Nazarene Theological College (NTC), Manchester, U.K., and European Nazarene College (EuNC), Büsingen, Germany, have partnered to launch a new learning center in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which will begin offering classes in May.

The Belfast location will be the first U.K-based center, though EuNC has 17 other learning centers in continental Europe. It will serve three groups of people: 

 

  • Those preparing for ministry in the Church of the Nazarene;
  • lay people who want to learn more about scripture and faith;
  • and ministers who want to stay fresh in their knowledge through continuing education.

Instructors will come from both NTC and EuNC, or be local qualified faculty.

“We wanted to use resources well to help create a seamless provision of theological education across Europe, to support the needs of the Church, so being a partner with EuNC made sense in so many ways,” said Dr. Peter Rae, Dean at NTC. “[EuNC] have become specialists in decentralised learning, and that’s important for our districts, who need flexible ways to access learning, and good models of learning communities.”

Students who complete the Certificate in Spiritual formation will be eligible to transfer to NTC to complete a diploma or degree– as will students from EuNC’s other learning centers.

Courses will be offered in modules, with one course taking 6 to 10 weeks. Students will take classes on evenings or weekends, with a live instructor, as well as through video conferencing and online learning.

The initiative represents a three-way partnership, according to Philip McAlister, district superintendent of the British Isles North District. He had been discussing with NTC the possibility of teaching courses “on the doorstep” of students, including those participating in the Eurasia Region’s Leadership Development Initiative, a five-year plan, started in 2008, to identify and train 10 to 12 potential or emerging leaders on every district.

The district and NTC tested the idea with a one-time course in Glasgow for nine individuals, with instructors being a combination of NTC faculty and a district leader.

“The cooperation between NTC faculty and district faculty delivering theological education in an EuNC learning centre is a very exciting prospect,” McAlister said.

“This is really exciting, I must say,” said Klaus Arnold, rector at EuNC. “I see this is the future, where we work together. One school is strong in an area and why can we not use it for the other school? I think that makes education on our region even stronger.”