The
Heart of England Baptist Association is building an active partnership
with the three Baptist Colleges serving our area. Bristol Baptist College,
Northern Baptist College, and Regents Park College each teach the training
course provided by all the colleges in the Baptist Training Partnership
and recognised by the Baptist Union of Great Britain for the training and
recognition of lay preachers and pastors.
The
colleges each have a different name for the course, and teach it slightly
differently over a number of evenings or Saturdays, either in local
churches or in college. Yet the course modules cover the same content, and
are transferable between colleges. This means that in HEBA the three
colleges together can aim to provide the full course within a three-year
cycle and with all the teaching taking place at local churches.
Although
the complete course is approved for the recognition of lay preachers and
pastors, it is open to all who want to explore their discipleship and
faith further. The course is flexible in that you can study all of the
modules or just the ones that are appropriate for you. Some people take
modules because they will be helpful for some aspect of ministry or
mission they are already involved in; others take modules in subjects that
interest them.
Each
module will be presented in a number of different ways, including informal
teaching from a college tutor and discussion in small groups. There will
be recommended reading to follow up what you have discovered, and if you
are registered and want the module credited towards recognition there will
be some written work or projects to complete.
We
hope that through our partnership in this way members of HEBA churches
will have access to good quality training within easy reach of where they
live.
There
are nine modules to choose from, all of which are open to anyone who would
like to complete all or any part of the training.
