Johannesburg Bible College equipping and inspiring
There are bursaries for deserving students who can't afford the fees, for more information you can visit their website on www.jbc.org.za.
The Johannesburg Bible College (JBC), Soweto Campus, held a graduation ceremony to honour the class of 2018 Bible students on Thursday, November 15. JBC is an interdenominational college offering people of all genders and religions practical training in understanding and teaching the Bible through classroom-based courses.
The college has been running since 2009, however, the Pimville based Soweto Campus was officially opened this year and already had over 20 students who graduated for the year 2018.
Different religion, same Bible class? one would ask how that is possible, but according to the campus Dean, Revd. Celumusa Zulu, it is all possible if you focus on just teaching the Bible and not promote a particular church.
“Our focus as a college is to teach nothing but the Bible, but that does not mean we don’t have students from different views, our students come from different church backgrounds, but what we try to do in the college, is to draw them to the Bible,” said Zulu.
“Of course we do have heated debates in the classrooms, some students feel that they are not comfortable with certain things, but at the end of the day, we are not promoting a particular church, we are neutral, we are promoting God’s work, hence the Motto, ‘equipping and inspiring men and women for Bible teaching ministries,’ so it does not matter which church you come from, as long as you are willing to study the word of God, we will definitely accommodate you,” Zulu added.
After completing all the courses and having passed all the assignments/workshops, students receive certificates stating that they have completed the JBC ministry course.
Previous students have been given recognised prior learning credits as they have gone on to do Diplomas and degrees. All classes are conducted in English, the college does not offer any correspondence courses and is a non-residential college.
At the graduation ceremony, video recordings of students’ testimonies were played and they seemed very satisfied with the knowledge they have received from the college. Not all of them are pastors, some are aspiring pastors and some just needed to get a basic education on the word of God.
“Coming here for me was not to train to be a pastor, it was just one of those journeys where you feel that God has taken you in his direction and you need to understand what’s going on when I read the Bible, I hear it, but do I understand what it says? Coming to the college has helped understand the Bible better,” said one of the students, Khanyi Mhlanga.
“I had never preached before, now I can confidently stand in front of a crowd and preach, now I read the Bible with the purpose, I have developed a lot of skills and this was really an interesting journey for me,” said Mhlanga.
Classes for the Soweto Campus are on Monday-Wednesday for morning classes and Mondays and Thursdays for evening classes. The opening conference for next year will be on January 21 and registrations will run from January 28 to 30, followed by orientation on January 31.
There are bursaries for deserving students who can’t afford the fees, for more information you can visit their website on www.jbc.org.za.
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