Introducing The Grace Institute Of Biblical Studies

2019-02-10T01:31:57+00:00March 31st, 2017|

by Dennis Rokser

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! This article1 is designed to give you a brief introduction and explanation regarding the Grace Institute of Biblical Studies (otherwise referred to as GIBS).

It had been the desire and prayer of the spiritual leadership of Duluth Bible Church for a number of years to see a ministry of this nature started at Duluth Bible Church. As a result of much prayer and planning, the G.I.B.S. began its inaugural class in January of 1992. Our intent is to provide solid biblical and practical teaching and training for those who are desirous and gifted for specialized and sacrificial ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ. Second Timothy 2:15 instructs believers: “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

MISSION STATEMENT

The purpose of GIBS is to be an instrument in God’s hand to provide grace-oriented teaching, training, and materials to interested believers in order to further establish, equip, and encourage them to faithfully fulfill the ministries God has given them by His grace.

THE NEED OF THE HOUR

As we observe the spiritual landscape of our world and the condition of the Church in our day, we cannot help but see the great need to establish and equip believers in Christ. Too often our churches are exposed to unclear or false teaching, leaving believers undernourished at best and misled at worst. We believe that it is God’s blueprint for each local church to be effectively preaching the Gospel of grace and teaching the life-changing truths of the Word of God.

Every believer needs to have a sound biblical frame-work for fulfilling the will of God for his or her life. Each born again child of God should learn to effectively lead someone else to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Each genuine Christian should come to the point of being able to answer many common objections to the faith. Each believer in Christ should also have a solid grasp on Christian life truths and what it means to faith-rest in the Lord and His great and precious promises. Sadly, this is too often not the case today.

In order for believers to grow in these areas, our preaching must emphasize the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ for salvation from sin’s penalty, then from sin’s power, and ultimately from sin’s presence—all by God’s grace and to the glory of God. Unfortunately, too many believers in the USA have lacked sound grace-oriented teaching, and too many pastors and teachers internationally have had either little or no formal training for the ministry God has called them to do. Nor do they have the time needed to stay aware of the false teachings of our day that may be infiltrating their churches. (The US Center for World Missions estimates that 90 percent or over 2 million pastors worldwide have had no formal teaching/training.) With this need in mind, let us introduce you to GIBS.

WHY THE GRACE INSTITUTE OF BIBLICAL STUDIES?

We believe the need for a specialized training and equipping ministry of this nature is evident for several reasons:

1. Because the majority of Bible colleges and seminaries in our land deny in doctrine or practice the authority and/or sufficiency of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:15‒4:4).

2. Because most institutions of this nature function independent of and apart from the auspices of the local church, which is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).

3. Because of the evident need and desire to equip men and women with grace-oriented doctrine in a specialized and affordable way for particular avenues of ministry that require specific and practical training (Eph. 4:11-16).

WHO ARE WE AND HOW HAS GOD USED DBC & GIBS?

Duluth Bible Church is a Bible-believing, Christ-centered local church located in Duluth, Minnesota, USA. We have been in official existence since 1982 and have steadily experienced both qualitative and quantitative spiritual growth by God’s grace. As we have grown in our understanding of the Word of God, we have enjoyed taking God at His Word and doing ministry, His way. Furthermore, the Lord has graciously allowed us to reach out and teach biblical truths to many others all over the world.

Over the years we have sought to faithfully preach the Word of God verse by verse and book by book. This expository preaching has resulted in the Lord producing a doctrinally strong and discerning body of believers in Christ. The great passion of God’s heart and our pulse at Duluth Bible Church over the years has been to exalt Jesus Christ through the teaching of God’s grace, and then lived out by faith in light of our identification with Him. In addition, we have taken very seriously the Great Commission through the words of our Lord, and then of the apostle Paul:

Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ…

2 Timothy 2:1-2 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Furthermore, we have been strongly convinced by the Scriptures that the local church is to be primarily and integrally involved in the equipping of the saints to do the work of ministry to the edifying of the Body of Christ—both locally and worldwide as the Lord leads us. This has resulted in:

