Lebanon (MNN) — The pandemic put a halt to in-person schooling around the world. The Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) in Lebanon made a difficult choice: switching to fully virtual courses.
Students no longer live on campus but still attend classes virtually. Loulwa El Maalouf says, “We had 35 students join us. This is the largest intake of new students in the history of the seminary. ABTs was founded in 1960. And since then, we’ve been training hundreds of leaders for the Arab world. But this is the first time we have this high number of students. And the diversity is incredible. We’re seeing students from countries that wouldn’t be able to be with us if it weren’t for this hybrid module.”
Benefits of this course
This new model allows church leaders to continue serving their communities while they attend ABTS courses. The school has students ranging from Syria to South Sudan throughout the Arab world. Maalouf says, “It doesn’t matter which background they come from. We have more than 40% of our students now who come from a non-Christian background. They face different challenges within their communities. So it’s good to be praying for them to continue to be salt and light to their communities. Another thing is important to pray about for our current students: to be able to balance well between their ministry and study.”
Pray these students will have a fruitful ministry throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
The header photo comes courtesy of ABTS on Facebook.
