The College of Choice

issue 7

therecordNews, views and an update on life at Spurgeon’s College

Tim Bright stepped away from a career in teaching to train for Baptist ministry at Spurgeon’s. He is now in the final year of the

Church-based course and tells his story to Pieter Lalleman.

At age 12, I drifted away from church but continued to attend Boy’s Brigade at Burwell Baptist Church. I gave my heart to Jesus during a youth weekend and was later baptised at Burwell. I did a degree in electronics and when I returned to Burwell, I became involved in house groups, the drop-in club and the worship group. I completed a youth leader’s training course and then spent Friday evenings working with Histon Baptist on their bus project. I worked in electronics for four years but after a trip to Mostar, Bosnia, I wanted a job with more meaning. I trained to be a science teacher and gained my PGCE in 1998.

Career … leftWhen Carolyn, a police officer, and I got married, we made our home in Suffolk and attended Mildenhall Baptist Church. We ran the youth group together and became involved in the worship group. I became a deacon and experienced the challenges of leading a church. We had two sons and I also became deputy head of the school.

In September 2009, I felt that God was perhaps saying ‘go now’. I had always assumed that it would probably be Baptist ministry, and began to test this call. And all doors opened! I gave up my job and career, and moved our

children out of private education. This was really difficult, it was a lovely school. We downsized the house, the cars and even the fridge freezer. It continues to be a challenge to adapt to this substantially lower income lifestyle but God is good.

…a wonderful, safe environment…The family has been very supportive. In fact they have coped better than I have. After the initial excitement of College life I realised I did not know as much as I thought. I felt back at square one, a pupil. I did not like writing and wondered what I was doing at Spurgeon’s. However, I have experienced fantastic support from the staff. There are always opportunities available to talk things through. The friendships that have developed in the student body enable me to vocalise, deal with and bounce around issues that have troubled me, all within a wonderful, safe environment. Meeting people from other cultures has enhanced my understanding of forces in my own culture that have shaped me.

SpiritualityOne of my favourite modules is ‘Spirituality’. The understanding of the different ways we can pray, worship and spend time with God; how we feed our own spiritual rhythms.

The module on ‘Pastoral care and counselling’ opened up areas of our own lives that needed working on. This is not just a degree in Theology but a journey, a journey where we learn so much, including about ourselves.

Church-based training involves three days work in a church and three days of study. Mildenhall Baptist Church stepped out in faith to fund me as ‘Minister in Training’. My role has included developing skills as a minister but I also set up and ran a community centre and food bank.

…an ongoing learning experience…I have realised that I will never really be ready for ministry. It is an ongoing learning experience that will take the rest of our lives to complete.

Not just a degree in Theology but a journey

This summer Roger Standing became our Principal and his place in the teaching

staff was taken by Dr Joshua Searle. Pieter Lalleman asked him to introduce himself.

OriginI was born on Teesside and raised in North

Northumberland. I have lived in Oxford, Prague,

Moscow, Germany and Ukraine, but despite

all these sojourns to foreign lands, I am firmly

rooted in the soil, culture and spirituality of my

native Northumbria.

My parents’ love and devotion taught me more

about the Christian virtues of humility,

compassion, self-denial and generosity than I

could have learned from any theology books. The

Northumbria Community is an abiding part of my

journey. I can still vividly remember my baptism, at

the age of eleven, in the freezing North Sea off Holy

Island on an Easter Sunday afternoon at one of the

Community’s gatherings.

Career so farI studied History at Oxford, Theology at IBTS in

Prague and completed my PhD in Dublin. During

my studies I taught theology in Prague, Dublin,

Germany and Donetsk (in Ukraine). This summer I

conducted research at Baylor University in Texas

into theological education in Ukraine and Russia

during the Soviet Union.

My main contribution will be in research and teaching. Teaching is a vital part of my life’s vocation. It is a privilege and responsibility to be involved in serving, equipping and encouraging the next generation of Christian leaders at Spurgeon’s. I am also looking forward to working with colleagues to consolidate the impressive research profile of the College. I am writing articles for theological journals and am working on a book on theological education in the USSR.

Collaboration with Eastern EuropeI am a Europhile and my theological perspective is informed by traditions that have shaped the spirituality of Central and Eastern Europe, most notably Anabaptism and Eastern Orthodoxy. I have a strong interest in Russian language and culture and I aim to strengthen my connections with evangelical leaders in Ukraine, Russia and Eastern Europe in order to extend Spurgeon’s global reach.

