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Charis College Ministry
Charis College Ministry is a ministy to make professional Christian workers by training them through Australian qualifications with full scholarships in the language of the mission field.
The beginning of Charis College
Australian College of Christianity has started offering free Australian Counselling qualifications in mission fields from 2021 in the name of Charis College Ministry. It is a vision and calling that God has granted when establishing Australian College of Christianity in 2013, and now the college has started this precious ministry in the 7th year after the establishment of Australian College of Christianity.
Necessity of Charis College
While visiting missionary sites in China, Philippines, Myanmar, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Thailand, we felt the need for counseling. There were broken families, broken relationships, children and youth problems, addictions like alcohols and gambling and mental health issues like depression, and I could see the absolute lack of professional institutions that can provide solutions and cares.
In 2009, in Beijing, China, I was invited as the main lecturer while delivering a family ministry seminar with GMS-affiliated missionaries in China. At that time, the missionaries emphasized the need for counseling ministry and they seriously said that now, not only the gospel preaching, but also the ministry of restoration should be done together. Even if they were educated and armed with the Gospel, if they return to the previous family, they will return to their previous problem state, so the restoration of the family must be done together. Missionaries said that it would be nice if they had the opportunity to receive education first and to educate local ministers or leaders in China, but at the time, I worked for an Australian College as a mere staff member. At that time, I taught family ministry topic at an underground seminary for Chinese people, and there were many seminarians who were interested in counseling and family ministry.
In DTS, Mongolia’s second city, Darkhan, I gave lectures on family ministry to students during the daytime and local pastors in the evening time. Even there, I felt the need for counseling ministry desperately. Even during a break between lectures, there were many requests for counseling, and there were many people who thanked that they received a lot of help from the short counseling session.
In addition, if a missionary who visited Australia while working in Uzbekistan and building an Addiction Recovery Center talked about the need for Christian counseling ministry. He said that a counseling education system in Russia would play an important role to do the recovery mission ministry through counseling services for the whole of Eastern Europe, a very large area.
Requirements for the establishment of Charis College
This ministry requires an Australian government-recognized degree in partnership with missionaries who are committed to counseling education in missionary areas around the world, and also requires high-quality education that meets all the requirements of the Australian Government’s educational institutions. This is an area that requires a lot of effort and dedication, including translating into the language of each mission field. Counseling training can be started for locals in the mission area, which should take at least 3-4 years of preparation time. First, the missionaries who participate in this ministry are educated with full scholarships, and teachers are equipped with a teaching qualification recognized by the Australian Education Department, ASQA. We hope that this will restore those who are suffering and could preach the Gospel together.
Charis College Updates
Japan is one of the most difficult countries for missions, and it is notorious as a country where many missionaries struggle. Although I hate the atrocities that Japanese ancestors committed to our country, I think we need a heart to forgive and be compassionate for them. There are so many gods that it is exceedingly difficult for the absolute truth, the Gospel, to spread to Japanese people. Even the largest theological seminary university in Japan has few freshmen. Most of the Japanese pastors have second jobs because it is so economically difficult for Japanese pastors. And local pastors are saying that the mental health of local pastors in Japan must first be restored. So, first of all, we are planning to establish a course for local pastors in Japan. The education team, the translation team, and the media team are working together to prepare for the Japanese campus.
Mongolia is starting with YWAM’s local Mongolian missionaries. It is already starting with missionaries who are prepared a lot through the counseling courses of the University of the Nations. The missionaries who have translated and published books related to Korean counseling can be seen as a well-prepared start. We pray that God’s love for Mongolia, which is in a difficult environment, will be well conveyed, and that Mongolia’s families, churches, and society will be able to contribute to the restoration of God’s love through the education and ministry of Charis College.
It is said that North Korean defectors have severe trauma in common. The experience of North Korea’s defection itself is the experience of a struggle for life. It is an experience of having reached the threshold of several deaths and then escaped dramatically. It is said that the life and death of the family being left behind is unknown, and the life of a painful life is caused by feelings of guilt for the family behind. And it is not easy to experience and adapt to different societies and cultures. So, since mental care and care are more needed than anyone else, College decided to serve as a mission field. Professional counselors, who have been serving North Korean defectors for a long time as counseling, are preparing together.
Argentina is planning to help with missionaries who have experience distributing children’s Bible fellowships to Spanish-speaking countries by translating and publishing them into Spanish. It seems to be an opportunity to serve a wider variety of Spanish-speaking countries.
Thailand is a country with an extraordinarily strong Buddhism, and Christianity is a country that is branded as a religion of very lowly people and ignores Christians. Missionaries mainly serve the tribes that have already been converted through British missionaries and are one of the difficult countries to do missionary work, which is not making great achievements for major tribes. However, I hope that the grace of spreading the Gospel to the main tribes of Thailand through the ministry of Charis College, which is educated through full scholarships, is in the land of Thailand. I look forward to the ministry of Charis College that contributes to the missionary work that saves and transforms Thailand, where the Gospel is not actively spreading because the king still has absolute power, and the king plays a role like a god.
Malaysia is an English-speaking country and a country with many developments already. By the way, Islam is a very strong country. Those who have worked in the Middle East mission field for a long time are preparing for the ministry at Charis College in Malaysia. We hope to open the way for the gospel to be spread in Malaysia through an Australian Qualifications funded by a full scholarship by Australian College of Christianity. I hope that Christian counseling education and ministry can be a process of building a family and building a healthy society.
NEXT COMING
And the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Russia are preparing next. I look forward to seeing these education ministries at Charis College in more diverse countries. We pray that the Australian College of Christianity will continue to support the missionary work of nurturing Christian leaders in the nations to restore God’s grace and love for the nations through the ministry of Charis College. I pray that the number of people who do it will increase and experience the grace of God who cooperates to achieve good.
