The Nehemiah Bible Institute (NBI) was founded in 1988 by Bible Media. The goal of NBI is to provide theological training to church leaders – mostly from African Independent Churches – who never had the opportunity for formal theological education.
The course was specifically designed to provide in their theological training needs. It lays a very strong theological basis and focuses on the development of practical skills for these church leaders in their ministry in small congregations throughout Southern Africa. The theological education has an African foundation. It is relevant for church leaders from Africa’s cultural backgrounds and circumstances and keeps in mind that these church leaders have hardly any education, do not hold a matric and therefore have no entrance possibility to universities. Another challenge is that these church leaders have a dire need for funds, work fulltime and can only attend to their studies after hours.
The Nehemiah Bible Institute makes a meaningful difference on the most basic level in the education of these African church leaders across the total spectrum of the independent churches in South and Southern Africa. NBI has built partnerships over the years to provide this theological training in more than 12 countries in Southern Africa. The NBI course material has been translated into more than 10 languages that are used across Southern Africa. Parts of the material are also used in India and Pakistan.
Since 1988 nearly 9 000 African church leaders in Southern Africa have been equipped for the ministry. Currently we receive between 600 and 1000 new enrolments annually. The church leaders
belong to hundreds of different African Independent Churches and come from all over.
