Whitefield College of the Bible is an independent theological college in Banbridge

Banbridge

Banbridge is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road. It was named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. The town grew as a coaching stop on the road from Belfast to Dublin and thrived from Irish linen manufacturing...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. It is operated by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster

Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster

The Free Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian denomination founded by the Rev. Ian Paisley in 1951. Most of its members live in Northern Ireland...

. The College has no association with any governmental education system due to its fundamentalist

Fundamentalist Christianity

Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...

 approach and receives no state funding or support.

About the College

The College was named after the 18th Century Evangelist, George Whitefield

George Whitefield

George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...

. A portrait by Samuel McCausland was commissioned for the opening.

The College was formally opened on the 3rd October 1981 by Dr. Bob Jones

Bob Jones III

Robert Reynolds Jones III , third president of Bob Jones University. The son of Bob Jones, Jr., and the grandson of Bob Jones, Sr., the university's founder, Jones III served as president of BJU from 1971 to 2005.-Biography:...

, Chancellor of Bob Jones University

Bob Jones University

Bob Jones University is a private, for-profit, non-denominational Protestant university in Greenville, South Carolina.The university was founded in 1927 by Bob Jones, Sr. , an evangelist and contemporary of Billy Sunday...

, South Carolina, USA, after receiving the key from the President of the College Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley

Ian Paisley

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

.
The purchase and renovation of the mansion housing the College cost £170,000 (approximately £455,600 in 2007). It has approximately 5000 ft (1,524 m) of floor space and sits in 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) of grounds.

Office of the College

The Principal is Dr. John Douglas, Senior Minister of Lisburn Free Presbyterian Church.

The President is Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley

Ian Paisley

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

 the Minister of Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church.

Course

Whitefield offers a 4-year course which is compulsory for entry into the ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. It comprises

• Missionary Principles
• Cults
• English
• Systematic Theology
• Bible Survey
• Christian Ethics
• Personal Evangelism and Christian Doctrine
• Homiletics
  Homiletics
  Homiletics , in theology the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific department of public preaching. The one who practices or studies homiletics is called a homilist....
  
  
• Exegesis
  Exegesis
  Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
  
  
• Hermeneutics
• Greek
  Greek language
  Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
  
   (2-year)
• Hebrew
  Hebrew language
  Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
  
   (2-year)
• Church History

Whitefield also offers a 2-year basic course for Christian workers and those preparing for the mission field. It is the same as the above but without Hebrew language and Systematic Theology.