The Association of Higher Biblical Education (ABHE) accreditation visit team left on October 10th, and they have given us their preliminary assessment of our institution. The team came away very impressed with our faculty and staff team, and they loved our students. They referenced this numerous times throughout the three-day visit, speaking often about how well they were being treated by us and how well they were being served. I give thanks for our planning staff for making this a successful visit in the ways that we had prayed about during our preparations.
Now about the results.
As it stands now, the team has made three types of assessment statements about our school relating to the 11 standards of accreditation: commendations, suggestions, and recommendations. Commendations are things that we are doing well. Suggestions are just that, things that they think we might want to do to improve but they are not required. Recommendations are those things we must address if we wish to one day be accredited by the ABHE.
They were very impressed with the devotion of our faculty and staff to serving our students well. They commended us for our faculty and its commitment to both education and discipleship. They also commended us for our institutional integrity and for our financial philosophy.
They have given us a number of recommendations and suggestions that we are working through before we turn in our response report and appear before the commission in February. The end result of the team’s recommendation to the commission could range from staying an applicant-status institution all the way to achieving initial accreditation. The outcome of the commission’s meeting in February is wide open.
Thank you all, again, for your faithful, diligent prayer and support to this school.
May the Lord bless us as we move forward.
Leaning on Jesus,
Tim Tomlinson
President of Bethlehem College & Seminary
Prayer Requests
- Please join us in praising the Lord for the favorable response, overall, from the ABHE accreditation visit team this past week.
- Please pray for us as we begin to work on those areas of weakness that were identified by the team, and that we will be able to address them well and in a timely fashion.
- Please continue to pray for our students and faculty as they near the midterm portion of the semester. Especially pray for the new students as they are still adjusting to the rigors of college/seminary life.
- Please pray for Rick Segal, our Vice President of Advancement, as he continues to meet with our current contributors, as well as new friends who are interested in learning more about the ministry of Bethlehem College & Seminary.
- Please pray also for a remarkable response to an ad that we’ve placed in WORLD coming out next week.
