November 15, 1999
Dear Friends,
God has continued to exceed our expectations in answering prayers and we
look forward with great anticipation to January 2000 when BTC will finally
be on Trinco soil!
Introducing three prospective students:
Satyendra:
He is from Nallur, Jaffna, in northern Sri Lanka. He was born and raised as
an Anglican and at a very early age became active in the Youth Fellowship of
St. James' Church, Nallur. He received his call to full-time pastoral work
under very unusual circumstances. While serving as the leader of YF, the
"Jaffna exodus" began in 1996. The entire population of Jaffna, about
700,000 was ordered to move south, to the jungles of Vanni. During the
exodus Satyendra stayed with the church families, and in the absence of the
parish priest, he reluctantly conducted services. During this ordeal he was
quietly groomed for Christian ministry. His church recognised his call, and
a few years later in 1998 he went to Colombo to be trained for ministry in
the Anglican church, the Church of Ceylon. At the Church of the Good
Shepherd, Jawatta Road, he has been assisting the minister, taking full
responsibility for leading the Tamil section of the congregation.
After spending a year with the liberal Bishop of Colombo, Satyendra opted
for a change and decided to go to BTC rather than the liberal Theological
College of Lanka.
Selvaraj:
He is from Parappankandal, in the Catholic dominated area of Mannar, located
in the north-western Sri Lanka. He was born a Catholic and converted during
his teens. He joined the local YFC for short while before becoming a member
of the newly planted Reformed church in the Mannar town. (Ragavan Alphonsus
and Jothy Hoole are founder members of this church, which is closely
associated with Calvary Evangelical Church in Brighton) He began to actively
share his faith, and in 1988 he was sent out as an evangelist to start a new
work in Parappankandal on the mainland. During the nineties most of the
mainland was overrun by the Tamil Tigers, and in the midst of these trying
conditions where the falling shells was routine, Selvaraj and his partner in
the Gospel, Morias, nurtured a new church in Parappankandal. During the last
two years, the two of them have assumed pastoral duties within the newly
independent church.
Selvaraj has shown himself to be a keen student of the Bible. He is eager to
pursue formal theological education. The church has now agreed to release
him for 2-3 years so that he may enroll at the new college in Trinco. He is
married to Jancy, from Trinco, and they have two children.
Stella Vasuki:
Stella is single and a professional draughtsman, and for sometime now she
has been asking her father to send her to a Bible college. They are
pentecostals members of Calvary Church in Batticaloa, on the east coast of
Sri Lanka. Charles met her father, Mr. Mariadas in Norton Bridge when he was
giving a series of lectures on Sri Lankan Church History at the South Asia
Institute of Theology (Homsa Rural Pastors Training Centre). Having heard
through the Institute's principal about BTC, Mr. Mariadas expressed to
Charles his desire to send Stella to study in Trinco since it is close to
home. The family are personally known to one of the BTC lecturers, Nepoleon
Pathmanathan, who worked in Batticaloa for several years as an Anglican
evangelist. Nepoleon intends to speak to Stella during his next visit to
Batticaloa in November.
Please pray for Satyendra, Selvaraj and Stella as they prepare to come to
Trinco and for others to join them.
Registration
The final draft of the 29-page constitution is now complete and is being
taken to the Registrar of Companies. BTC will subsequently be advertised for
3 weeks in a local paper, after which there will be a signing ceremony, when
the seven founding members are required to be present ... then we will be
registered!!
The Board of Governors
We hope to have another meeting at the end of November when people come
together for the above event. Among the many issues to be discussed are a
few more members for this Board and personnel for the Advisory Board. Many
policy issues also need to be ironed out in preparation for January. If you
have any advice to give, we would value your input.
Faculty News
Priya Handy is just finishing up his M.Th. at ETCW in Wales and is hoping to
return to Sri Lanka by the first week of December.
Publicity
Thanks to Nepoleon, Satyendra and Yoga (pastor of the Evangelical Reformed
Church, ERC in Colombo and a former student of Charles), BTC brochures in
Tamil will be shortly circulated in Batticoloa, Jaffna and Vauniya
respectively. Please pray for safety as they all travel. The December issues
of Direction (English) and Mandradal (Tamil) carry adverts for the Jan-April
courses at BTC.
Note: Yoga has written two Tamil commentaries (Daniel and 1 Thess.) which
are available in manuscript form, and the ERC church has planted two new
churches in the north and south of the city.
A brochure has also been produced by Pastor Arthur Imbrey for distribution
in the UK.
A surprise encouragement!
We just heard news from Trevor Baxter in Brighton, UK, of an anonymous
donation of £1000 from a lady in Cardiff.
Our Library is growing!
We have just received 5 boxes of books from Life Bible Presbyterian Church
in Singapore and during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, the General Secretary
of SPCK (UK), Paul Chandler, who is an evangelical, offered BTC a book grant
of £1000!
We hope you are encouraged by these answers to your prayers. Let us continue
to pray and believe God to do His work among and through us. Thank you for
standing with us in this venture of faith for the extension and growth of
God's kingdom in this land of Sri Lanka.
Text of the advert appearing in the December issue of Direction magazine:
Committed to equipping students for leadership and service
under the Lordship of Jesus Christ
BALDAEUS THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE
170 Dockyard Road, Trincomalee
Tel. 026-22869
Helping to make disciples through Word based ministries
Opening in January 2000
Courses offered for Jan-April
- Life and Teachings of Jesus - Nepoleon Pathmanathan
- Biblical Theology - Charles Hoole
- Old Testament History - Priya Handy
- Church History 1 (Early and Medieval) - Charles Hoole
- Introduction to New Testament - Pas. Jothy Hoole
- Gospel and Culture - Charles Hoole
- Study Methods - Priya Handy
- Life and Work of a Pastor - Pas. Jothy Hoole
Programmes offered:
- B.Th.
- Diploma
- Baldaeus Certifcate
(All available in the three national languages)
Accommodation and scholarships available on request.
For more information contact:
MR. NEPOLEON PATHMANATHAN, 88 GLENNIE STREET, COLOMBO 2
TEL.01-826769
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