Who are we?

The present Bible College has it's roots in the work of Marcus Heaster in the 1950s. Based in London, England, he began advertising in African newspapers, offering free Bible reading planners to anyone interested. He got thousands of replies, up to 6000 / year, and kept in correspondence with many of the people who replied. It became apparent that people wanted to not only read the Bible, but to understand it. He developed a Bible Correspondence Course called Light On A New World. Around 30,000 people took this course. In the 1980s, his son Duncan Heaster re-wrote the entire course under the title Bible Basics. About 20,000 people studied the Bible Basics course and the associated Introducing Bible Basics. In the course of this work, a team of tutors developed. These tutors were from various backgrounds and disciplines, and all had a sound and extensive Christian missionary background.

Over the years, it became apparent that there were two types of people interested in the courses offered- those who wished to study the Bible in depth with theological rigour, and those committed Christians who wished to not only study the Bible in theological depth, but also to be prepared for pastoral or missionary responsibilities. The Bible Basics team therefore developed a huge range of theological, academic, pastoral and missionary material. All of it was developed bearing the needs of students in mind, and was forged in the realities of pastoral work in Western churches and missionary work in the developing world. No longer could the work remain in the hands of a father and son team and their circle of immediate Christian friends. They had the wisdom to realize that they had developed something good, with a formidable track record of student instruction... but they needed to hand it over to a wider team in order for the work to progress yet further. Various ministries provided the resources to take up their work and turn it into an online academic Bible College which we submit is one of the best on the market. And so Aletheia Bible College came into existence.

- We have a long track record; we have tutors and teachers who are well qualified and experienced. The qualification that we look for in tutors is above all experience- lifetimes of Bible study, mission and pastoral work accomplished, and above all, the personal manifestation of the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ.

- We have material which has been developed over the last 50 years specifically for people like you. Our tutors between them have written over 3 million words in course content. We're not one of those online colleges whose units of study merely comprise chapters lifted from some standard textbook, or who just point you to links on other sites.

- We have ideally qualified teachers and tutors. All have published numerous articles in journals, some have written well received books. All have many years experience of teaching, preaching, missionary and pastoral work. All have healthy, stable marriages and family lives. Our tutors have an average of 30 years walking in Christ; they are mature Christians, from various backgrounds and countries.

- We have an impressive list of alumni going back 40 years who are eager to give genuine testimony to how much we have filled their needs.

- Students are assigned a personal tutor who keeps in touch with the student not only by email but by online audio conversations. We are genuinely committed to achieving our aims, of providing relevant and quality theological education.

Our Approach To Doctrinal Issues

The Anglican Bishop John Robinson once wrote [and often said], "truth is two eyed". In other words, we perceive the full picture by looking at an issue from more than one viewpoint. The approach adopted by the Bible College, bearing in mind our inter-denominational student population, is that students should be made aware of the various perspectives which there are upon basic Christian doctrines, and be empowered and trained in Biblical exposition to come to purely and genuinely their own conclusions. So for example, when considering the question of the Holy Spirit gifts. We firstly train you in sound principles of hermeneutics [i.e. how to study Scripture]. And then we present you with various viewpoints upon the Holy Spirit gifts, with the purpose of the written examination being for you to express the understanding which you have come to. You won't be marked down [or up!] for the actual conclusion you come to- we're not a denominational training centre. You'll be marked for how you Biblically reason, and for the practical relevance which you give to your understanding.