A Case Study of Higher Theological Education in the Assemblies of God Malaysia: The Development of the Bible College of Malaysia’s Strategic Plan

Abstract

The Bible College of Malaysia (BCM) has existed for 63 years since its establishment as a Pentecostal Bible school. AG USA missionaries founded BCM to train local pastors, church planters, and evangelists, but the school’s mission has expanded in recent decades to train lay leaders and Christian professionals for various vocations. Programs and courses have also expanded to meet the needs of churches and society. In light of these changes, having the Scholar Leaders Vital Sustainability Initiative consultants help BCM build a strategic plan for the next five years has been valuable as the college forges ahead into the future.

Introduction

The Bible College of Malaysia (BCM) is the national Bible school of the Assemblies of God Malaysia (AGM). Assemblies of God USA (AG USA) missionaries first came to Malaya, as the Peninsula that is now part of Malaysia was then known, in the early 1930s. They led the Pentecostal movement in the early decades, during which they recognized the need to train local workers. Revd Delmer and Eleanor Guynes, missionaries to Malaya from 1952 to 1964 and the first General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God of Malaya and Singapore, founded the Bible Institute of Malaya (BIM), now the Bible College of Malaysia, at 99, Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya, on 3 January 1960. Revd Howard C. Osgood became the first principal and served with his wife, Edith, alongside other AG missionaries. (The change of name to the Bible College of Malaysia took place in 1982 with the introduction of the Bachelor of Theology programme.)

BIM started with a three-year diploma program and an enrolment of 12 youths from Malaya and Singapore. The first graduating class in 1962 had seven graduates. At that time, there were six faculty members and around 19 students. Many youths enrolled over the years. Many of the AG missionaries were church planters and educators in the Bible schools. In fact, the founding of BCM was a significant contributing factor to the expansion of the Pentecostal movement in Malaysia. BCM is the AGM’s own Pentecostal Bible college; today, it still trains locally credentialed ministers of a pioneering spirit who are engaged in local missions, church planting, and church ministry.

To date, BCM offers a wide range of programs from certificate to master level and has three language departments, namely English, Chinese, and Bahasa Malaysia. BCM also offers a Doctor of Ministry under the Asia Graduate School of Theology (AGST) Alliance. BCM has produced over 1,250 graduates in its six decades. Presently, the BCM president is Revd Dr. Victor Lee Tat Yan; there are 10 full-time faculty members.

In this twenty-first century, BCM has enrolled more laity, so BCM has been designing and offering new programs and courses to equip lay leaders, particularly counselling and leadership, which are needed in churches and the marketplace. BCM now has over 700 students; most of them are part-time.

After six decades, and especially because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many aspects of BCM’s context have changed. In light of these changes, BCM needs to examine its mission, vision, situation, financial sustainability, and plans. This essay discusses the significance of the Scholar Leaders Vital Sustainability Initiative meetings as they assisted BCM with its strategic planning. The VSI exercise offered the BCM community an opportunity to reflect and strategize together. The process was crucial for BCM as we revise curricula and other institutional aspects to equip students for the current issues in Malaysian culture today, to address intergenerational gaps in church leadership, and to facilitate the integration of faith in society. As we considered these matters, the VSI consultation challenged us in positive ways.

Forging Ahead with the Vital Sustainability Initiative

Given BCM’s recognition of its long history and new contextual challenges, BCM saw the engagement of the Scholar Leaders Vital Sustainability Initiative (VSI) as quite timely. BCM had the privilege of engaging a VSI team led by Dr. Emmanuel Bellon. Other VSI consultants with BCM included Dr. Linzay Rinquest, Dr. Joshua Lorin, and Dr. David Tarus. To open the consultation, the VSI team met with BCM’s President, Victor Lee, via Zoom. Then BCM conducted data-gathering based on instructions from the VSI team. Next, the VSI team met onsite with BCM leaders on September 21-23, 2022.

