31 July 2018 | Binfield, UK [Victor Hulbert]
Students may have left for their summer break but the campus at Newbold College of Higher Education is anything but quiet.
Awards Ceremony
Students celebrated the end of the academic year, and for some, the end of their Newbold experience with an Awards Ceremony on Sunday, 8 July. Twenty-seven graduands were included in this year’s ceremony.
Dr John Baildam, Principal, challenged each graduand to continue to ask questions and to seek ‘truth’, to think for themselves and develop their understanding of life, learning, and civic responsibility “through the lens of a Christian world-view”.
As the College has developed strong relationships with South American countries, Dr Erton Carlos Köhler, President of the South American Division, was invited to be the main speaker. “Just like Newbold, Adventist educational institutions in South America work to prepare the best professionals at undergraduate and postgraduate levels,” he said. “Our institutions are not only called to inform, but especially to transform. For this reason, we are partners with Newbold. Even though we are from different regions of the world, we are one institution with the same mission.”
Dr Köhler concluded a rousing speech by calling on the graduates to “achieve God’s desired outcome and accomplish His word” by using their knowledge and abilities to help others.
The Awards Ceremony is the pinnacle of the academic year at Newbold College of Higher Education. Since last year’s Awards Ceremony, the College has been re-accredited by the British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education and has successfully undergone its annual monitoring by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), an independent body responsible for the UK Quality Code for Higher Education.
You can watch a recording of the ceremony online, and see an extensive photo-gallery on Flickr.
Association of Latin American Adventist Churches in Europe
During the weekend the College also hosted the Association of Latin American Adventist Churches in Europe (AIALE), to discuss the current state of Latin American Adventist communities in the Trans-European Division.
It was the first time that three leaders from the South American Division of the Church, Dr Köhler (President), Pastor Edward Heidinger Zevallos (Executive Secretary) and Pastor Marlon de Souza Lopes (Treasurer), had attended the convention together. Despite an important World Cup football match involving Brazil on the Friday evening, members from the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking churches from across London and other areas of the United Kingdom attended, gaining spiritual refreshment, sharing their musical talents, and involving themselves in the future development of mission in Europe.
If you are interested in learning more about AIALE, visit http://aiale.com
British Culture Study Tour
In another first for Newbold, th
e College hosted its first ever British Culture Study Tour. This attracted mainly American college students, giving them ten days of inspired academic learning along with excursions to famous sights of literary and historical importance.
They not only learnt something of British culture, including the value of a cream-tea, but got to know other young people from across the globe, making new friends, singing together, having fun, and experiencing adventures from uncovering the mysteries of Stonehenge to admiring the natural beauty of the Cotswolds, basking in the British sunshine, and singing along to songs at musicals in the heart of London’s West End.
The programme was such a success that a repeat is already planned for next year. If you’d like to join the British Culture Study Tour 2019 programme, get in touch with Newbold now at: [email protected]
Summer School
The history of learning English at Newbold goes back a long way. In the early days it was to help European students come up to the standard of English needed for academic study. Now that schools across Europe generally teach English to a high standard, the role of Newbold’s Summer School in English has developed to enhance the skills students already have within the context of a holiday and a spiritual environment.
This year saw the largest number of students to date. Climaxing with an international night on Saturday evening, 28 July, and a trip to Arundel Castle on a somewhat damp Sunday, students have now returned home with amazing memories, new friends and for many, life-changing experiences.
A high-school student from Finland spontaneously told her driver on the way to the airport, “this is the best experience I’ve ever had in my life.”
She well expressed the views of students from across Europe, South America and South Korea who have experienced the ‘Best of British’… not just the language, but the ‘happy and glorious’ sunshine amidst day trips to famous locations in the south east of England.
Find out more about Summer School and a range of other study options at Newbold by visiting the website: www.newbold.ac.uk
Gym Refurbishment
The Newbold Gym is closed for the summer. By the time it reopens it will be a Sports-hall Auditorium. This is the first stage of a three-part renovation programme including a new floor, better acoustics and a new AV system transforming the building into a suitable venue for international sports tournaments, conferences and community-based programmes. The total cost of refurbishment is £350,000 with a fund-raising appeal ongoing. Find out more details on the college website.
Still to come
The summer is not yet over. This next weekend the College will be packed with 70s alumni, reliving what many consider to be ‘the best time of their lives’. Then in August Mark and Ernestine Finley will be running the first week of a three-year Evangelism and Church Growth Symposium designed for lay-leaders and pastors from across Europe.
This is an inspiring experience as participants discover life-changing biblical principles that can help make them more effective evangelistic leaders, sharing the message of Christ in their churches and communities.
The first week of learning will be held 19-25 August 2018, with subsequent programmes on the Newbold campus in the summers of 2019 and 2020.
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Sajitha Forde-Ralph, associate editor
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tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division. Readers are free to republish or share this article with appropriate credit including an active hyperlink to the original article.
