CALEB BIBLE INSTITUTE

Rev Pradip Kumar Limbu, Elder Elect of MCN and Pastor-in-Charge of Siyon Preaching Point in East Nepal. He is also the MCN Training Director and Principal of CBI

Caleb Bible Institute (CBI) was established under the auspices of the Methodist Church in Nepal (MCN) in 1999 in East Nepal. It was formed to equip men and women who had decided to pursue the call of God to be pastors, church leaders, and church planters starting new churches and preaching points in the different regions of Nepal to achieve MCN’s vision of Redeeming Nepal for Christ.

CBI started with non-residential basic theological training and subsequently moved to residential training. The institute serves the needs of both MCN and other denominational churches in the region, to fulfil the vision of our churches in Nepal: “To Redeem Nepal for Christ!”

For MCN, this course provided a valuable resource for pastors and leaders. Amongst its distinguished graduates is Rev Chandra Bomjan, an MCN Elder and the PIC of Vijayee Methodist Church, who graduated from its first course. Many graduates are now serving as evangelists, church planters, and church ministry leaders in MCN and other Nepali churches.

The vision of CBI is “Equipping of the Saints for God’s Service”.

The vision of CBI is “Equipping of the Saints for God’s Service” for the edification of the body of Christ, and to be obedient to the Great Commission as given in Matthew 28:18-20.

Since its establishment, CBI has conducted 34 Bible Training Centre for Pastors (BTCP) courses with over 400 graduates. In 2017, a review of the BTCP training programme was conducted to make it more relevant to the needs of MCN. A new Basic Leaders and Pastors Training (BLPT) syllabus was used. It encompassed most of the content for BTCP and included new subjects such as Methodism. To date, we have conducted six BLPT courses. Of the 81 graduates, 26 were from MCN.

Over the last two years, our CBI courses had to be deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. During this period, CBI started to convert its residential courses to online courses. The CBI staff members have been preparing the conversion of training materials so that online training can be conducted effectively. To further ensure its reach, MCN has established four decentralised training centres to conduct BLPT and other online courses. MCN is in the process of equipping these training centres. Plans are being made to conduct the first online course in May 2022 as part of its digitalisation initiative. This will remain a challenge for CBI as we prepare our staff and students to embrace online learning as the new norm.

MCN is confident that with the new changes and the plans to go online, CBI will be able to extend its reach as online learning will negate the need for travel as well as provide accessibility to its learning programmes.