Greetings

Let me begin the first message of the year by wishing all of you a blessed New Year. May 2008 be the year where the Lord grants you the desires of your heart. In another few days, we will be celebrating the Lunar New Year and I want to wish all our Chinese students a prosperous and successful year ahead.

There were many breakthroughs for the College in 2007 and definitely there will be many more to come in 2008. Let me highlight some of the events that took place in the last quarter of 2007 and some exciting developments for the new year.

18^th Graduation Ceremony
On 2^nd December 2007, we celebrated the graduation of 30 students who met the academic requirements and received their certificates and degrees. It was a historical moment as this was the first graduation ceremony held at our new campus at Paya Lebar; and we also graduated our first batch of students from the School of Creative Arts. My warmest congratulations to all graduates and I believe God’s calling will be fulfilled in their lives wherever they are positioned!

New Deans
It is with great joy that I welcome our new Dean for the School of Leadership (SOL), Dr John Kirkpatrick, to our team. He is no stranger to the College as he has taught many leadership courses for us in the past. He brings with him a wealth of experience as a pastor, trainer and definitely a strategic leader. His understanding of leadership, coupled with an earnest heart for service, will definitely add great depth to our development of leaders. Under his leadership, I am confident that the programmes in SOL will raise many competent leaders for God’s kingdom in Asia and beyond. Please feel free to approach him and explore how the programmes in SOL can equip you to be an effective leader in your ministry.

We also start the year with a new Students’ Dean. Lily Lim has served us faithfully for the last few years as the Students’ Dean and she will hand the baton over to Dr Shelly Li. Lily will be serving the College as the Library Advisor and she will be formulating new initiatives for the overall development of our library.

University of Wales’ Programmes
From the 2^nd trimester of 2008 (beginning 28 April), we will be launching programmes validated by the University of Wales in our College. We will be the first Christian College in Asia that offers University of Wales’ theological degrees. The programmes below are recognised university degrees starting from the 2^nd trimester:

School of Creative Arts:
• Certificate in Higher Education in Creative Arts
• Diploma in Higher Education in Creative Arts (2009/2010)

School of Counselling:
• Post-Graduate Diploma in Counselling

School of Divinity:
• Certificate in Higher Education in Theology*
• Diploma in Higher Education in Theology*
• BA (Hons) in Theology *
• Post-Graduate Diploma in Theology*
• MTh in Applied Theology (Ministry)*
• MTh in Theology*

*also available in Chinese from 2009

The degrees for the above programmes will be awarded by the University of Wales, UK and are internationally accepted by universities and seminaries. This will allow our graduates to be positioned strategically to serve in the Church and the market place given the high recognition of the programmes. It is a vital step towards the College’s vision in becoming a Christian University. The College will enrol all new qualified students at the undergraduate level into the University of Wales academic programmes starting this year. Current students can request to transfer into the University of Wales’ programmes by submitting their applications for approval.

Our School of Divinity (Chinese Department) will also be offering the University of Wales’ programmes in 2009 as part of our overall plan to offer university accredited programmes.

Together with the PhD and DMin programmes, our College now offers internationally recognised UK degrees from the undergraduate to the doctoral level. This will definitely provide much savings in terms of time and finances for students who are interested in pursuing UK university degrees.

Please do not hesitate to contact our respective deans of the different Schools for information on the entry requirements to the University of Wales-validated programmes.

Love Gifts & Donations
With these exciting developments in the College, we are requesting for your partnership with us to train and equip leaders and ministers in Asia. We are very grateful for sponsors who have stepped forward to help meet the needs of the College and students. We are appealing for more love gifts and donations to support needy students and the College as the operational costs have risen drastically over the last few years. In order to offer our programmes at current affordable fees, the College has to raise funds to cover the other 80% of students’ overall fees. We wish to invite you to partner with us through giving to Kingdom endeavour to see more Christian leaders being educated with us.

Alternatively, you can give financially towards the purchase of books for our library as this will definitely contribute very significantly to the entire educational development of the students. One of our desires is to provide online journals so that research can be done any where one may be as long as there is an internet connection. However, such provision will only be possible if we have the means to make it happen.

There are also requests from seminaries and bible colleges in different parts of Asia for us to assist them in training their faculty for higher degrees; and such a Macedonian Call (Acts 16:9) can only be met when the College has the resources and funds to meet these needs.

Final Words
With these latest developments in TCA College, I would like to further request for your prayers and support as we begin the New Year in 2008. All the plans that we have will come to nothing if the Lord does not lead and journey with us. We have seen the Lord’s goodness thus far and we continue to believe and rely in the Lord’s leadership as we pursue the Great Commission with all of our hearts.

Rev Wilson Teo