OUR BRIEF HISTORY

When the early missionaries of the Sudan United Mission (SUM) arrived in Gindiri and established what is today known as ‘Gindiri Compound Institutions’, the first institution that was founded was the then Bible School in 1934. Alongside the establishment of the Bible School was the birth of the defunct Teachers Training School, which later became Gindiri Teachers College (GTC), renowned nationwide for excellence. Thus, the two schools were set up as two-in-one arrangements at this initial stage when 18 students were admitted as the pioneers of the center.

The initial instructions were given in Hausa and held in the Bible School Hall. The hall was also used as a worship center. It is on record that the worship hall was the first place for Christian worship in the whole of Pyem Chiefdom. The hall (Chapel) has continued to serve this purpose till today. The institution has gone through stages of metamorphosis related to personnel, curricula, name, facilities, and many other areas of her life. The curriculum of the Bible School was diversified into many strands which included literacy, theological cum academic content, and modern agricultural training, among others. The diversified nature of the curriculum was put in place to prepare the trainees on how to serve as evangelists who were also self-reliant in food production.

Although not all the first trainees became ordained pastors, the first set of ordained pastors in COCIN (Toma Tok Bot, Bali Falang, and David Lot) were members of the first set of students who graduated in 1937. The second set (Damina Bawado, Gideon Gonap and Dusu Lodam) graduated in 1949. Graduation was not yearly because new students were only admitted when the church had need. The training of evangelists and pastors for the growing African church continued in Gindiri for about three decades before the name of the school was changed from a Bible School to a Pastors’ College in 1963.

This development was the first turning point in the history of the institution, whereby the curricula now focused on training pastors rather than evangelists. A major feature of the education offered in the School was its use of Hausa as the basic language of learning and communication. The inadequacy of this medium began to manifest clearly with the rapid expansion of Western education, especially in the immediate period following Nigeria’s independence. This and other needs of the Gindiri Schools made the SUM reconsider using Hausa as the basic communication medium. With many students attending the weekly Sunday services, the use of the English language became imperative. The time had come to train English-speaking pastors to meet the needs of growing English congregations, especially in urban centers.

The original mandate of the Bible School and later Pastors’ College Gindiri continued to revolve around three major concerns. First, the training environment was carefully designed to help the students reconcile their Christian profession and biblical faith. This was important because of a believer’s life-changing encounter in Jesus Christ. Second, while the institution was seen as a tool in God’s hands for the transformation of the lives of the students, it was the commitment of the trainers to mold the students as future leaders of the Church. Hence, the training was carefully done to produce crops of leaders that could stand future challenges—a leadership that would be strong and reliable. Third, the institution was concerned about the training of religious instructors for both church and government schools. This was considered a link in the efforts of the missionaries.

The last set of students of Pastors’ College Gindiri passed out in 1984. In 1985, Rev. Dr. Soja Bewarang was appointed to start a four-year diploma program in English aimed at providing post-secondary level biblical and Christian education. The program took off in 1986 with the school having a new name: Gindiri Bible College (GBC). The initial diploma programs offered by the reorganized institution were: Diploma in Theology and the Diploma in Christian Religious Education. The first set of students in the diploma program graduated in 1990. The institution affiliated her Diploma in Christian Religious Education (DCRE) program with Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, from 1991 to 1997.

The name of the school was again changed in 1992 to Gindiri College of Theology (GCT). GCT secured a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Jos for the affiliation of her Bachelor of Divinity (BD) degree program which came on stream in 2000. The MOU was signed after inspection by the University in conjunction with the National Universities Commission (NUC). The introduction of a degree program in 2000 marked yet another important milestone in the history of the institution. The first set of students for the Bachelor of Divinity (BD) program graduated in 2004 and, in the following year, the BD Part-Time program was started. The Part-Time diploma program has been introduced earlier but was stopped.

With the growing demand for admissions into the institution, admission into the BD program became yearly in 2009. This was aimed at meeting the rapidly growing manpower needs of the church. One more time, the name of the institution was changed to Gindiri Theological Seminary (GTS) in 2011 as approved by the COCIN General Church Council (GCC). As a growing institution, changes are continually being effected as the need arises. Thus, to further boost the school’s research culture, the maiden edition of the GTS Research Journal was launched. To further strengthen her academic base, the institution changed the name of the Women Training School (WTS) to the Institute of Education (IOE) with the introduction of the Diploma of Christian Religious Education (DCRE). The curriculum of the Institute was also reviewed in 2012 to have more education courses.

The GTS School of Postgraduate Studies was started in 2016 with various Master of Arts (MA) and Master of Divinity (MDiv) programs. Since the establishment of GTS as a Bible school in 1934, the institution has been headed by either a Principal or Provost as follows:

1934 – 1950                      Mr. M. W. Bristow                                                           Principal

1950 – 1972                      Mr. P.W. Turner                                                               Principal

1972 – 1976                      Rev. Geoffrey Birch                                                        Principal

1976 – 1981                      Mr. Tom Owens                                                               Principal

1981 – 1985                      Rev. Shehu Mutashi                                                       Principal

1985 – 1999                      Rev. Dr. Soja J. Bewarang                                            Provost

2000 – 2009                      Rev. Dr. Obed G.K. Dashan                                          Provost

May – Aug 2009              Rev. Patrick I. Atokor                                                    Ag. Provost

2009 – 2011                      Rev. Dr. Amos M. Mohzo, PhD                                   Provost

2012 – 2013                      Rev. Paul L. Gonlur                                                         Ag. Provost

2013 – 2020                      Rev. Prof. Jotham M. Kangdim, PhD                       Provost At-large

Jan – Aug 2021                 Rev. Dr. Patrick I. Atokor                                            Ag. Provost

Sep 2021 – date               Rev. Prof. Gyang D. Pam                                              Provost