ABOUT US : ..............................................................................
Lakeview Bible College and Seminary was founded with the goal of being God's instrument to transform the church and thereby impact society as well. To achieve this objective, men and women called by God, are equipped to communicate and embody the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ effectively to the peoples of South and Southeast Asia. The spiritual and educational training offered at Lakeview has equipped many evangelists, churchplanters and missionaries, Bible college principals and faculty, as well as pastors and local church leaders for over 25 years.
We hear fascinating stories from alumni of how God has used their lives and ministries to impact their churches and transform their communities for Christ and His glory.
Begun in 1977 as a part-time institution, we have gone through several changes in both name and location - from Madras School of Evangelism in Kilpauk (central Madras) to Madras College of Evangelism in Anna Nagar in 1988 and finally to Lakeview Bible College and Seminary in 1999, where the institution occupies a spacious property about 30 km. from the city of Chennai.
The College and Seminary operates from a campus equipped with all modern facilities to provide top-quality higher theological and ministerial education. LBC&S offers an integrated programme of discipleship, education, and training to equip students as God's servants who will carry His salvation, hope and healing to the world. The growth over the past 25 years is visible both in increased student enrollment as well as in the depth and quality of Lakeview-trained ministers of Christ.
Lakeview Bible College and Seminary is motivated and
guided by a core of definite beliefs and values. These inspire our environment and ethos, and greatly influence the quality of our ministry. At the very core, and as our name proclaims, the Christian Scriptures - the Bible - provides the unshakeable foundation for our doctrinal and theological position. LBC&S is firmly committed to the absolute authority of the Bible as our allsufficient source and standard of Christian doctrine and practice. This loyalty shapes every aspect of our institutions' life - from classroom to hostel to the churches and to the world. Without apology, we uphold the following convictions about the Bible.
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The Christian Scriptures – the Holy Bible – reveals the Eternal Word of God; and they are the only verbal revelation of God.
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The 66 books of the Old and New Testament in their originally- written form are divinely-inspired and are therefore infallible, and without error, in all that they declare and teach.
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The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is normative for the life of the Christian and the Christian church today.
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Authentic Christian ministry must adhere to the purpose and principles found in the New Testament which is our manifesto for the church's ministry and mission.
Every course in our curriculum upholds these principles unconditionally and our faculty is devoted to finding more and better ways to apply the teaching of the Bible to every dimension of Christian faith and practice.
Flowing from our convictions about the Bible, Lakeview Bible College & Seminary holds firmly to the following articles of faith:
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There is one personal God, Creator of all things, visible and invisible, who is eternally existent in a trinity of persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God. He was born of a virgin, died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for man's sins and rose bodily on the third day. He ascended to heaven and now represents believers before God as their High Priest and Advocate.
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The Gospel is the proclamation of Jesus' saving work – his death, burial and resurrection – and calls people to receive him as Saviour and Lord of their lives.
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Belief (trust) in Jesus Christ as the only Saviour for sin, leading to repentance from sin, and baptism in water, is the normative response to the gospel found in Scripture. This faith-response justifies and forgives the believing sinner and effects his regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Justification and regeneration form the Christian doctrine of salvation.
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Every believer in Christ must be continually filled by the Holy Spirit who sanctifies, enables and equips him to glorify God and minister His grace to the world. This filling and ministry is not necessarily accompanied by the practice of speaking in tongues.
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The church is the Body of Christ on earth and consists of all who have received Christ as Saviour and Lord and are integrated into local gatherings of God's people. The local church is the place where believers grow in fellowship with Christ and each other as they minister God's salvation to the world.
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Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, and therefore, each local church has the privilege, under Christ's authority, to work out and manage its own life and ministry.
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Jesus Christ will return to the earth in visible and bodily form to judge the living and the dead. Believers will be transformed into glorious beings enjoying eternity in God's presence while unbelievers will be assigned to judgment and eternal punishment.
LBC&S is an institution that is intentionally nondenominational. By this we mean that we are not formally affiliated to any Christian denomination or church organization. Therefore, loyalty to any particular Christian tradition or denomination is absent at Lakeview. Our desire is to be just Christian, and to recruit and equip servants for the Kingdom of God at large. A sectarian, polemic, and divisive spirit is strongly discouraged at Lakeview since we believe that God has called His church to reflect His attributes of love and grace to the world. We elieve that the division of the church into exclusive denominations, in practice, distorts the message of reconciliation committed to us by Jesus Himself.
Positively, a fervent devotion to Jesus Christ and God's Word is actively espoused and encouraged at Lakeview. This emphasis frees us to obey God's commandments under His leadership and the guidance of His Holy Spirit. At the same time, we believe that in freely submitting to Jesus Christ, Lakeview Bible College & Seminary must function as a servant of His church and not as its substitute or its competitor.
India today has scores of Bible colleges and seminaries spread over every state in the land. Then what makes Lakeview unique? While sharing many of the common features and commitment of any theological institution, LBC&S also offers some special privileges and opportunities to students. These are designed to enhance the influence and impact of God's servantsin-training for ministry in Jesus' Name. Some of our most noteworthy features –
Servants for Christ: LBC&S is committed to train servants of God in the pattern of the greatest servant, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Authoritarian, dictatorial, and power-driven leadership is rejected in favour of humble, selfless, and faithful service.
Practical Ministry Emphasis:Beginning with the second year of study, every student is expected to get involved in Christian ministry appropriate to his gifts and calling. This ministry is supervised and coordinated by the college and the local church where the student serves.
Mission Training:Every student will benefit from at least one cross-cultural ministry experience while at Lakeview. Teams of students work together in areas outside their own culture for one month during the summer. This programme is supervised by Lakeview faculty and the church or organization where the students serve.
Church-Planting: In keeping with our vision, LBC&S is convinced that the planting of churches is God's way to make disciples of all nations. The privilege of planting a new church is available to all students but is mandatory for students of the Bachelor of Ministry (B.Min.) degree programme.
Staff-Student Community:Genuine Christian spiritual formation occurs only in the context of healthy, godly relationships. Being away from home for several years, students long for the love and nurture of a caring Christian community; our college “families” provide times of prayer, fellowship, and encouragement to meet this need.
Communal Harmony: Since students come from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, Christian unity becomes a lifestyle to be expressed every day on campus! From hostel roommates, campus “families”, and weekend and summer ministry teams, we deliberately “mix” our students so they can experience life as One Body in Christ.
Academic Excellence:LBC&S enjoys the reputation of offering education of a very high academic caliber. And this means so much more than final exams! Our faculty empowers students to reach their potential through the medium of library research, assignments, projects and dissertations. When he graduates, the Lakeview student is well-equipped to handle with confidence a wide range of ministry challenges.
College-Church Relationships:In area churches, strong Christian relationships are created as our students share, work, eat, and even live, in homes of members. This experience gives them a healthy balance of spiritual, practical and social skills for ministry. Not only are students encouraged, but Christians in the churches often get a new vision of sacrifice and service from the lives and ministries of students.
While we hold firmly to the conviction that the true accrediting of the Christian worker must come from the throne of God Himself, Lakeview also enjoys the benefits of human recognition. Both the Bachelor of Theology and the Master of Divinity degrees are accredited by the Asia Theological Association (ATA).
