Bethany College of Missions Changes Name to Reflect Expanded Global Reach
Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) February 04, 2015 -- When Bethany College of Missions was founded in 1948, as a ministry of Bethany International (Bethany Fellowship), worldwide missionary work looked much different from what it does today. Modern technology and communication tools offer both opportunities and new challenges for men and women desiring to participate in the Great Commission. The challenges and contexts of serving in other countries have also intensified. By expanding its educational programs and global reach, the newly re-named Bethany Global University is meeting the needs of modern-day missionaries.
Since its founding, the scope of Bethany’s program has shifted from a North America focus to providing intercultural higher education at five global extension sites and through online graduate degree programs. The new name reflects this expanded educational offering.
“Bethany continues to work in close partnership with a growing network of affiliate schools worldwide,” said Dr. Paul Hartford, Vice President for Academic Affairs. “As we continue to expand, we wanted a name that indicated our commitment to both a global reach and to excellence in intercultural learning.”
Bethany’s vision has always been focused on reaching the least-reached peoples of the world. While that vision hasn't changed, the role of a missionary has. The complexities of global ministry today require new ways of thinking and new approaches to learning.
“Our hope is that the new name makes clear our continued commitment to ‘take the Church to where it is not’ through a high level of intercultural and biblical education as well as broader platforms of delivery,” said Dan Brokke, President of Bethany Global University.
Bethany Global University operates its undergraduate programs at its campus in Bloomington, Minnesota. Undergraduate programs are completed through 16-month Global Internship in-service programs at several specially-designed extension sites within five countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, with plans for continued expansion. The university’s graduate program is conducted online with students learning while serving in active ministry throughout the world.
Eight hundred graduates of Bethany Global University have served with 68 mission agencies in more than 80 countries. Hundreds of other alumni have served in Christian publishing, ministries and churches. Bethany offers a Certificate in Bible and Mission, a Certificate in Pre-Field Preparation, as well as an Associates' degree in Intercultural Ministry, a Bachelor's degree in Intercultural Studies (with minors in Early Childhood Education, Kingdom/Social Justice, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, and Business in a Mission context) and Master's degree programs in Intercultural Education, Intercultural Studies, and Intercultural Leadership.
For more information on the programs, ministries and enrollment opportunities at Bethany Global University, go to http://www.bcom.org or call 1-800-323-3417.
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Bethany Global University seeks to delight God’s heart by providing followers of Jesus Christ a biblically-grounded and interculturally-focused higher education experience in which they are transformed by the Cross, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and prepared to lead by serving and to extend God’s Kingdom to where it is not.
Dan Sanchez, Bethany Global University, http://www.bcom.org, +1 (970) 599-1664, [email protected]
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