By Simon Terrill
Another bumper year for enrolments is allowing us to deliver more level 6 and 7 courses on site. This is beneficial for students plus gives lecturing staff more opportunity to engage their areas of specialty.
This year, we currently have 42 students enrolled in our Laidlaw partnership programmes, ranging from diploma to degree level. We also have an additional 5 students enrolled in our own Level 6 NZ Diploma in Christian Studies programme.
Our students are a mixture of part-time and full-time, with half of our students located outside of Nelson. They live and minister in places such as Hamilton, Tauranga, Waiapu and Wellington in the north, to the south in places such as Blenheim, the West Coast, Reefton and Christchurch.
Being able to enrol Anglican students from across the country for distance learning provides us the opportunity to cater to them in a unique way and is only possible due to our ongoing relationship with Laidlaw College. We see this as a great blessing, not only for the Nelson Diocese, but for the wider Anglican Church in Aotearoa.
It also allows many of our students to remain serving in their local parish while also gaining theological training. We see this as a win for students, local churches and the college alike.
Finally, as Burge mentioned in his message above, one of the most satisfying parts of what we do is providing a formative culture that promotes discipleship, often centreing around worship, fun and food. A highlight for Nelson students is our much loved Toastie Tuesdays, as well as worshiping together during our regular chapels, which finishes with a provided shared lunch.
We are keen to open chapel up to alumni and supporters of the college, so check out our website for dates and hopefully we’ll see you there!