March 20, 2001
Dear Friends,
We are truly grateful to our sovereign Lord for his
gracious work of redemption in this land that is
predominantly Buddhist and Hindu. Throughout
the island the churches are growing, and this is
accompanied by a need for theological education and
training. To destroy God's work the enemy is
also actively at work within the churches, often
proclaiming "another gospel" - pluralism, liberalism,
prosperity, or third wave. Consequently, quite a
few new churches are getting filled with baptized
pagans, and many more are filled with mere infants,
lacking in spiritual discernment and maturity
and thus easily swayed by the array of new teachings.
The only antidote to these spiritual ills afflicting
the church is to place the Bible in the hands
of the people of God, prepare them for combat by
empowering them with the Word of God (Eph.6:11,17;
Is.11:9,10)
The arrival of Baldaeus Theological College meets a
great need in Sri Lanka. Being the only Reformed
seminary, it is dedicated to the task of equipping
the church through teaching the Bible and applying its
truths to our own milieu. The seminary was
established in January 2000, initially to serve the
churches in the war affected Northeast. From its
inception the programmes were offered in the two
national languages, Sinhalese and Tamil. The seminary
has been steadily growing; it is presently attracting
candidates from all over the island, including the
Hill country and the South. To serve the separatist
LTTE controlled Vanni region more effectively, on
April 16th, Baldaeus will open the first ever long
distance learning center to be based in Mannar.
For this work of training and equipping leaders to be
sustained we need regular financial support from
Reformed churches abroad. The Reformed churches here
support us by sending dedicated staff personnel as
well as students, but they are simply unable to give
material resources.
Thank you for your attention and support. Please do
continue to pray for the college, the students and
all the challenges we face as we seek to strengthen
the churches in Northeast Sri Lanka.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Dr. C. R. A. Hoole
Principal, BTC
|
|
|
|
