Online Bible College Development - Need your input!

In recent months I have been surprised at the cost of Christian training. Unfortunately the overheads and requirements of running an accredited seminary makes some potential students unable to study. This has concerned me, for the obvious reason that some people are missing out on learning more about God.

Also, I noticed a lack of training for those who do not wish to be in traditional ministry. As you well know, there are many Christians who are called into the workplace to be a light in a dark world. However, many are missing out on teaching they may really benifit from, because of the need to work full time, or the commitment to bible college is just not finacially possible.

The culmination of these concerns (students unable to expand their knowledge of God, and being less equipped) has led me to explore a medium that has quie a few blank canvasses at the moment: Free Online Bible College.

There are only a couple of free bible colleges on the internet at the moment. However, they all lack some critical features, such as:

* A community feel (with integrated ways to interact between students)
* A mentorship system for each subject (for teacher-student help)
* A secure login for each student, with course modelling and tracking
* An integrous assesments system
* The ability to be translated into other languages
* A wide range of subjects & courses to meet the individual's calling
* Different mediums of delivery: eg. printed course material, online courses, automated email courses
* Aditionally, it would be ideal if the standard of material and assesment was such that accredited bible colleges may consider RPL (recognition of prior learning) in some cases where students have previously studied through this free online bible college.
* In the end, something that could act as a complete online campus.

I understand that there would be numerous logistical issues to overcome, but would deeply appreciate any input or help from people who are currently involved in training bible students. This has the potential to benifit thousands who would not be able to receive training otherwise. The idea is still in conceptual stage, and I'm are simply exploring all the issues arrounding it. However, if anyone you know would like to be a part of this in some way, or have any suggestions or concerns, please email me at mail.coops@gmail.com
:-)

You may want to contact Ron Bailey (Philologos) because I believe he is working on something similar to this, he may be able to give you some helpful input.

Your list of features is excellent and will require a lot of effort from many people. If I can help in some way let me know. I was led to start a very simple little web site last year that contains some free Bible correspondence courses and the response has been very good considering that I have only registered the site with a few search engines.

In Christ,

Ron

I actually have been for awhile praying and thinking of a way to setup a online bible school circulum on sermonindex with sermonindex materials.

Awesome idea Greg! You could set up some lecture/lab type courses with the sermons or articles from the likes of Ray Stedman, Zac Poonen, and Chuck Smith et al as the lecture portion and then an online lesson as the lab portion.

In Christ,

Ron

I guess how good an internet school would be is going to depend a lot on what you are looking to get out of it.

Are you looking to be submerged into the world of the Old and New Testaments? Do you want to know information about the surrounding cultures? Do you want to know the more technical issues when it comes to interpreting scripture? Are you looking to become a scholar?

Or are you looking simply for a somewhat advanced Sunday school lesson? Do you want something that is more devotional in nature, that shy's away from issues of history, grammar, and structure?

Most of the internet bible colleges I have seen seem more of the second variety. If you are looking for something more scholarly, and can't afford to attend a bible college, I'd recommend you simply read broadly in the "better commentaries" (i.e New International Commentary on the Old/New Testament), and various survey books that will introduce you to such issues, and give you further recommended readings.

No matter what way you go, a biblical education is mostly about reading source documents and secondary works, and will require a great investment and diligent study. One does not need to go to Bible college to do such. In fact, going to a Bible college might actually get in the way of such, as you are required to read what you are assigned.

Sometimes I joke around "School has interfered with my education!" However, guided reading (which is most of what Bible college is!) is important to introducing you to important scholarly concepts which will help you make better use of the "better commentaries", as you are not likely to pickup a book such as "The Hermeneutical Spiral" on your own!

You may want to contact Ron Bailey (Philologos) because I believe he is working on something similar to this, he may be able to give you some helpful input.

However, guided reading (which is most of what Bible college is!) is important to introducing you to important scholarly concepts which will help you make better use of the "better commentaries", as you are not likely to pickup a book such as "The Hermeneutical Spiral" on your own!

The most difficult might be 'accreditation'.

KingJimmy, I know what you are saying, and to be honest I think that's a task too big to do. You are right, people who want deep scholarly knowledge are better off seeking it out and using the source, rather than a simplified version someone wrote for online.

The level (or depth) I was thinking of would have been equivalent to most Advanced Diplomas, or possibly even bachelors (not sure about this). The two types of people I had in mind were:

1. Those in other countries (or in my own) that had zeal and wanted to go into full time ministry, but couldn’t afford the costs.
2. Those who are called into the workplace to be lights in a dark world. This is more the lay ministry style, “everyday chaplain”, sort of thing. Basically anyone who is called into something other than “being a pastor” but still wants to be in ministry in whatever that do.

