A 30,000-Student Church Educational Institution?
What educational institution in the Church of God boasts 30,000 students?
That number represents the total average annual enrollment of the 118 seminaries, colleges, Bible institutes, and extension programs coordinated by Church of God World Missions.
“World Missions learned early that the crucial key to church growth and effective ministry is to have trained national leaders,” explained Bill George, coordinator of education and publications for the missions arm of the church. “The countries where we have the strongest membership and discipleship are the ones where we have effective Bible and practical training for the leaders.”
The 118 schools are located in 65 countries. In each of its five geographic fields—Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean—Missions operates at least one seminary, offering master’s degrees, and more than one in some fields. Such schools are labeled Level IV institutions by the denomination’s Division of Education.
Bible colleges that offer a four-year degree, taught by master’s level teachers, are classified as Level III. Bible institutes with two- or three-year programs are Level II, and schools operated by local churches with limited schedules, called Christian Service Schools, are Level I. Each school emphasizes academic and practical elements of instruction.
Missions works with 10 seminaries, 22 Bible colleges, 63 institutes, and 23 Christian Service Schools. Among the top schools are seminaries in Manila Philippines; Jakarta, Indonesia; Kniebis, Germany; Bucharest, Romania; Chengannur, India; Quetzaltenango, Guatemala; Eldoret, Kenya; Hermosillo, Mexico; Goiania, Brazil; Quito, Ecuador; and St. Just, Puerto Rico.
The Division of Education, in cooperation with World Missions, sends evaluation teams to each school that requests it, looking at faculty, curriculum, library, finances, record-keeping, facilities and other factors that affect the quality and practicality of the school’s offerings. The evaluation is submitted to a Standing Committee on Certification, which approves the level at which the institution operates.
Local churches in the United States send offerings through World Missions that supplement operating expenses for the schools, but in all cases the national churches finance them to the extent their economic condition permits.
Church of God World Missions
