts programs, students will be admitted without discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, or religion. This will change the mix of the student population, integrating the spiritual with the secular. |