History
In August 1972 twenty men from various parts of England and Wales gathered at Bryntirion, then the Conference Centre of the Evangelical Movement of Wales, for the inaugural session of the Theological Training Course. To date, more than two hundred have followed them. They have come from all parts of the British Isles, from some European countries and beyond. Many of these men are now serving God in different pastoral, evangelistic and missionary situations.
Purpose of the Course
The purpose of the Course remains what it has been since it was first planned almost thirty years ago. It seeks to help men called of God to the work of preaching and caring for His people and of reaching out into the world with the gospel.
Men whose circumstances or convictions prevent them from attending a full-time course in a Bible or Theological College have found in the Theological Training Course a viable and helpful alternative. A considerable proportion of such men are now exercising fruitful ministries in Britain and overseas. Indeed, both the number and the spiritual calibre of the men who have successfully completed the Course and who have been placed by God in the ministry are ample vindication of the rightness of that original vision.
Aims of the Course
The recovery of powerful and effective preaching must rank as one of the greatest needs of the church today. This conviction, which was the original motivation of those men involved in the planning of the Course, is still its guiding principle. For, above everything else, a minister is called to preach the Word of God.
No man, course or college can make a preacher. Only God can do that. But when a man is called of God and gifted by Him with those spiritual abilities to enable him to fulfil his calling, that man will want to be the best that he can be in the Lord’s service. It was to help such men that the Theological Training Course was started.
Many elements combine to achieve this end: the training of a man’s mind; the study of the Scriptures together with a clear grasp of the body of truth set forth in them; learning the lessons taught by the glorious successes and sometimes dismal failures that make up the history of the church; pastoral preparation; and, not least, the nurture and culture of a man’s own soul. In all of these areas, and more, there is ample scope for such men to receive helpful instruction from others.
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