The VSI consultants provided a list of eight focus areas that are vital for the sustainability of theological institutions:

1. Mission (students, vocation, programs, prophetic voices)
2. Faculty Development
3. Pedagogy, Distance, and Technology-Enabled Learning
4. Library
5. Advancement & Partnerships (alumni, donors)
6. Physical Facilities
7. Finance
8. Leadership

They asked BCM to gather data in these areas that then provided the foundation for our in-person conversations. During their days at BCM, the VSI consultants met with the president, leaders, faculty, staff, board, and selected alumni and church leaders to study, evaluate, and reflect on the state of the college. After this time of research, BCM identified eight strategic initiatives that represent new ideas:

1. Renovating campus facilities to create a third financial revenue stream.
2. Involving alumni in the ministry and character formation of part-time students.
3. Building broad networks of donors to enhance BCM’s financial sustainability.
4. Aspiring to be a game changer by offering relevant courses that cater to the needs of local churches of the current generations.
5. Encouraging lecturers to engage in public issues through their writings.
6. Forming Christian professionals and entrepreneurs to live out Christian values effectively in the marketplace.
7. Developing a robust online platform that includes a library system and Learning Management System (LMS) to meet the needs of online education.
8. Establishing a counselling support system to help local churches.

The second VSI consultation was on March 8-10, 2023. Dr. Linzay Rinquest, Dr. Joshua Lorin, and Dr. Bennet Arren Lawrence, representing the Asia Theological Association, attended in person. Dr. Emmanuel Bellon joined sessions via Zoom. Intensive meetings were held with the BCM president, leaders, alumni, faculty, staff, and board members to streamline the most crucial strategic initiatives, which included:

1. Mission clarification and prophetic voice
2. Faculty development and prophetic voice
3. Online learning, LMS, and library
4. Financial sustainability and fundraising
5. Alumni
6. Financial integration

Mission Clarification and Prophetic Voice

The first topic of discussion was mission clarification and prophetic voice, which guides the strategic initiatives. BCM’s mission is to form pastors, counsellors, and Christian professionals to effectively lead the church to perform Christian education and to address local crises in the church and society. Sample foci for this mission at this point in BCM’s history include mental health and integration of faith in the marketplace.

Forming Counsellors

Forming counsellors is vital to assist local congregations in providing mental health care. Lay people express needs having to do with depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, and gender identity. Local churches seem to struggle with how to deal with these issues.

Thus, BCM is considering various ways of helping leaders and churches to start addressing these topics. It might create a counselling department that can raise awareness and provide training. It might enhance current course content on topics such as depression and burnout to equip students to help others with these issues. Ethics courses might be adapted to touch on life principles, worldview, and identity. BCM might even establish a campus-based support system to aid students themselves who might be facing these challenges.

Already, BCM has done a few seminars on counselling. In the future, additional projects might include awareness campaigns, short courses, or a month of activities about wellness.

Forming Christian Professionals

Following from the topic noted immediately above, we noted that society needs professionals who can enact faithful values in their vocations. During our conversations, we redefined the initial term “business entrepreneurs” as “Christian professionals” to include all vocations.

Formulating Strategic Initiatives and Objectives

BCM is a denominational school that also seeks to address society. The VSI consultants encouraged BCM to keep bringing fruitful change to the denomination and society alike. BCM has a strategic role to play in the expansion of the Church in Malaysia because BCM can train young entrepreneurs and professionals who can then sustain themselves in ministry. In addition, BCM can help churches understand the breadth of opportunities open to them in their communities. Finally, BCM can disseminate new knowledge through books, journals, and theological consultations.

As we learned from the VSI consultants, in order to capitalize on its strengths, BCM could deploy a theme that different areas of the institution could then emphasize. VSI helped BCM to think about how to choose and incorporate such a theme. For example, BCM might incorporate its desire for radical new engagements between the Church and society by updating its current opportunities in chapel, coaching, and courses. BCM might revise curricula and meta-curricula to equip students to address intergenerational gaps and the integration of faith in society.

In addition, the VSI team suggested that BCM could continue to strengthen its faculty as pastor-scholars. The VSI consultants offered various avenues for this aspect of missional impact. Suggested possibilities include continuing to enable the faculty to research, write, and publish on topics that address current issues in Malaysian society; developing a framework to bring together key stakeholders to address the abovementioned issues – for example, through open forums or dialogues for solutions with students and graduates; and guiding young ministers to plant churches. BCM will select options to incorporate into its strategic plan that make the most sense for its situation.

