God's Bible School and College

God's Bible School and College

Type	Private, Christian
Established	1900
President	Michael R. Avery
Students	320
Location	Cincinnati , OH , US
Affiliations	National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities
Website	www.gbs.edu

God's Bible School and College is a non-denominational Bible college in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1900.

Overview

Originally known as God’s Bible School, the college was founded by Martin Wells Knapp in 1900. It began as a diploma course, devoted almost exclusively to the study of the Bible and practical subjects. The goal of the institution was to enable the students to be effective workers in what Knapp called the "great, whitened harvest field." The original curriculum was called the Christian Worker’s Course and in 1936 was standardized into a regular four-year collegiate course. At that same time, the Department of Education of the State of Ohio granted authorization to the college to confer baccalaureate degrees.

Departments and majors

God's Bible School and College has five academic divisions: General Studies, Intercultural Studies and World Missions, Ministerial Education, Music, and Teacher Education. Through these divisions twelve majors are offered (six at the associate's and six at the bachelor's level).

Accreditation and recognition

God’s Bible School and College is authorized by the Department of Education of the State of Ohio to award associate and baccalaureate degrees and is regionally accredited with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools[1]. It is also accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE). ABHE is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as a national accrediting agency for Bible colleges.[2]

The college is a member of the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities and is approved by the State Approving Agency of the State Department of Education of Ohio to give training to veterans and veterans’ orphans who qualify for benefits. It is approved by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service to enroll foreign students and by the Social Security Administration to give training to those who qualify to receive benefits under the Social Security Program. God’s Bible School and College is also authorized by the Ohio Board of Regents to grant degrees in the State of Ohio.

Campus facilities

God’s Bible School and College has six major buildings. The Administration Building houses administrative offices, the Revivalist offices, faculty offices, and classrooms. The Deets-Miller Student Center houses a dining hall, student snack bar, Presidential Dining Room, a full-size recreation area, classrooms, and faculty offices. The Knapp Memorial Building houses a chapel, a men’s residence hall, and classrooms. The McNeill Music Hall houses faculty offices, classrooms, and practice rooms. The Revivalist Memorial Building houses a women’s residence hall and the Aldersgate Christian Academy. The R.G. Flexon Memorial Library provides shelf space for 60,000 volumes, student study area, offices, and archives.[3]

College ministries

The students of God's Bible School & College operate several inner-city ministries in downtown Cincinnati. They include the Main Street Chapel, Main Street Kid's Club, Laurel Homes Kid's Club, Mount Auburn Kid's Club, Teens of Power School, Teen Power, Teen Praise and Prayer Station. They also participate in local church, nursing home and jail ministries.

Notable alumni and faculty

• Oswald Chambers, author of My Utmost for His Highest, taught at God's Bible School & College
• Lillian Trasher, Missionary, attended God's Bible School & College
• Emerson Stephen Colaw, United Methodist Bishop, attended God's Bible School & College
• Robert Smith, Jr., Charles T. Carter Baptist Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School, attended God's Bible School & College
• Pilipo Miriye, First Evangelical Missionary from Papua New Guinea to Nigeria, attended God's Bible School & College

Further reading

• Brereton, Virginia Lieson. (1990). Training God's army: the American Bible school, 1880-1940. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-31266-2.
• Carpenter, Joel A. (1999). Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512907-6.
• Chambers, Oswald. (1986). Devotions for a Deeper Life: A Daily Devotional. ed. Glen D. Black. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-38710-7.
• Day, Lloyd R. (1949). A history of God's Bible School in Cincinnati 1900-1949. (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Jordan, Phillip. (2009). "It’s Not Just the Destination: Global Village trips offer volunteers a new point of view." Habitat World.[4]
• Kostlevy, William. (2010). Holy Jumpers: Evangelicals and Radicals in Progressive Era America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537784-2.
• McCasland, David. (1993). Oswald Chambers: Abandoned To God : the life story of the author of My Utmost for His Highest. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Discovery House Publishers. ISBN 1-57293-050-0.
• Robeck, Cecil M. (2006). The Azusa Street Mission and revival: the birth of the global Pentecostal movement. Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 978-1-4185-0624-7.
• Robins, R. G. (2004). A. J. Tomlinson: Plainfolk Modernist. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-516591-3.
• Robert, Dana Lee. (1996). American women in mission: a social history of their thought and practice. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. ISBN 978-0-86554-549-6.
• Schwarz, Julius Caesar (1936). Who's Who in the Clergy, Volume 1.
• Thornton, Wallace, Jr (2014), "When the Fire Fell: Martin Wells Knapp’s Vision of Pentecost and the Beginnings of God’s Bible School. Asbury Theological Seminary Series in Pietist/Wesleyan Studies. Lexington, Kentucky: Emeth Press. ISBN 978-1609470692. [5]
• Thornton, Wallace, Jr (2003), “The Revivalist Movement and the Development of a Holiness/Pentecostal Philosophy of Missions.” Wesleyan Theological Journal 38, no. 1, 160-186." [6]

External links

• God's Bible School and College
• God's Revivalist and Bible Advocate (a publication of God's Bible School and College)