Bible College of Malaysia

Bible College of Malaysia (BCM) was established as the Bible Institute of Malaya in 1960 to train national workers for the gospel. It started with a humble beginning with the first class of seven students (four men and three women) who graduated in 1962. From its inception, the emphasis of the College has been on a holistic training program for the full-time ministry of the gospel, and a three-year Bible college diploma was offered.
 
 At first, the programs were offered in English. Students wishing to study in Chinese would go to Ecclesia Bible Institute in Hong Kong. Between 1968 and 1972, several students were able to do their studies in Chinese under the direction of Rev David and Alice Nyien. However, a full-fledged Chinese department was formed only in 1980.
 
 In 1982, the name was changed to the Bible College of Malaysia with the introduction of the Bachelor of Theology (English) program. A Certificate of Biblical Studies for lay leaders was started in 1986.
 
 BCM was accredited by the Asia Theological Association (ATA) in 1989. In 1990 BCM became the first chartered member of the Asia Pacific Theological Association (APTA). BCM was accredited by APTA between 1994-1999. BCM is also a founding member of the Malaysian Association of Theological Schools (MATS).
 
 In 2001, the Chinese Bachelor of Theology program was introduced with modular courses, and later it became part of the regular program in 2004.
 
 In 2003, the Bahasa Malaysia (BM) department was formed with the offering of the Diploma of Theology program. Then in 2010, the BM department started the Bachelor of Theology program.
 
 The graduate-level theological program was introduced first as Master of Ministry program in 2004 (English) and 2010 (Chinese). Then, the Master of Divinity started in 2008 (English) and 2019 (Chinese).
 
 In addition, BCM partners with Global Training Ministries, founded by Kevin and Glenys Hovey, to offer a missionary training program (World Harvest Institute) in 2005. This program had to terminate in 2015 as the Australian Trainers could no longer come to Malaysia.
 
 In 2006, BCM partnered with Seminari Theologi Malaysia and Malaysian CARE to offer a Certificate in Christian Ministry (Social Ministry). This program ended in 2012 due to a change of training focus with one of the program partners.
 
 The Diploma of Counseling Studies began as a partnership between BCM, Christian Heritage College and Malaysian Care in 2007. This program was nationalized in 2013 and is now offered under BCM as Diploma of Ministerial Counseling. In 2018, BCM commenced the Bachelor of Ministerial Counseling program. Subsequently in 2019, the Graduate and Postgraduate of Ministerial Counseling was started. The Chinese department began its Diploma of Ministerial Counseling program in 2014 and the Bachelor of Ministerial Counseling in 2020.
 
 BCM is also a member school of Asia Graduate School of Theology, AGST-Alliance, a consortium of theological colleges and seminaries offering quality post-graduate programs to prepare scholars and leaders to equip the church in Asia. In 2015, BCM joined with AGST Alliance and Malaysia Bible Seminary to offer the Doctor of Ministry in Leadership program. This program aimed to equip ministry practitioners to be more competent and reflective in their leadership roles.
 
 In 2017, BCM started the third graduate-level theological program, the Master of Leadership Development program, which aimed to provide practical leadership training for pastors who had been pastoring for more than three years. In the same year, Licentiate of Theology program was introduced to train ministers of the Assemblies of God denomination for credential application.
 
 To help train leaders for the local churches, BCM also has several extension centers throughout Malaysia offering courses in all three languages.