The Angami Baptist Council of Churches (ABCC) is one of the twenty constituent members of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC). Its headquarter, Kohima, is the second station of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society in Nagaland. It is much to the credit and sacrifice of the foreign missionaries that today, there are about 42,000 baptized members from one hundred and ten churches working together under the ABCC.
In 1946, the Rev. J.E. Tanquist started a vernacular Angami Naga Bible school with a view to train and provide leadership to natives in the local churches.
However, as the Indo-Naga political problem heightened, all foreign missionaries were asked to leave. Due to political turmoil and financial constraints, the Bible school could not continue beyond the mid-sixties. However, many students of the vernacular Bible school took up leadership roles and nurtured the churches, and at the same time propagated the gospel in spite of much difficulty and sacrifice. Since then, the Baptist Church in Kohima was left without adequate training facility till the establishment of Shalom Bible Seminary on October 8, 1996.
Since 1970, the ABCC had been considering to set up a theological seminary. There were compelling reasons to start a seminary, such as:
- The much needed theologically trained personnel to nurture the churches in Nagaland, in particular, and in the wider world, as a whole.
- The lack of sound, authoritative biblical proclamation, often resulting in splits over doctrinal contentions.
- The pervasive influence of modernity on Naga society where alien elements have preyed upon, and gradually brought about disintegration of the family and societal values.
- The need to impart sound theological training to aspiring students from neighbouring states and countries.
However, due to lack of certain basic requirements, the vision could not be materialized for many years. Several years went by, during which a committee studied the practical aspects of establishing a Bible Seminary. Visits were made to different institutes to study the feasibility of starting a seminary. It was on November 21, 1995 (vide. ABCC-95/02) that the Council resolved to get the seminary operational in 1996.
Shalom Bible Seminary is thus the result of the burden and vision that God has placed in the hearts of sincere Christians. It strives to be distinctive in imparting sound evangelical theological education, in equipping relevant and effective servant leaders for the churches, with a strong commitment to missions. For this, we envision with all humility, a “Seminary with a difference” for the glory of God.