  • concentrated ministry in various forms locally in the Duluth, MN area
  • the establishment of the GIBS since 1992
  • the planting of 3 churches in Minnesota & Wisconsin
  • a world-wide outreach since 1998 via the Grace Family Journal
  • doing missionary work and conducting Bible training institutes for pastors and teachers in various countries since A.D. 2000
    fair evangelism in 4 different states
  • over 1 million downloads on our website
  • Bible Conferences taught in 9 countries (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Myanmar, Zambia, Kenya, India, Peru, Mexico, and Kazakhstan)
    the establishment of our own publishing company —Grace Gospel Press in 2012
  • a Pastors and Missionaries’ Conference every year at DBC for several years which attracts pastors and teachers from around the USA and even other countries
  • vital fellowship and ministry with other local churches of like-precious faith in the USA and beyond, etc.

While we rejoice wherever the Gospel is preached in clarity and truth, God has been very gracious and faithful to us as He desires His Word to go forth more than we do. To God be the glory!

Whether involved with the GIBS in Duluth, with our sister churches, or with Grace Training International Bible Institutes presently in 5 countries (El Salvador, Nicaragua, Zambia, Kenya, and Myanmar), investing in the teaching or training of men and women in our local church and beyond our church, has been a high priority in fulfilling the Great Commission of our Lord.

WHAT ARE OUR OBJECTIVES IN GIBS?

GIBS is very focused with our purposes totally related to ministry for our Lord in and through the local church. They are:

1. Ultimately, the purpose of the G.I.B.S. is designed to glorify God through equipping believers to be faithful servants / teachers of the Gospel of grace through the faithful exposition of His Word for the building up of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:31; Eph. 4:11-13; 2 Tim. 4:2).

2. Ministry-wise, a graduate of G.I.B.S. should be able to:

a. Teach with clarity and scriptural authority. (Titus 2:15)
b. Serve with love and effectiveness in and through his/her local church. (Gal. 5:13; 1 Tim. 3:15)
c. Defend and contend for the faith. (1 Tim. 6:20-21; Jude 3)
d. Be used by God to equip other believers to also teach others the Word of God. (2 Tim. 2:2)
e. Lead with conviction and example. (1 Cor. 11:1)

3. Personally, our focus in G.I.B.S. will be on:

f. Biblical understanding. (2 Tim. 2:15)
g. Personal growth. (2 Peter 3:18)
h. Ministry preparation. (Eph. 4:12-16)

There are no superfluous classes in GIBS as each one is designed with these objectives in view.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

OUR EMPHASIS IN GIBS

1. Sound Bible teaching involving:

verse-by-verse study. We believe every word of the Bible is inspired by God and should be studied with great care in light of its context, its con-tent, and by comparing Scripture with Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

maintaining biblical distinctions. The believer is to be “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), thus noting the many biblical distinctions that will lead to further clarification regarding God’s plan and program for the Church during this age of grace.

strong preaching. We seek to teach biblical truths with conviction and authority (Titus 2:15; Acts 19:8). We value preaching with biblical authority, drawing out relevant principles from the text, and making appropriate everyday applications. The Word of God should be practical and meaningful to each believer!

doctrinal understanding. It is very important to not only know exactly what you believe but why you believe it. Biblical doctrine when grasped is very practical and can be taught with relevance and meaning to all who hear. (1 Tim. 4:6, 13, 16)

the ability to navigate through contemporary theological issues. On a regular basis, we are all faced with modern trends and theological issues that require interaction and discernment. How should we perceive the many current issues of our day? (1 Tim. 1:3)

with the design that everything that is taught to our students can be taught then by our students. We seek to design and teach every class with the intent and capability to have its content and material replicated and transferable to the student’s local church, home Bible study, etc. We believe that what is edifying for our students should be communicated to their students in the opportunities and spheres of influence that God has provided for them. (2 Tim. 2:2)

2. A Clear Gospel.

We uphold the centrality of the Gospel message (1 Cor. 15:1-4), which has not been designed by God to be a message of good news from God to man that you learn once and then depart from to bigger and better things. Rather, the Gospel is an essential foundation and crucial element throughout all your teaching of the Word of God (Col. 1:28). Even a proper understanding of the Christian life is based on the vital truths of the Gospel (Col. 2:6-7; Gal. 2:20).

