The College of Christian Theology Bangladesh (CCTB) located in Savar Dhaka, is training men and women in theology and Christian ministry to serve their home communities.

CCTB Lecture Room

With 700 TEE (Theological Education by Extension) students, the aim is to develop and equip national leaders for the Christian church in Bangladesh.  Students who complete the Diploma of Christian Ministry and Diploma of Theology can then progress to a Bachelor of Theology and Master of Arts in Christian Studies.  Both B.Th and MA are residential courses.  CCTB also offers discipleship courses which can be used to teach and equip new Christians.

CCTB Library

“The greatest need that the church in Bangladesh has right now is for national leaders, for pastors who will lead their people.” says Nikhil Halder from the Mohakhali Baptist Church.  He said that one difficulty for the church in Bangladesh was that people were not aspiring to lead the church – “maybe out of 100 people we will have 1 person who is feeling called to lead – but the church cannot afford to pay them enough and that person needs to feed their family, so what do they do?”.

We need to pray that the Lord will call leaders to lead the church in Bangladesh and that training and discipleship courses will continue to be available to ensure they have solid Biblical foundations and can teach others.

While the courses available from CCTB are not expensive in western terms they are still out of reach for many in the church.  Some scholarships are available but students are still required to fund a portion of their courses even when the church who sends them is contributing towards fees and costs.

CDC, Gazipur, Dhaka

Christian Discipleship Centre in Gazipur is also training church leaders and runs a residential 1 year discipleship course which CCTB accepts as entry to their Diploma courses.

A common need shared by these training organisations is for resources in the Bangla language.  Different groups are translating what they need and while some are willing to share there doesnt appear to be a platform established for the sharing of resources and information.