Even before VSI came to BCM, BCM’s faculty recognized how essential they are to the college’s mission. Yet, as a community, we hope to keep strengthening this overall sense of purpose, specifically by enhancing our faculty’s visibility within local churches. For example, faculty may consider helping churches to teach on some of these social and ecclesial questions. As the VSI process emphasized the faculty’s importance, we were helped to deliberate even more robustly on the faculty as a second strategic initiative.

Faculty Development & Prophetic Voice

Faculty are BCM’s primary resource. As pastor-scholars, they implement the mission of the college. However, younger faculty are not easy to get. Tentatively, BCM’s team believes that it needs to recruit approximately four more lecturers, to make a total full-time team of twelve, in the near future. One aspect of the challenge here is that some younger graduates prefer to be pastors because of a perception that pastors earn more than lecturers; we know that many other factors are at play as well. In addition, senior pastors have different sets of priorities when it comes to training younger ministers; some may give different weight to academic aspects of training when advising young students about potential career paths. Within this context, BCM’s community has struggled to develop new faculty.

The VSI consultants advised that identifying the right people to be future faculty is key and that BCM might establish a recruitment team to help in this area.

In addition, BCM might brainstorm about developing an internal culture of theological reflection. To that end, the VSI team mentioned a variety of possibilities that BCM might consider, possibilities developed from the VSI team’s experience in other global contexts. First, to address similar issues, other institutions in other regions have revised their policies on working conditions to include an expectation for faculty to write an article per year. Second, BCM might explore how to facilitate faculty placing articles with journals for publication, writing monographs, and writing popular books. A third possibility would be considering how Faculty Enrichment Initiatives (FEI), coaching, and online training might be useful for faculty. Fourth, BCM has already launched the inaugural Pentecostal Conference in 2023, organized and hosted by the new Malaysia Pentecostal Research Center. From next year, the college will start a colloquium during which faculty will present their research. This Conference and Center might open new doors for development. It will take five to seven years to plan and then establish this new faculty culture.

Simultaneously, BCM needs to pursue new donors to support this research culture and to increase the funding of the Faculty Development Plan for training new faculty members for PhD studies.

Online Learning, LMS, and Library

Since the COVID pandemic began in March 2020, BCM has offered online learning. So the third strategic initiative involves BCM’s use of technology.

BCM now has five modes of study: physical; online synchronous; partially online and partially physical; hybrid (physical and online at the same time); and online asynchronous. About 96% of students (about 700 students) are involved in some kind of online learning across this spectrum, although the fully asynchronous program has less than 20 students. In-person learning includes around 4% of the student body (estimated 30 students).

As we reflected on our experiences during the pandemic, we saw challenges and opportunities in online learning. Although the Asia Theological Association has changed its guidelines to allow more online learning, BCM still faces issues with online courses. One of the greatest challenges is that old classroom teaching methods are not always effective in hybrid modes. Second, BCM’s existing ethos is to provide holistic learning that does not happen fully online; at least three courses must be in person. We recognize that not all programs are suited to online education; in particular, the BTh, MDiv, and Counselling programs do not function as well online. This recognition is a core challenge. Third, changes in assessment methods have pushed some faculty to drop exams from their courses, so we grapple with finding ways to confirm that students have learned material. Fourth, BCM’s faculty struggle to give pastoral care to students because of the lack of contact. While some theological institutions expect local churches to provide spiritual formation for distance students, for BCM, spiritual formation is so important that we seek to oversee it ourselves through Field Education and weekend ministry programs. (Field Education is a practical ministry course.)

Although we recognize that, in the future, students may prefer fully online modes, even so, we intend to maintain our ethos of holistic training. So, in the post-pandemic era, BCM will still emphasize in-person spiritual formation, even as it may offer some content online.

