Tahlee Bible College (TBC) functioned for nearly 60 years as an interdenominational training centre situated at Tahlee, a 170-acre (0.69 km2) property on the shores of Port Stephens, less than one hour north of Newcastle and less than three hours north of Sydney.
TBC provided classes in learning English, teaching English, Bible topics and ministry skills. The Bible College was just one of several ministries that operated from the property. Camps and events for children, young people and families are still held onsite, as are tours of the historic buildings. Tahlee Ministries Inc. is the organisation that oversees activities at Tahlee.
Contents |
The Gospel Fishermen
In 1943, the Gospel Fishermen Mission leased Tanilba House, which is eight kilometres directly across the bay from Tahlee. The Director, Godrey Theobald, had developed a three pronged approach to mission.
In 1948, the staff of Gospel Fishermen visited Tahlee for a picnic. Over the next year, applications to rent the property to the mission were forwarded to the owner, Mr Alfrey Beecher Stewart White, who used Tahlee as a holiday house. In June 1949, the Theobald family moved into the Waterfront Cottage and began using the Ballroom and Billiard Room for their work. In 1959, Mr White offered the property to the Gospel Fishermen, who bought the land and buildings using large donation.
Discussions with leaders of Mission Societies had revealed a certain need. Although excellent Bible, theological and missionary training was available, missionary candidates could not learn skills in carpentry, mechanics, bushcraft, agriculture, electrical work and other related skills. A committee of Mission Society leaders had been formed to inaugurate this course and Tahlee was eventually chosen as the most suitable venue. Mr Frank Briggs, who had been a missionary in Papua New Guinea, became the Superintendent of this Pioneer Missionary Training Camp in 1951.
Rev Eric Potter, a Methodist minister, was the first Principal of Tahlee Bible College and Godfrey Theobald held the position of the first College President. Lectures commenced on 10 June 1959, while the public opening held on 31 October of that year attracted 400 people.
By 1979 the Bible College ministry was in serious decline, with fewer than 20 students enrolled. The appointment of Rev. Ray Laird as principal helped to reverse this decline. His primary achievements were gaining accreditation with the Australian College of Theology so that degree programs (Licentiate of Theology; Diploma in Ministry; Diploma in Missiology) could be offered. For a period of time, this helped to improve both the standards of education, as well as the viability of the Bible College. Laird's departure marked the beginning of another downturn in the Bible College's offerings. By 2008, the College was only offering a one year, Certificate IV in Christian Ministry.
This downturn was brought about by several factors:
The first factor was the isolation of the campus. Being located in a rural area, this eliminated the possibility of part-time employment for students, which increased the potential economic hardships upon them, and led to students choosing colleges with better access to housing, employment, health facilities, and schools for their children. A proposal put to the College by a former student to relocate the college into Newcastle itself was rejected.
A second factor was the inability of the college to change its focus from "missionary training" to "Christian life preparation". The College, and especially the Mission that controlled it, failed to recognise that the needs of the 1950s and 1960's had changed by the 1980s and later periods. This failure to adapt to change led to a decreasing relevance of the College to the wider Christian community.
The third factor was in the lack of demarcation between "Mission" and "College". Those who had long been associated with the Mission continued to exert an excessive control over the College and its directions. This led, at times, to staff of the Mission using students to meet their own agendas, and working on their own projects, rather than allowing the College to determine the academic and spiritually developmental activities and direction of the students. Bullying by Mission staff, attempts to dominate, and the attitude promoted by some Mission staff that they were "missionaries" and therefore superior to students, led to conflict between Mission staff and students. This in turn led some former students to dissuade potential students from attending.
The conflicts between the aims of the Mission and that of the College are best represented by a sign in the College Library, which indicated that the viewpoints presented in some of the reference and scholarly works, were not those of the Mission. The Mission sought to be an ultra-conservative institution while the College was seeking to be an educational facility. The aims of both clashed, and because of the power of the Mission, the ability of the College to be an educational facility were hampered, and as a result, declined.
While more than 1,000 students have trained at the College and many of these are now in Christian service in Australia and countries all over the world, the future of this organisation is uncertain.
In 2008 the College failed to attract any full time students. Some classes are held in Newcastle. TESOL has been run under the College banner. The Bible college officially ceased to function in 2009.