VarduyiI am blessed by my wonderful wife, Varduyi. I met her at IBTS in Prague. She was born in Armenia but as an infant came to Ukraine as a refugee following the earthquake in Armenia in 1988. She worked as the youth pastor in her church in Ukraine and is a talented musician, cook and linguist. English is her fourth language and she became my Russian teacher! We have just celebrated our first wedding

anniversary, but sadly, due to new government legislation, Varduyi has to return to Ukraine and remain there for a minimum of three months while the authorities process her visa application.

Despite these setbacks, we are very blessed to be here and excited about contributing to the remarkable work of Spurgeon’s.

issue 7

Introducing Joshua Searle

Jesus sees you while you are still...‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, ‘I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you.’ (John 1:48)

John 1:35-51 tells the story of the first disciples of Jesus, which over the years has appealed to me for several reasons.

In the first place the disciples-to-be were apparently fascinated by Jesus: they didn’t know much about him yet, they just followed him. John the Baptist calls Jesus ‘the Lamb of God’ and the first two disciples simply begin to follow Jesus. Did they know the impact of the words ‘Lamb of God’? Did they realize it would include suffering? Did they think of Isaiah 53:7, ‘he was led like a lamb to the slaughter’? I doubt it. Yet there was something in Jesus they found fascinating. The next thing that happens is that one of them, Andrew, says to his brother Simon: ‘We have found the Messiah.’

That’s the second thing that strikes me: meeting Jesus resulted in following him, but also in telling others about him. It’s like a stone thrown in a pond which makes wider and wider circles. When you’ve had a real meeting with Christ you cannot stay silent. The third thing is how Nathanael

got involved. He was reluctant and sceptical (‘Nazareth!?’) but quite surprised (to say the least) that Jesus already knew him thoroughly: ‘Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.’ And if Nathanael was not previously impressed by those words, he certainly was when Jesus added that he knew him already before Philip called him.

Whenever I interview prospective students I am impressed and encouraged by their stories. At Spurgeon’s we take time for interview days and have different interviews to ascertain the best decision for each candidate. The stories of all students we admit contain the three elements mentioned above: a life changing encounter with Jesus, the urge and desire to pass on this Good News and the testimony of how Christ was already at work to prepare them for this particular step before they ever realised they would end up at Spurgeon’s to study for Christian ministry (often to their own big surprise!).

The story of John 1 is repeated time and again. It is fantastic that God continues to call and use people to pass on the most important news of the world! Thanks be to God!

Hetty Lalleman, tutor of Old Testament and author of the Tyndale Commentary on Jeremiah (2013)

Serving the Growing Church

Joshua and Varduyi Searle

issue 7

BuildingsOver the summer Spurgeon’s College’s

buildings saw the largest transformation in many years. The site manager, Adam Golder, and his team have worked really hard while external contractors came in to help. Three flats in Whitworth Road and the Principal’s Lodge have been refurbished. Much external painting was done, such as the bike shed. Here is an impression of what happened in the main College building.

Thank you for new serversBlack boxes with wires may not look

exciting, but they mean the world to us—literally! These new computer servers allow our students to keep in touch with us and get hold of the materials they need. Imagine information about God’s word going through these boxes and out to all five continents and you’ll see why we were enthusiastic about their arrival!

It’s because of your generosity in responding to our June appeal that we could install these long-

awaited new servers. Our old servers could no longer cope. Now, thanks to you, we have made sure our students can study at any time of the day and wherever they are; in College, their local church or working from home, so they get the best possible training to equip them to serve God’s kingdom.

We particularly want to thank one donor who wanted to remain anonymous. We are so grateful to you for your generous gift. It was amazing when we opened the envelope and discovered what you had given. We do hope you read Off The Record because this is the only way we can say thank you for making such a difference.

This summer we have also been blessed by people who have left us gifts in their will. It is always humbling to realise that people had been

prayerfully considering the work of the College many years previously and so often their gifts arrive at a time when we need them most.

