© Collegium Ministries 2008-2014
Collegium Bible Institute was birthed in 2000 under the name Collegium Ministries. From its inception the
vision was to be a place to equip the saints to do the work of God. In the year 2000 we began to produce
curriculum for the institute. In 2003 we opened our first training academy. To us, that was only the beginning
of what we felt God was tasking us to do. The ultimate goal is to have a world class training center for those
called to ministry and for those called into the market place.
When we surveyed the landscape of Christendom, including ourselves, we realized that there was a serious
gap between what is called discipleship today and what discipleship was in the early Church. The
differences we found were due in part to centuries of change. What are we to do? Do we embrace the
modern method that seems to be failing to turn out credible, matured, and seasoned ministers, or do we
take an honest look at what the early Church did and modernize it without destroying the substance? We
took that latter route. When looking at the local Church and the Christian colleges we took note of these
differences.
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Whereas the early Church made the same education available to all
saints, the modern Church has separated the education section from
the local Church and created colleges.
•
Whereas there was a premium placed upon solid doctrine in the early
Church, the modern Church has often consigned it as unimportant or
secondary to worship.
•
Whereas the early Church was Hebraic oriented, the modern Church
is Greek oriented.
•
Whereas the saints in the early Church were to be doing the work of
God, in the modern Church the Pastor is expected to do the work of
God.
•
Whereas the five callings of Ephesians 4:11 were active in the early Church, only three are accepted
in the modern Church.
•
Whereas miracles were the norm in the early Church, they are a rarity in the modern Church.
•
Whereas the saints ministered in the early Church, the saints are relegated to their seats in the
modern Church.
The next task then is to integrate the early Church substance into a modern culture. We must be able to
convince the modern culture that bible study is not a past time recreation. If we are to bring validity back to
the American Church, it will only come through serious study of the Word of God. Our vision is to convey
this simple truth to those who are willing to hear to the end that the person would enjoin themselves to
serious, diligent study of the things they have taken for granted.
In the Hebraic culture a child was taught the Tanakh (Old Testament Bible) by
their parents until their bar mitzvah at age 12 or 13. Then they were taught the
Tanakh by the Doctors of the Tanakh until they were 30. That amounts to 25
years of education with at least 17 of those years being taught by seasoned
biblical instructors. If we are to become valid again in a society that has lost its
taste for anything Christian, we must have a valid message and be able to
defend that message in the face of opposition.
Our vision took shape, and we developed an interconnected system of academic study that would be
acceptable to a modern culture and still retain the substance of the early Church fathers. In that vision we
see a biblical institute, but not like the paradigm of a modern college today. What we created is a biblical
institute accessible to all saints for increasing their knowledge of God whether they are in a degree program
for entering into full time ministry or they are in the market place and want to be able to defend their faith
and learn of Him who bought them with His precious blood.
In this institute, one is not just learning, but developing in character, gifting, and relationship with God. Our
vision is for each student to be engaged in being mentored as well as being taught. This program would
also be available as a framework for the local Church to model in order to become a significant force for
God in their community. Even after going through four years of training, the student will have by that time,
developed the mindset of being committed to a life long journey of learning and studying. In this, we will
have modeled the early Church.
Our vision is to develop an education system that will allow the body of Christ, no matter where they live, to
have access to our material through the modern technology available today. It is for this reason that we
opened our online E-Learning center in 2008. Now Christian leaders around the world are able to access
our lessons and begin training their groups to function according to their call. We have now modernized
this system to include a live virtual classroom for up to 2000 students per class.