We also stress a tremendous need for clarity when it comes to the Gospel message, and the only correct response to it—faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 16:31). An inaccurate presentation of the Gospel is unfortunately very common these days everywhere throughout the world (2 Cor. 4:4-7), so there needs to be strong contention for the Gospel’s simplicity and accuracy. We teach from the Scriptures not only how a sinner is saved by the grace of God but also how a sinner is not saved by clarifying and exposing the many unscriptural conditions and misleading clichés of our day (Acts 13:38-39; Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). The Gospel is a powerful message, especially when delivered clearly! (Rom. 1:16-17; 1 Cor. 14:8)

3. Grace Teaching for Godly Christian Living.

Bible teaching should never stop at merely knowing sound doctrine. Clear Bible teaching should include a rich diet of practical Christian life truths and applications for the local church generally, and individuals specifically. We have found three doctrinal truths that need special emphasis when it comes to teaching the Christian life by God’s awesome and amazing grace.

Understanding the three tenses of salvation. We are diligent to correctly distinguish between the justification of the sinner before God (Rom. 3‒5), the progressive sanctification of the saint in time (Rom. 6:1‒8:16), and the final glorification of the believer in eternity (Rom. 8:17-38). This is a crucial truth if a believer is going to rightly divide and accurately teach the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15; Titus 2:11-14; Rom. 13:11-14).

Positional or identification truth. It is imperative for believers to know who they are in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and what it means to have Christ living in them (Col. 1:27). Too many believers lack a proper understanding of their position, possessions, and privileges in Christ. The faith-rest life (Heb. 4) and abiding in Christ (John 15) is anchored in knowing and appropriating by faith these foundational truths (Rom. 6‒8).

True spirituality vs. fleshly counterfeits. The Christian life is never designed to be viewed as a set of rules. Instead, it is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, not a religious performance. It is to be lived in the same way a sinner is justified before God, by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The believer cannot live the Christian life, as God designed it, by his/her own wisdom or strength. It must be by faith in Jesus Christ, who lives in them and through them. Abiding by faith in Christ as our Life, motivated by the love of God, and empowered by the Spirit of God, resulting in serving by the grace of God in the Christian life, is a repeated drumbeat in our teaching.

WHO IS GIBS DESIGNED FOR?

The GIBS is not for everyone. It is for those believers in Christ who have a God-given desire and dedication to study and learn the Word of God, and then minister for our Lord in specific ministries within or through the local church. Sensing the need for adequate and further preparation and training for those whom God is leading towards a ministry in the pastorate, missions, youth ministry, teaching, and evangelism, GIBS has been established.

We do not believe that the GIBS can “manufacture” a pastor, teacher, or evangelist—as only God can gift and enable a believer to serve Him and the Body of Christ in these ways. However, we do believe that a ministry of this nature can be, and has been, used by God to help equip believers in a specialized way and to provide the necessary tools for those whom God has gifted, matured, and led to be used for His glory.

The GIBS is not for glamour-seeking people who want to make a name for themselves, or to merely get a degree to be seen by men or have certain titles and then lose their reward from God (Matt. 6:1, 2, 4, 5, 6). Nor is GIBS for those who want to wear their participation as a badge of their own spirituality to impress others as if they have achieved a certain status. This is not consistent with God’s grace and results in pride instead of humble service to the Lord and others. Instead, GIBS is for the willing believer whose motivation is the love of Christ (2 Cor. 5:14-15), and whose heart’s passion is the communication of God’s truth to precious souls for whom Christ died. It is for those who are then willing to sacrifice their lives by investing them in specialized ministry to further the cause and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, even if they do not exactly know when beginning GIBS how exactly God may want to use him or her in the future (as most students do not know this).

