Southern Cross College

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Southern Cross College in Chester Hill, New South Wales Australia is the official ministry training college of the Assemblies of God in Australia, it began as "Commonwealth Bible College" in 1948 in Melbourne. About 2,500 students have been trained at Commonwealth/Southern Cross College since 1948 and the graduates are in ministry on every continent of the world.

It offers various programs, from certificate through to masters level study. The college ethos is based in a Pentecostal / Charismatic orientation. It offers Sydney College of Divinity awards, including: Bachelor of Theology, Master of Arts (Theological Studies), Master of Arts (Leadership), Master of Theology, Master of Divinity.

There is also a Korean Language program, and various vocational awards accredited with the NSW Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board.

[edit] Faculty and Research

The college is one of the first pentecostal colleges in Australia to develop a faculty with higher level academic qualifications. It now has a permanent faculty, eight with doctoral level qualifications, as well as other experienced teachers.

The college has set up the Australasian Pentecostal Heritage Centre, which includes an online repository of historical pentecostal journals - including issues of the Australian Evangel back to 1927. They have also created a refereed journal, Australasian Pentecostal Studies.

[edit] History

Southern Cross College began as "Commonwealth Bible College" in 1948 in Melbourne and has been in a number of locations since then. In 1949 it moved to Newfarm in Brisbane. A purpose built campus was established in 1961 at Graceville on the banks of the Brisbane River but was totally destroyed in the massive Brisbane floods of 1974.

For one interim year the college was conducted at Glad Tidings Tabernacle in Brisbane while a new campus was obtained and refurbished in Katoomba in the former Palais Royale guesthouse. A few years later the facilities of the Illawara Bible College were added to the campus and the college continued in Katoomba until 1995. In 1993 the name was changed to Southern Cross Bible College, and due to a new incorporation this name became Southern Cross College of the Assemblies of God in Australia Ltd. From the beginning of 1996 the college has been at Chester Hill.