16 May was a full day for WEST staff and students as the morning saw an Open Day for prospective students and the afternoon the end of term Thanksgiving Service.
The service was led by the principal, Jonathan Stephen, and Mike Reeves read Ephesians 3. 7-13 and 4.25 – 5.5 and prayed. Jonathan commented on the happy atmosphere and the pleasing spiritual development of the students. He noted recent trends in training that had seen the closure of three campuses of mainstream theological colleges and declining numbers. It was not the case that fewer men were being called to preach but that the system for their training needed reforming.
Learning in local churches
Union had been WEST’s response to that need for change which saw distance learning concentrated within ‘Learning Communities’ of local churches. WEST was the hub for training the leaders needed to lead churches in this post-Christian age. Prayer was needed for the WEST staff and the hugely supportive Sarang Church.
Outgoing student president Ewan Jones will be working part-time in a local church while he continues his studies part-time on the MA course. Mark Bateman had combined distance learning with his duties as assistant pastor in Lausanne, Switzerland. Gill Williams said she had benefitted greatly from her studies and looked forward to serving her local church more formally. 17 Masters students are completing their studies. For one of these, this was while ministering in Eastern Europe amongst considerable blessing. Three representatives of the International Foundation Course, each from Chongshin Theological Seminary in South Korea, were interviewed.
The preacher was Dr Paul Blackham of Soul Church, Neath.
