Bible College of Victoria

The Bible College of Victoria, commonly known as BCV is a Christian Bible college with its main campus in Lilydale, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. People from all over Australia and the world travel to study there. It is one of Australia's largest Bible colleges and is highly recognized for its reputation in the training and development of missionaries. It has an aviation department that focuses on training pilots and engineers for aviation mission work. It also has a Chinese department where courses are taught in both Mandarin and Cantonese.

History

Founded as the Melbourne Bible Institute (MBI) in September 1920, BCV was established to train missionaries to serve with the China Inland Mission in China. At its opening only one student sat down with the principal in the hall of the Congregational church in Prahran. Most appropriately they began with the study of Genesis. The college's first principal was a 54-year-old Anglican priest, the Reverend Clifford Nash, who was there because, in his words, "he felt constrained to undertake the task". For six weeks they continued until another man and two women joined the class. They were the first of the 1000 students trained by Nash at MBI. The total now approaches 5000 graduates.

Currently, the principal is the Reverend Michael Raiter.

Courses

There are a range of BCV courses at Undergraduate Certificate, Undergraduate Degree, Graduate Degree, and Postgraduate level, including specialised options such as Mission Aviation and a Chinese Department. In 2008 BCV established the Centre for the Study of Islam and Other Faiths, through which students are given the opportunity to learn about the distinctives of other faiths and thereby be better equipped to minister to people from those faiths.

Courses range from 1 year full-time through to 3 or 4 year degrees, and provide a wide range of choices for Christians looking to be equipped for ministry. Core subjects tend to be Biblical/Theological in nature with certain essentials such as Communication Skills, while electives provide opportunity for students to pursue particular areas of interest such as Youth Ministry, Pastoral Skills & Methods, Leadership, Cross-cultural Communication, Aid & Development, Christian Worship, and so on.

Current accreditations available are:

*Certificate IV in Ministries
*Certificate IV in Aeroskills
*Diploma of Mission Aviation (Flight)
*Associate Degree of Theology
*Bachelor of Theology
*Bachelor of Theology (Honours)
*Bachelor of Ministry
*Bachelor of Ministry (Honours)
*Bachelor of Christian Studies
*Graduate Diploma of Christian Studies
*Graduate Diploma of Divinity
*Master of Divinity
*Master of Arts (Divinity)
*Master of Arts (Theology)
*Master of Theology
*Doctor of Theology
*Doctor of Ministry

Most courses/subjects are available full-time, part-time or via distance learning. Many are also offered through the [http://www.bcvchinese.org.au Chinese Department] , at which students undertake their studies in the Mandarin and Cantonese languages. Students participating in the Aviation Flight stream will also earn their Commercial Pilot licence with NVFR Rating and Command Instrument Rating.

Key staff and faculty

External links

* [http://www.bcv.vic.edu.au/ Bible College of Victoria] unreferenced|date=September 2007