THE CARIBBEAN BIBLE INSTITUTE BIBLE
Preparing willing and able souls for the mission field
THE CARIBBEAN Bible Institute emerged out of the identified need for trained workers to meet the demands of the harvest field in 1947.
This identified need became evident when the Reverend Ralph V. Reynolds arrived on the island as a missionary to Jamaica. His background as a secular school teacher in Canada ably equipped him to formulate a training programme to meet the needs.
With the passion and felt need for evangelisation of Jamaica in the fall of 1947, and using his own financial resources, a Bible institute was started as an evening institute.
Forty-five students with the call to evangelise enrolled in the institute, and with an academic staff comprising his wife and himself, ‘able-men’ were prepared for the mission field.
This bold venture not only created history, being the first Bible School to be established on the foreign mission field, but played a major role in the evangelisation of Jamaica, producing a cadre of trained men and women who have made invaluable contributions to the work on the island, many being teachers, preachers, evangelists, counsellors, and church administrators. The institution benefited greatly from the support it received from the Pentecostal Bible Institute in Tupelo, Mississippi, USA.
GRADUATES:
Among the first batch of graduates were several prominent persons in the apostolic movement, with some making their contribution in civic affairs and on the international missions field such as:
Carmen Robinson (Stewart) – former pastor of the Pentecostal Gospel Temple, Windward Road and a former custos of Kingston, Jamaica
Oscar O’Hare of Spicy Hill (now deceased), who pastored the first apostolic church in Spicy Hill, Trelawny
Ena Hylton, former missionary to Liberia
Valda Russell, former missionary to Liberia
Ethel Titus – wife of a former bishop of the United Pentecostal Church of Jamaica (UPCJ)
Devon Dawson – former missionary to Guyana and current district superintendent of the New York Metro District in the United States of America.
These graduates worked assiduously to spread the Gospel and pioneer new works through their participation in crusades, street and house meetings, and tract distribution.
This first set of graduates blazed the trail for many others who graduated in 1949 such as Norman J. Houslin and David Gallimore, both former National Superintendents of the UPCJ; and Lloyd Edwards and Hartley Carter, who also played significant roles in the development of the organisation.
Other outstanding graduates of the 1960 era were David Smith and Theophilus Archer, former District Superintendents of the United
Pentecostal Church of Jamaica; Joslyn P. Davis, Lincoln Graham, Lloyd Douglas, Ida Reid (Jackson), Irvine Hall, and Sybil Miller.
CLOSURE
Unfortunately, circumstances forced the closure of the institute in the early ’60s, but the doors were reopened in 1968 through the effort of the Reverend Ralph V. Reynolds when he returned to Jamaica in 1967 for a second term as a missionary.
The official opening of the revitalised school took place on September 24, 1969, with a group of eight male students in a residential programme, while females were later accepted as off-campus students.
The stated mission of the rejuvenated school then was to train workers in Bible doctrine, spiritually, high holiness standards, and to deliver quality teaching”.
Over the years, the Caribbean Bible Institute has undergone changes and development in governance, curriculum, faculty, and student enrolment.
Since the departure of the overseas missionaries who ran the institute, many local principals have emerged and continued its operations.
PRINCIPALS
Principals who have served include Reverends Milton D. Kelly, Mercella Ward-Francis, and Sister Mavis Ferguson, Minister Claudette Hamilton – under the leadership of Pastor Wilford BrentHarris as president. The current leadership includes President – the Reverend Norman McHugh and principals Reverends Leroy Laing, Stanley Levy, and Minister Patricia Powell.
What started as a single campus in Kingston at 68 Wildman Street is now located at the National Headquarters Building of the UPCJ at 45 Eastwood Park Road in Kingston. There are two extension sites: Calvary Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church, Church Crescent, St Ann’s Bay, in central Jamaica; and King’s Chapel United Pentecostal Church, Albion Road, Montego Bay, St James, in western Jamaica.
The institute currently offers a three-year diploma in theology and a one-year certificate in counselling and church administration. Some of these courses are also conducted in modules.
Drawn from a wide cross-section of the education spectrum (high school to university graduates), students are seeking to be properly trained, edified, and nurtured in spreading the word of God to the lost.
Evangelism has been, and will always be, the heartbeat of the institution, equipping students to maximise their God-given call to service in the overall work of the Church and other fields of work.
The resilience of this great institution is testimony to the faithfulness of God.