Dear Friends,
As we approach the end of November and teeter on the edge of Advent, it also means that our term is nearly complete! With just two weeks of classes left (and a week of assessment writing!) we can begin to look forward to the break between terms. It was only 3 months ago that we were gathering all our new and returning students to embark on another year of study – and the time has zipped by. It’s been a good term and the new intake of students have settled well into the rhythms, practices, and learning of the College community. We’re grateful for them and for a fruitful term. As we look towards the end of term, we have our end of term Christmas service taking place on Thursday December 11th at 12:45pm – many thanks to Chris at Paisley Baptist Church for once again hosting us. As a friend of the College, if you’re within travelling distance of Paisley, and would like to join us, then please let Ellie know by emailing ellie.bell@uws.ac.uk.
November also saw winter graduations at UWS – we don’t usually have too many graduating in November as most graduate in the summer. This year, however, John McColl graduated with a degree, in doing so, became our first online student to graduate from the degree programme! We launched the online programme around 4 years ago and so this sees the first fruit of the course. John lives in Aberdeenshire and took all his classes online, but it was great to have him here to graduate at Paisley Abbey with other students from UWS.
We held a great Open Day in the middle of November with several prospectus students joining us to find out more about studying at SBC. Look out for upcoming Open Day / Evening events over the coming months! Whether you attended the Open Day or not, there’s still time to join us for classes next term. Our three intro classes cover a wide range of interests. Christian Worship on Tuesdays; The Practice of Pastoral Care on Thursdays; Values of Youth and Community Ministry is on Tuesdays and forms part of our Youth and Community degree stream but can be taken as a standalone class. Christian Worship and The Practice of Pastoral Care can be taken as an individual module and accessed on-campus during the day or online in the evenings; while the Youth and Community ministry module is online only in the evening. For further information and practical details please contact our Academic Director, on graham.meiklejohn@uws.ac.uk.
Finally, if you’re looking for some inspiration and places to engage with further thinking, our staff team have been busy! If you’re looking for some depth theological content, then in the latest edition of Theology in Scotland journal on the theme of theology and suffering, there are two articles, one by Graham Meiklejohn and one by associate lecture, Paul Wilson, as well as a book review by Al Cuthbert. It’s an open access journal so you can read the articles here: https://ojs.st-andrews.ac.uk/index.php/TIS/issue/view/278.
On the lighter side, you can always read our Chaplain’s Log on the website as a short devotional every Friday: https://scottishbaptistcollege.org/category/chaplainlog/
And this week there’s an Advent / Christmas blog up about Christmas traditions which might give you some food for thought over the coming weeks: https://scottishbaptistcollege.org/christmas-traditions-2/
Ian Birch and the SBC Team
Prayer Points:
Please continue to remember us in prayer.
+ Pray for the students – as we head towards the end of term assessments loom large!
+ Give thanks for the positive term so far and all the learning that has taken place.
+ Pray for the new term and upcoming class – pray that we would get a new influx of students for January.
+ Give thanks for our latest graduate – may there be many more!
Thank you for your continued support and prayers as we continue to equip people to serve God’s Kingdom.
If you would like to receive the monthly prayer and news updates straight to your inbox, please sign up here