As for library resources, BCM currently subscribes to the Global Digital Theological Library (GDTL) and ATLASerials for online resources for students. Although the library compiles a list of online resources and sends it to all members every trimester, we are concerned that students do not always check their emails. We see evidence of low engagement with resources and some incidents of plagiarism, and we sense some concern that BCM has insufficient materials online for distance students.

Finding an ideal LMS has not been easy. The best systems that provide data protection, library access, administrative details and learning activities like grading and reporting can be expensive. Right now, BCM has adopted a new classroom management platform, which is free. All faculty need to learn this system; some are already using it, but uptake continues to present a challenge.

In sum, considerations for online learning and library systems include these elements:

1. The major shift in learning modes from in-person to online
2. Changes in curricula
3. The need to build holistic learning for the 700+ online students
4. Improving the effectiveness of online learning
5. Delivering essential content
6. Enhancing teaching methodologies to promote student-centered learning
7. Fostering and facilitating discussions
8. Involving alumni in spiritual formation in Field Education, coaching, and mentoring small groups

Even before the VSI team came to BCM, BCM’s leadership were considering the necessity of revising BCM’s teaching methods. The VSI team continued to help us think about how to formulate ways to adapt traditional outlines for online learning. In light of BCM’s dual needs to enhance its faculty and its technology, the next focus area is financial sustainability and fundraising.

Financial Sustainability and Fundraising

Financial sustainability is crucial for advancing BCM’s goals. Globally, the optimal level of income varies by institution, depending on what students are paying and how much the institution is subsidizing them. When an institution is under pressure and needs to pay salaries, the area that suffers first is often maintenance, followed by the library. At its lowest point, an institution would cut salaries because it would still be forced to pay utilities, internet, etc. For itself, BCM needs to consider where it is spending the most. Healthy expenditures should be divided among salaries, maintenance, operational costs, library, etc.  

Good stewardship means seeking a balance between income streams and expenses. However, BCM has been implicitly subsidizing students’ fees by charging very low tuition because in the Malaysian context, theological study is usually expected to be inexpensive or, preferably, free. This situation is common in the Global South. The fact is that many institutions keep student fees artificially low, which creates a global culture of perceiving theological education as cheap.

Therefore, BCM might evaluate whether any of its programs are creating financial loss and might consider streamlining its programs for optimal student tuition / faculty salary balance. We know that, right now, the college is using quite a large share of its income for salaries, whereas the optimal level would be somewhat lower. Because of this overly high percentage, facilities maintenance is often deferred, and library/learning resources at BCM have insufficient budget. Delayed or deferred maintenance becomes more expensive in the long run as assets deteriorate beyond repair, which could require the institution to build new ones.

Like other institutions globally, BCM is being sustained by streamlining expenses to cover salaries, utilities, and security and by pursuing fundraising and third-stream income. BCM’s ongoing fundraising efforts depend on the president, who spends 90% of his time on fundraising and is not required to teach. BCM is embarking on a new building project which will be completed in 18 months and may expand the third-stream income. Currently, the president focuses on fundraising for the new building.

Fundraising faces challenges because churches prioritize fundraising for their own needs; at this stage, BCM only relates to churches as entities, not to individual members. To address this, BCM could consider increasing the number of donors overall instead of relying on a few major donors who may experience fatigue long term. BCM certainly needs a broader donor network, but we note that the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial downturn has pushed donors to become insular, wanting to address only their own local needs.

Another opportunity is third-stream income, especially from facilities rentals. However, effective third-stream income requires a business-minded person, not BCM’s president, to be in charge. BCM would need to evaluate its third-stream income source consistently to consider whether its profits are worth the expense of running it. As one example of third-stream income, BCM is considering renting its student accommodation as holiday housing. Third-stream income could bring balance to income and expenditure, but BCM needs to do significant work if this is to be the case.

Overall, the VSI consultants advised BCM to seek ways to create a financial surplus that can serve as a buffer for the institution. The consultants came alongside BCM’s preexisting due diligence in managing finances to help BCM analyze the state of its finances further. Within the many known barriers to funding, the BCM team continues to steward the college’s financial resources carefully and to keep pursuing long-term financial health.  

