In long:

I see a strong independent Bible college as a practical necessity in a place like Adelaide. (Eric’s friends aside) Most people won’t get the training they need and the encouragement to stay Christian any other way… But that is only in the short term, and need not stay that way necessarily. Say a denomination does largely become reformed theologically you’d expect the college and denom. body to follow eventually. That might get you to the sydney-type scenario where the three work together in, say, two or three generations.

I don’t think that what i’m proposing means you need to go ‘community church’ and ditch the traditional denominations. But that might be one way of doing it… I guess it depends on how much patience you have and what opportunities the Lord gives you. It also depends what value you give to a ‘brand’ (to put it crudely!).

Also (and i know you’d agree) it’s not ‘ultimately about the man in the pulpit’…It’s about honouring Jesus and loving his sheep (if you’re a shepherd). ‘the man in the pulpit’ is just how I reckon you break the cycle of liberalism. Denom. bodies still have a natural part to play. e.g. providing resources to run churches in places where it will never be economically viable.

I know different denominations have different ways of organising themselves. But despite this they’re all pretty much the same: That’s mMy point with the head office thing. Regardless of how you organise your association of local churches the leader of the local church is in practice ‘head office’. For all intents and purposes he is the one who speaks on God’s behalf (as far as he preaches the Bible)to congregants – not denom. leaders or college lecturers.

do you think that’s fair? my suggestion that what we need is orthodox Christian bible teachers in pulpits really turns on this!

I’m glad for people brave enough to do go through liberal colleges! I’m thinking that they are the minority though and that this will not be a particularly attractive or beneficial option for most people. I personally don’t see Bible college as a mission field scenario. It really ought to be a place to be fed well for a few years so you can feed others well for a lifetime.

Some denoms have more of a head office than others – Baptist, CoC and AoG churches are quite autonomous (“the churches run the union”), while Anglican, Catholic, Uniting and Salvos have a bigger “head office”/bureaucracy which not only has some authority (without necessarily controlling too much) but also does a lot more. My company put together the UCA-SA websites and there’s an awful lot happening.

“what orthodox Christian is going to want to go through a liberal Bible college?”
I can think of a few people who felt they ought to do their studies in the Uniting college and be salt there rather than an easier option like BCSA.