In our global community, the rate of technological change keeps accelerating, becoming a significant problem for educators and students alike. In earlier times, educators sought to teach solutions for the problems that students would likely encounter during their lives.

In the current environment, it is no longer sufficient or even possible to prepare students for the future by teaching them the wisdom of the past, or even the technology of the present. Today, educators cannot even anticipate the problems that students will face after graduation. It is acknowledged that an education based on the knowledge of today will be irrelevant to the situations that students will experience throughout their lives.

Recognizing the challenges presented by today's society, students who want to prepare for a future in a world of change will be wise to seek an education that will endure. It is commonly agreed that there are at least three essentials for such an education: first, to teach students to think by equipping them with problem-solving skills. Education must then provide an accurate framework for use in viewing the world and its cultures - only as people hold accurate perceptions of reality will they be able to apply knowledge, effectively developing solutions to problems.

The acquisition of effective communication skills is also essential for dealing with the future. A person may develop a perfect solution for a problem, but until they can persuade others of its merit, nothing will happen. Since the world is increasingly complex, effective action often requires the cooperation of significant numbers of people; communication is therefore the essential ingredient of cooperation. Finally, a person must have excellent ‘people skills’ to be prepared for the future.

Communication ability is important, but is only the beginning - to relate to other people, an individual needs to understand them, and why they react as they do. Such skills include understanding motivation and knowledge of how to deal with conflicts.
Throughout the United States and Canada, there is a network of small institutions that offer an education unique in its focus on the three educational essentials required for the future. Ironically, it offers this education by studying a book that was written thousands of years ago: the Bible. Although the Bible was written by some 40 authors over a period of around 1600 years, and although the Bible was completed almost 2000 years ago, it is as current as tomorrow’s newspaper. This is because it was inspired by the God of the universe who made man and the world in which he lives. As the designer, God knows the nature of man; in the Bible, His design manual, God provides the principles for successful living. Only as a student masters God's word will he begin to have an accurate understanding of the world and its people around him.
The Bible explains the nature of God, the nature of Man, and how man must relate to God and his fellows. After ten years, most textbooks are no longer relevant - the Bible has endured for thousands of years, despite the attempts of thousands of critics to discredit it. Although the Bible is not a book of science, it has proven to be scientifically accurate: modern findings have never disproved any part of it, and never will, because the author created all that the scientist explores.

As the authoritative Word of God, the Bible can be studied at many levels. Its stories are simple enough that a child can understand them, yet the truths of the Bible are so profound that scholars have spent entire lifetimes studying a small portion of the entire book.

A Bible college education includes far more than the study of the Bible. Generally, organization of the educational programs offered by these institutions is made up of three major components. The study of Bible and theology typically comprises about one-third of the curriculum, with general studies making up another third. These studies are designed to acquaint the student with humanities, social studies, and mathematics or science. The remaining third consists of professional or vocational studies, geared primarily toward church or para-church-related vocations. Additionally, Bible colleges include field education activities ('Christian service') designed to assist students in practising the theory they are learning in the classroom.

Experiences in the field generally increase learning, not only through the application process, but by fostering questions and needs within the student, enabling them to ask better questions to determine what is really important in the classroom. As indicated, Bible colleges are comparatively small institutions, with numbers ranging from less than a hundred students to approximately 1400, the average being about 300. As small institutions, there is a strong sense of community. Students get individual attention from faculty, and develop life-long friendships with their fellow students.

Although Bible colleges are private, non-profit institutions, they compete well with state-supported institutions in terms of their costs of attendance. This is because most schools enjoy strong levels of financial support from the respective constituent churches. Furthermore, Bible college faculty are unusually dedicated to the importance of what they do, serving their institutions for less money than they could command in other settings. Although Bible colleges are small, they generally have excellent educational resources, with faculties that are more highly educated than those teaching at state-supported institutions (especially with first and second-year students).

The most important thing, however, is that a Bible college has a very clear educational mission, and a curriculum with a unifying core, operating from the premise that truth is knowable, and all truth is God’s truth. Accordingly, the entire curriculum is integrated around God’s Word.

Although about one-half of US Bible colleges have secular accreditation, the Association for Bible Higher Education in Florida has now served the Bible college movement of the United States and Canada as its official accrediting body for more than 50 years. ABHE’s accrediting process is designed to ensure that Bible colleges meet a minimal level of educational quality, and that they are constantly working to make it better.

The accrediting process is rigorous, it takes a typical school between 8-10 years to work through it. ABHE’s accrediting work has been recognized by both the US Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
For a list of ABHE-affiliated colleges, please visit: www.abhe.org

Author:
Dr. Randall Bell
ABHE