Equipping all God’s People

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Photos: 1. The library is now wheelchair accessible 2. The entrance to the chapel has been relaid, removing the step, to allow wheelchair access 3. The former student lounge is now lecture room 1 and the former lecture room 1 is now the student lounge 4. To achieve this, a wall was broken through and the incoming Principal had a hand in this 5. But the real work was done by two Polish men called Paul and Paul 6. The serving area is now Charles Haddon Café 7. A disabled toilet was created with a baby change facility 8. The bike shed

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issue 7

Spurgeon’s College, South Norwood Hill, London, SE25 6DJ www.spurgeons.ac.uk t: 020 8653 0850 e: enquiries@spurgeons.ac.uk

The question was well-meant, but it fell into the same category as those that assume a

minister only works on Sundays! In truth the summer has been really busy. The end of term saw a series of events at which different parts of our College community said farewell to Nigel. These were sealed with a moving service at Chatsworth BC where we celebrated with Nigel his forty years of ministry, and an inspirational Graduation at Croydon Minster at which we installed him as our Principal Emeritus.

As we moved into July Adam Golder, our site manager, skilfully began to orchestrate a series of significant changes to our buildings that are illustrated earlier in ‘Off The Record’, and that also include an electronic entry system using the same technology as London’s Oyster Card system.

Come August our registration with UCAS finally went live, the College team at Soul Survivor had a very fruitful time with ‘Learn More At Spurgeon’s’ wristbands and our new website proved very popular. Then our Admissions team experienced one of the strongest seasons of late applications that we can remember. The final numbers joining us for the new academic year are healthy, including 23 new Baptist Ministers in Training. August also saw the arrival of our new colleague, Dr Joshua Searle who, let it be said, has brought the average age of the teaching staff down dramatically!

In September a team of students spent two weeks in Kolkata, India, with BMS World Mission under the leadership of our new Associate Research Fellow, Revd David McLachlan. They had an amazing time, not least with the village church planting ministry, Big Life, in West Bengal. Then Orientation Week brought our new students together for the first time with an amazing array of personal stories and testimonies of how the Lord had led them to Spurgeon’s College at this time. From all over the UK and beyond, with an amazing spread of past experience and former employment, the new student body ranges from an 18 year old South Londoner with a call to be an evangelist to an older Lebanese of Armenian and Jewish heritage, with all points in between. This is a rich community in every way and 2013-14 promises to be a very good year indeed.

Roger Standing

Nov. 2013

A journey to become better equippedFrom 2001 to 2006 a fine student earned a

Diploma in Theology at Spurgeon’s, whose name was Fred Onwuchekwa. Not a name to forget, so this year when a lady called Annie Onwuchekwa applied I immediately made a connection. Fred and Annie have been married for 18 years and it was she who encouraged him to come to Spurgeon’s for training. Fred is now the minister of Westbury Avenue Baptist Church (London N22). His experience at Spurgeon’s was so positive that Annie decided it is now time to be trained herself.

She firstFred and Annie hail from Christian homes in Nigeria. At a young age she heard Jesus say that she would feed his flock. Her early days were not easy, however, having to struggle with multiple market jobs in order to pay her secondary school fees. Despite this, she was always very active in church.

When Fred went to London to study, he and Annie already had a strong friendship, so when she also turned up in the city he was pleasantly surprised. They married and had two daughters but he was still not a Christian. The youngest girl often asked her father why he did not attend church with the rest of the family. At long last Fred gave in and joined them; not much later he became a strong believer.

My timeWhen he subsequently became a minister, the couple discovered that Spurgeon’s was ‘the UK’s top Christian College’ and it was Annie who encouraged her husband to register. ‘Fred owes much to the College, not least support in

times when life in our church was not easy’, she told me.

In the meantime Annie developed her own ministries: she preaches three times per week, counsels people, trains leaders and runs seminars. ‘I am giving my all to everyone who needs it.’ She pastors Victory Family Christian Centre (London E16) and is the CEO of Family Values TV, broadcast every Saturday on Sky 587. When Fred was recently called to Westbury Avenue, she stayed at VFCC. (Both churches belong to the London Baptist Association.) Her enrolment on the full-time church-based BA course means having to cut back on her many activities.

But why does a mature person like Annie decide to come to Spurgeon’s? ‘Because it is now my time to be fed’, she says resolutely. ‘Fred received so much from his experience here, and I have been giving so much to others. I now need to be fed myself. After this course I will be able to serve better.’

ShoesAnnie once had a dream: she was wearing a beautiful dress and ready to go on the platform to preach a great sermon. But then she looked at her feet: she had no shoes on. ‘I have come to Spurgeon’s to get my shoes’, she says with a smile.

The College is experiencing an influx of people like Annie: ministers from diverse backgrounds, eager and enthusiastic to train at the College that equips all God’s people. Welcome!

Pieter J. Lalleman

‘So, haveyou had a quiet summer?’

Fred and Annie Onwuchekwa