Rev. Dr. Dieudonné Tamfu, a 2012 graduate of The Bethlehem Institute, returned to his native Cameroon in 2018 to establish an additional location for Bethlehem Seminary in Yaoundé, the country’s capital city of 2.8 million people. In 2020, he and a team of elders planted Église Baptiste Bethléem, a happy, Reformed-minded, church to minister to both English- and French-speaking peoples. Both the church and school are experiencing God’s favor.

What better place to prepare for vocational eldership than in the life of a local church?

Think of it as in-the-church training for biblical elder-level leadership in pastoral ministry, missionary service, or future theological scholarship. In this program, a small cohort of men shares a four-year journey of rigorous biblical language and theological studies, real-life experiences in church leadership and congregational care, as well as a host of cross-cultural ministry opportunities all in the context of a church plant in the heart of Cameroon.

Seminarians work alongside Dr. Tamfu ministering at Église Baptiste Bethléem in Yaoundé, holding workshops, and serving in the community. Service to the pastor and the congregation is at the center of this apprenticeship, but deep mentor relationships inevitably emerge as a fruit of such up-close collaboration.

The Master of Divinity is the foundational four-year program for those called to vocational ministry as pastors, missionaries, or other full-time Christian workers at the elder level. The program’s emphasis is intense, whole-Bible exegesis in the original languages with a special focus on the unfolding of God’s sovereign plan throughout all of redemptive history.

Students in Cameroon complete the same courses as the students in Minneapolis although in a different order.

Program Objectives

  • Students will demonstrate broad-based graduate-level skills in inquiry, interpretation, reflection, and oral and written communication.
  • Students will demonstrate a mature biblical worldview for analyzing and synthesizing biblical, historical, and theological material.
  • Students will demonstrate competence in biblical Greek exegesis.
  • Students will provide evidence of a significant equipping for leadership in ministry.
  • Students will exhibit evidence of deep Christian formation.
  • Students will demonstrate competence in Hebrew exegesis.

Faculty

In keeping with our aim to build a faculty with strong academic credentials, a love for teaching, a passion for God’s Word and his glory, and pastoral hearts, we have assembled a high-caliber group of professors to teach at our Cameroon site.

Contribute to the
Cameroon Extension Site

Please use this secure utility to complete online gifts to this spreading endeavor.

 

For the Joy of Cameroon

Raise the banner of God-centered, biblical Christianity over West Africa that all peoples may know that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

Bethlehem College and Seminary serves as the administrative hub of a coordinated initiative of the school, Jubilee Community Church, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Treasuring Christ Together Church Planting Network, Faith Church of Linden, Training Leaders International, and hundreds of contributors and prayer partners to support Église Baptiste Bethleém, maintain an additional location of Bethlehem College and Seminary, and provide, by God’s grace, a launching site for regional church-planting and outreach to unengaged people groups.

For more information or to contribute to the building project, visit forthejoyofcameroon.com.

Bethlehem College and Seminary receives no funds at all from the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Pell Grants, Student Loan Programs, IRS Code 26 §529 College Savings Plans, State of Minnesota, denominational support, or Desiring God Ministries. Bethlehem Baptist Church provides very generous services in-kind, but only a nominal amount of direct cash support.

Bethlehem College and Seminary is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit institution. Contributions are tax-deductible. Those interested in making larger transformational or legacy gifts of cash or securities may contact: Rick Segal, Vice President of Advancement, Bethlehem College and Seminary, 720 13th Ave. S, Minneapolis, MN 55415, 612.455.3420 ext. 1122, [email protected]. For recurring gifts, you may call 612.455.3420 ext. 1110 or email [email protected] to cancel or change your donation schedule or amount.