Anyway thanks for all your replies. I’ll keep you updated in this thread, or by email if you let me know.

I was led to start a very simple little web site last year that contains some free Bible correspondence courses

[b]InTheLight[/b] how would you feel about offering some of those lessons/courses within this new system?

InTheLight how would you feel about offering some of those lessons/courses within this new system?

I'd be happy to do that.

In Christ,

Ron

I'd be happy to do that.

Fantastic!

I have just turned 20, and have not yet been to bible college myself. I am working and saving and waiting.

So naturally, I wouldn't qualify myself as the best person to run this whole thing. That's why I'm appealing - with an idea - for help.

Basically, I can set up the infrastructure if people would be keen to come on board and deliver traning.

Having resources available is absolutely fantastic. Thanks so much!

The level (or depth) I was thinking of would have been equivalent to most Advanced Diplomas, or possibly even bachelors (not sure about this). The two types of people I had in mind were:

Well, when I was working on my Bachelors degree in Christian Ministry, most the books we read were survey level books, usually reading probably about 3-500+ pages per class, depending on the level of the class. Most of them didn't get bogged down in technical information, and tended to be geared towards the basic idea of a passage in Scripture.

For example, we used a lot of Tyndale New Testament Commentaries by InterVarsity Press. These are basic little commentaries that offer just enough information on technical issues, and offer quick comments on passages to give you the general feel of it. They are also very cheap and highly available.

But I suppose you are probably looking to make a site that is more than simply a giant list of bibliographies. I imagine to properly do this, you'll need to get a number of well-versed pastors/teachers to participate with you.

You might also look to make use of recent QuickTime technology that allows audio files to be syncronized with a power-point like presentation that somebody can listen to and watch. For a great example of this, you might check out William Mounce's "Basics of Biblical Greek" CD-ROM attached to the back of the book, where Mounce offers short 10-15 minute lectures, actually taken from his classroom setting, which is also syncronized with a power-point like slide. So long as you have enough storage capacity and bandwidth, you could easily offer such on a web site.

Also, for a place where students and teachers can interact with eachother, you might look into using Blackboard software. Blackboard is the standard software schools use for classes they offer via the internet. It allows one to post grades, hand out assignements, hand out attachments, and has a forum where discussion can occur.

This may be a little off topic, but I have a desire to start, or help start a School where men(to start) would be able to come for a month or so. It would be an intense time not so much of training, but really praying, and learning the basics of different aspects of the faith.
It would be more of a "spiritual" school than anything else. But this would I suppose also go hand in hand with another thing I am praying about which is an American version of G.F.A. where we would use native missionaries here in the ole USA. These men and women would be sponsored by congregations or individuals with the emphasis on reaching those who are not being reached.
The school would probably be set near a large city somewhere, so that on the weekends open-air, and evengelistic meetings could be done so people would be trained by really going out and doing it. Then Monday-Friday there would be duties around the premises, studies etc..
Whadda you guys think?

Jon Courson is an amazing brother. I have had the priveledge to know him for a couple years, and he is truly a godly guy.
As for a Sermonindex house, there are some wonderful places in Idaho. Calvary Chapel Boise has a prayer retreat house in Garden Valley Idaho. It is beautiful there, trees, streams even horses. Plus the cost for land is not as outragous as some places especially here in Santa Cruz. There is a retreat center that is for sale here, and it is in the mountains surrounded by redwoods. Actually there are four Conference grounds within minutes away from our house. There is even a prayer and fasting house. Perhaps we could look into one fro the SI annual conference? :-P

Perhaps we could commit it to prayer and see how the LORD moves, or if HE does. Maybe ask the family here at SI to join in.

You may want to contact Ron Bailey (Philologos) because I believe he is working on something similar to this, he may be able to give you some helpful input.

Some years ago I was involved in a small residential 'bible school' that we called 'The Church Life School'. We invited young pastors and evangelists, most from overseas, to spend 6 months with us in the experience of 'church'. We spent the mornings in study on a variety of topics. Most of the students had English as a second language so we took things fairly slowly. I plan to try to get some of the sessions online and have made a brief start.

If you are interested in some basic teaching on the Word of God, Attitudes to the Word of God, Studying the Word of God, Meditating on the Word of God... you might be interested to take a look at [url=http://wiki.biblebase.com/index.php/The_Bible:_Inspiration_and_Interpretation]The BB Online Bible School.[/url] At present the printed handouts are not online but I trust to make them available as soon as possible. If you find it of any value please copy it freely.