It has been eleven years since the R.T.C.N. was founded, and the Outlook readers may be wondering what has happened to this institution. At your editor’s prompting, I will try to acquaint you with what has been happening during these years.

When we joined the college in 1975 there were just two classes, and with three teachers, that was all we could handle. This meant that we could receive new students only every second year, because the certificate course we were offering took four years to complete. Our students at that time had only two years of education beyond primary school (Grade School) and needed a lot of individual attention. But then, with Nigeria’s new emphasis on education, we were beginning to get more applicants who had finished secondary education (High School). It was clear that a more advanced course was needed, especially since there were more educated people sitting in the pews. The church needed pastors who could meet the needs of their flocks. And so, with the coming of a fourth teacher, a new diploma course was begun. Candidates for the courses were accepted in alternate years.

With the growth of the student body and the teaching staff, there was also a need for more buildings and facilities. Accordingly, some teachers who had gifts other than teaching found themselves building houses, repairing generators, installing water pumps and so on, while trying to keep up their teaching at the same time. The church also began to draw heavily on our manpower resources, appointing teachers to various committees and executive positions. This was time consuming, but at the same time it did keep teachers in touch with what was happening in the church. For example, as the teacher teaching missions, I was appointed to be the treasurer of the Mission Board.

At the end of the seventies it became clear that a still more advanced course was needed. Many of the pastors were applying to go abroad for further studies, and this was very costly. We therefore began to look for a way to start a degree program. In this we were helped by the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA). Our first requirement was obvious, we needed a faculty capable of teaching at degree level. Therefore we sent some of our teachers abroad for further studies in the fields in which they would be teaching. More buildings were also needed. The Women’s School had shared our classrooms, and because they often brought their babies with them, this was rather disturbing. A new building for the Women’s School was therefore built in another corner of the compound.

Another big need was for our library to be extended. For this we had to wait until our librarian finished her studies in the States, and had caught up on the backlog of new books. When the books were all catalogued and tallied it appeared that we had only half of the required number. And so we are looking for a way to find another three thousand theology books. With the strict import restrictions in force in Nigeria today this will not be an easy task, unless we receive these books as gifts.

If you have been wondering whether the institution of this theological college was justified, I hope the above information showed you that the College has a function in the Tiv church that could not have been met in any other way. Over half of its present pastors have graduated from this college. It is very doubtful that the facilities in existence before the school began would have produced even half this number of new pastors. The participation by the teaching staff on the various church committees has also been of real help to the church. And finally it is to be hoped that this REFORMED Theological College will not only keep the N.K.S .T. Church true to its heritage, but will also make its distinctive influence felt throughout the West African Christian community.

Willem Berends, after eight years of teaching at the Reformed Theological College of Nigeria (the Tiv Seminary), is now engaged in language study with a view to pioneer evangelistic work in new areas. He is loaned to the Nigeria work by the Reformed churches of New Zealand. A new teacher will be needed at the seminary. Our Reformed Fellowship is continuing to provide books, as they are requested for the seminary library. The Tiv seminary has some seventy students and seven teachers, of whom three are missionaries.