CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT: why does Scotland need a theological college when traditional belief seems to be declining?
It began with a staff of just two in a portable cabin in the grounds of Moray College in Elgin. This summer, Highland Theological College (HTC) now based in its own Dingwall premises, celebrates its 30th anniversary.
It has trained hundreds of students and is a valued member in the University of the Highlands and Islands partnership. One of the original staff, Rev Hector Morrison, in now the principal.
But why does Scotland need a theological college when traditional belief seems to be declining? I spoke to William Gwynn, HTC’s marketing and communications manager: his own story helps answer my question.
Will’s Christian faith deepened in his late teens as he grew up in Birmingham. A gap year working internationally with a Christian organisation confronted him with the extent of poverty and need in the wider world.
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Will wanted to ‘change the world’, but wondered where to start. He was drawn to specifically Christian work, but realised how many questions he had. The well-informed and well-reasoned answers to his questions he received from a Bible College lecturer impressed him.
He took a course in England which combined theological study and practical placements in churches, emerging convinced that the main way God changes the world is through Jesus-following people in local churches. He also emerged with a fiancée: he and Fiona (whose folks are in Inverness) married in 2020 and have two children.
Will’s background, and his status as a Gen Z digital native has prepared him excellently for his current job.
HTC trains and equips people who want to support the church, or other Christian organisations as ministers, pastors, youth-leaders, chaplains, missionaries, Bible College lecturers, volunteers. It offers access courses and theological study to the highest academic standard accompanied by quality practical training. The college helps apply the wisdom of the Bible and theological tradition to the difficult issues Scotland is facing today.
Everything done at HTC is shaped by belief in God and the uniqueness of Jesus, and by the conviction that God is active in the world.
The students have motives similar to Will’s - people who have found the ‘something more’ he sought as a teenager and have staked their lives on the belief that God is real. HTC is a community of faith, prayer and learning, in which students feel deeply supported.
Reaching this year’s milestone in the history of Highland Theological College calls for celebration, and gratitude to the people who dreamed the college into being. But the ultimate gratitude is due to God who shapes great enterprises just as surely as working with Will to bring the digital native into the team.
• Everyone is welcome to a celebration of 30 years of HTC at Inshes East Church, Inverness on September 14 at 7.30pm.
