According to the US Pew Research Center, Christianity is expected to grow in the Asia-Pacific region by 33 percent between 2010 and 2050, rising from 287 million to 381 million followers! It goes without saying, 94 million more Christians will require more pastors and local seminaries to train these pastors for their unique contexts. As the centre of Christianity is also projected to shift from the West to the Majority World, it will be important to prepare Asian churches to receive the baton of leadership in various ministries by developing advanced studies programmes, so as to equip more lecturers, educators, and leaders for seminaries and churches in the region.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call to the need for theological education to transcend geographical boundaries through the online platform. Even post pandemic, this platform will provide an alternative to the high costs of living in Singapore for students from the Majority World, especially those with families. Therefore, SBC needs more faculty hours to be spent on developing courses and programmes that use both physical and online platforms of delivery flexibly and effectively.
Course development needs time and skills in addition to what is required for regular teaching, necessitating more human resources than ever before. As Singapore has a very small population, SBC needs a substantial number of foreign faculty to complement local faculty to meet the demands of training and development. Moreover, Singapore’s relentlessly high costs of living continue to impact both foreign and local faculty.
As a charity, we rely on donations to further our mission. Annual expenditure is about $6 million, of which 80 percent goes to the remuneration of faculty and staff, who are training and serving approximately 430 current students, while also equipping our alumni and fellow Christians for life-long learning. Given that only 50 percent of the annual expenditure is funded from student fees, revenues, and investment returns, the remaining 50 percent needs to be fundraised.
The fast-growing churches in Asia need your support for more shepherds and trainers of shepherds. Jesus had compassion on the crowd because they were like sheep without shepherds (Mark 6:34). He said to Peter, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). We appeal to all churches and friends of SBC to pray for us and to partner with us to train pastors, counsellors, leaders, and teachers by supporting our faculty with $100,000 per faculty annually. Your support will not only feed the sheep, but will have a multiplier effect like the feeding of the 5,000 (Mark 6:35–44).
We value your partnership greatly. Please pray and walk with SBC in the post-pandemic era!
