New Principal's Message
Welcome to the ETCAsia website. We’re so glad you want to find out more about us.
ETCAsia exists for one simple reason: to train gospel-shaped leaders for Singapore and beyond. But what’s the best way to do this? We believe the following elements are necessary.
The Trainers
Firstly, there are the trainers themselves. ETCAsia’s faculty possess two ingredients which are essential for training gospel-shaped leaders. On one hand, they have the requisite academic qualifications and so are able to teach with depth and expertise. But on the other hand, and more importantly, our faculty all have experience in pastoral ministry and are still at heart, pastors themselves. This means their teaching is always applied to real-life ministry. And, as pastors, they are keen to know the students they teach. Pastors are the best people to train others to work in pastoral ministry.
The Community
Secondly, ETCAsia’s community is critical to the training experience. God’s word is best explored and practiced with other like-minded believers who are also training for gospel ministry. As Paul said to the Colossian church:
“Let Christ’s message dwell among you [plural] richly as you teach and admonish one another … ” (Col. 3:16).
God’s word dwells richly in a community of people, who seek to live it out together, encouraging and spurring each other on to love and good works (Heb. 10:24-25). And in the ETCAsia community strong friendships are forged between students who will support each other in ministry for life.
The Priorities
The third element of ETCAsia’s training are our priorities. In Scripture Christian leadership has three focal points which are ETCAsia’s priorities in training:
- Proclamation: Christian leaders are to equip God’s people with God’s word so that the church is able to withstand the world’s pressures and values (Eph. 4:11-16). And so ETCAsia trains people in how to understand deeply, and handle responsibly, God’s word.
- Patterning: The Christian life is not only taught but also caught. As Paul said to Timothy “… set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). ETCAsia seeks to provide trainers who are godly in character and can model or pattern Christ-like living. This is why the ETCAsia community is so critical.
- Prayer: God ultimately is the one who changes people’s hearts. And so Christian leaders are to be trained in “prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). ETCAsia provides dedicated times of prayer when students and faculty come together to pray for each other and for the spread of the gospel.