Alumni

The fifth strategic initiative that supports BCM’s goals is engaging alumni. Relationships with alumni are a missed opportunity at this time. BCM needs to engage alumni more effectively. The annual graduation lunch serves as one potential fundraising event.

Yet BCM faces a challenge in that the annual alumni homecoming event is not as popular. Alumni are also unwilling to serve on the Alumni Fellowship Committee. In the past, a group called Friends of BCM served the college, but the members were not primarily alumni. Rather, they were donors and ran seminars for the public. Right now, perhaps the most severe challenge is that the alumni database is around 60 years old especially for the graduates in BIM’s formative years (1960s and 1970s), and needs to be updated to track alumni’s current contact information and whereabouts.

Thinking ahead, the VSI consultants suggested that alumni could adopt individual students and support their fees. BCM could emphasize to alumni that students are only paying 30% of tuition fees, as fees are highly subsidized. This subsidy could be renamed a “scholarship,” with a set application and approval process; these scholarships could make the subsidy visible to students and to the public – especially to alumni, who could then donate to specific scholarships.

Furthermore, BCM could engage alumni in character formation of part-time students via small group sessions, mentoring, coaching, etc. BCM could even explore creating an “adopt a student” program between alumni and current students. In return, the college can encourage alumni by offering them life-long learning and upskilling opportunities at a discount. Alumni could have chapters in different countries, and alumni retreats could engage alumni by hosting faculty speakers from BCM. Such privileges can enrich the relationships between BCM and its alumni, because the key on this topic is relationship. BCM needs to mobilise alumni, not just for what it gets from them, but to give back to them as well.

BCM’s Strategic Plan, 2023-2027

The VSI consultations were fruitful in identifying the main strategic initiatives for BCM for the next five years, from 2023 to 2027. BCM’s strategic plan prioritizes five initiatives, which were formulated in specific, concise language:

Initiative 1: Form pastors, counsellors, and Christian professionals to address the problems of intergenerational leadership gaps, mental health issues, and inadequate integration of faith in society.

Initiative 2: Strengthen our faculty as pastor-scholars to implement the mission of the college.

Initiative 3: Enhance the use of technology in an intentional formative process to effectively serve the church and society.

Initiative 4: Optimize financial structures to mobilize resources for the mission of the college.

Initiative 5: Revitalize alumni as essential partners in advancing the mission of the college.

For each initiative, we have three objectives. Then each objective has roughly three activities to facilitate the achievement of that objective over the next five years.

Conclusion

Over the past six decades, BCM has produced over 1,250 graduates, of whom 83% are still serving in ministries as full-time workers and as lay leaders in various professions. The VSI consultation built on BCM’s ongoing stewardship efforts to help BCM strategize effectively amidst many challenges and opportunities. These timely conversations led to our new strategic five-year plan, which will be beneficial in terms of reprioritizing, redefining, and sharpening BCM’s core mission. We seek to focus on measurable objectives that will help us engage stakeholders and direct resources wisely so that we can pursue our goals. BCM is now ready to forge ahead with greater strength.

Author Bio: Revd Dr. Eva Wong Suk Kyun is the Director of the Malaysia Pentecostal Research Centre, Editor of the Malaysian Pentecostal Journal, and full-time lecturer at the Bible College of Malaysia. She is an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God Malaysia. Presently, she serves on the AG Theological Commission, the Executive Committee of the Asia Pentecostal Society (APS), and the Lausanne Global Analysis Editorial Advisory Board. She co-leads the Scholar Leaders Women’s Peer Leader Forum and the Asian Pentecostal Women’s Fellowship in APS. She holds a PhD in Theology (Pentecostal Studies) from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies in partnership with Middlesex University, UK.

References

Bible College of Malaysia. “Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027.”

Wong, Eva S. K. “Contextual Pentecostalism from a Classical Pentecostal Movement to a Contemporary Pentecostal Church Movement: A Study of the Assemblies of God of Malaysia with Special Reference to Joel 2:28-32.” PhD Thesis, 2022, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Middlesex University, UK.

–. Meeting notes on “ScholarLeaders VSI 3.0 Second Visit: Strategy Planning,” March 8-10, 2023, Bible College of Malaysia.