Victory Bible College / Rev Dr John Thoung, AO Coordinator
Victory Bible College was founded in 2008,
and by God’s grace it has been 12 years now since we opened. I thank God for His
faithfulness and leading us all these years. Though we faced many challenges,
God was always with us. This year we celebrated our 11th graduation ceremony. Many
of our former students have been touched and changed through this small Bible College
and have been going out to reach the unreached.
The Vision from the Lord
I have been preaching the gospel since
1989 while I was a teacher at a government school in my village, but I became a
full-time minister in 1994 after studying in a Bible College. I never imagined that
I would be a Bible teacher. While praying one day, I felt the Lord speaking to
me to start a Bible College but I was unsure at first, so I prayed seeking
clarity as to whether this was His plan for me or was it my own desire. The Lord
put a burden on my heart to reach out to the young people who were living
without a purpose in life because in our country if you do not pass
matriculation, there is no more hope for further education. The Lord put this
vison in my heart time and time again and I knew it was His leading and plan
for me to start the Bible College. I had no qualifications, no money, no house
and I wondered how all this would happen. But I never gave up and told the Lord
that He would have to help me and I would obey Him. I consulted with some
friends but they were very negative and not encouraging at all. Instead they
discouraged me saying that I did not have the money nor the qualifications and I
had no experience in running a Bible College.
After praying and seeking the Lord, I
was determined to obey the Lord and my first purchase for the Bible College was
two cooking pots, one for rice and one for curry as I had to provide
accommodation and meals for the students. At the beginning, it was very difficult
for I had to share my home with the Bible students, living with me and my
family, because the students were mostly from other states. I had no funds but
the Lord provided for everything we needed and sent people to help me both in seeing
to the expenses of the college and for teaching the students. I am truly
grateful to the faculty staff who have been helping me since the early years to
teach the students without receiving any payment. Now we can accommodate 30
students every year and train them for the ministry. I also thank my wife and
family for sharing my vision and for all the sacrifices they made to fulfil
this vision.
We offer a 4-year course for Bachelor of
Theology and a 2-year course for Diploma. Our motto is:
“To Prepare God’s People for the Works
Service” (Ephesians 4:12).
The students come from different parts
of our country. So far, there have been 70 graduates and all of them have gone
into ministry. Some of them are pastoring churches; some have become church
planters and some lecturers in Bible College. Most of my lecturers are my
former graduates. Ps Jolly Aung, my former student, is now Field Director for Missions
and Ps Victor Lian is our Academic Dean of Victory Bible College. He and his
wife also manage Shalom Home for abandoned children. Ps Soe Moe Naing is doing
ministry at Kukosu village in the Delta area, where no one has heard the gospel
before. Ps Nar Tawng is doing ministry in the Nangah area, a very undeveloped
area which takes seven days to reach from Yangon. We are getting more students
from that region now. We hope to train them so that they will return to share
the gospel with their people. Ps Aye Taw Say is doing ministry along the Sami border
of Rakhine and Chin where there is an ongoing civil war. Ps Aung Aung Win is
doing ministry in Rakhine, another area where the war is ongoing. The situation
for both these pastors is dangerous and challenging for them, as it has been
for the people in these areas. The people there live in poverty and are
suffering greatly as a result of the war. Sharing the gospel in these areas
puts them at risk, so they have to be very cautious. Brother San Thang and
Sister Cherry Pan Khine are doing ministry in U Chit Pin, border of Rakhine and
Mangwe.
Challenges and Difficulties
Our Bible College still lacks space for accommodation
and study rooms and we are praying for God’s provision to extend our Bible College.
The students are still staying with my family and there is no family time for
us but my family does not complain for they understand the situation. The
students are from remote villages and are too poor to pay the school fees, let
alone accommodation and food costs. Pray with us that we will be able to find
sponsors for our students. I simply cannot turn them away if they cannot afford
to pay. After completing the course, some of the students are committed to doing
church planting in their villages but the College is not able to support them. If
any one of you is interested in getting involved in this area, please help them
– for when you extend a helping hand, even though you yourselves cannot go to
the mission fields, you are there with them.
Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said,
"Here am I. Send me!"