THE ADVANTAGES OF GIBS

When you consider the ministry of GIBS, there are several advantages to this approach to pastoral and teacher training. GIBS is:

1) thoroughly Biblical in its explanations, with applications from a pastoral standpoint.
2) grace-oriented in its doctrinal teaching, starting with the Gospel.
3) taught by pastors and teachers with years of experience.
4) extremely reasonable in its cost for students in USA and Canada, and even free of charge for international students.
5) is accessible to you in your geographical location, without having to move from your home.
6) all teaching is designed to be transferrable and easily taught in your own local church or home Bible study.
7) this method of training as been tried and tested for over 20 years, and is presently being used in several countries of the world.

WHAT OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOU IN GIBS?

We plan, Lord willing, to have all four of the following study options for GIBS students available by September of 2017 to provide grace-oriented Bible teaching and ministry training for those who are desirous of pursuing it. There will be:

1. Totally online independent studies – This would be available for a student, like most online classes in our day, by watching classes via video, filling out the provided handouts, and then taking the required exams online, with some interaction with the GIBS administrator. In this option, students may start a class at any time and move as fast as they are able and willing (though there are time limits and deadlines to finish each class session in order to keep students advancing and completing their courses in a timely way).

2. Online class interactive studies – This would involve an announced class that the enrolled student could participate in with others by watching a class (such as GIBS at DBC or an archived mes-sage or perhaps even via skype), then interacting with other students in class via threaded discus-sions, taking the exams, etc. This differs from #1 as it is taken as a class with others and with online interaction.

3. Long Distance Learning Centers – This involves local church groups which meet every week (or as determined) to watch class videos, discuss them, take exams, etc. To accomplish this, the pastor or a designated leader or facilitator in these settings will need to be personally involved with these students. The leader or facilitator would be the point or contact person for the class, would direct discussions, grade the papers, answer student’s questions, etc.

4. Traditional GIBS – These classes would be held at DBC, with our sister churches watching a live webcast, like we have done over these many years.

THE TIME & COST OF GIBS, AND DEGREES GRANTED

GIBS is divided into four phases designed to be completed successively, taking 7.5 years on-site at DBC, covering 43 courses, at a total cost of $3,100 for US and Canadian students. (Cost is subject to change.)

Phase 1 – 10 courses, costing $600 total, taking 1.5 years to complete on-site at DBC or as fast as you can go online. This phase seeks to establish students in foundation sound doctrine. Upon completion students will receive a Certificate of Applied Biblical Studies.

Phase 2 – 12 courses, costing $750 total, taking 2 years to complete on-site at DBC or as fast as you can go online. This phase seeks to expand on sound doctrine and general biblical knowledge, and intro-duce Bible study methods. Upon completion students will receive an Associate of Applied Biblical Studies degree.

Phase 3 – 11 courses, costing $850 total, taking 2 years to complete on-site at DBC or as fast as you can go online. The emphasis of Phase 3 is upon faithful exegesis of God’s Word and becoming further equipped to serve in one’s local church. Upon completion students will receive a Bachelor of Applied Biblical Studies degree.

Phase 4 – 10 courses, costing $900 total, taking 2 years to complete on-site at DBC or as fast as you can go online. The emphasis of Phase 4 is upon expository preaching, eschatology, and contemporary theological issues. Upon completion students will receive a Master of Applied Biblical Studies degree.

WHAT ARE THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR GIBS?

Traditional GIBS Student at DBC or our Sister Churches in MN & WI

The following are the requirements for those who are eligible to apply for the traditional Phase 1 training of G.I.B.S in Duluth or our sister churches:

1. At least 22 years of age. (If you are younger but sense an inner compulsion and demonstrate some real spiritual maturity, please discuss your desire with our elders).
2. A believer in Christ for at least 2 years.
3. A willingness to be a faithful and teachable student/servant as unto the Lord.
4. A regular attendant of DBC for at least 2 years.

If you are interested in applying for G.I.B.S., make this a matter of diligent prayer, fill out an application, and submit it via email for possible acceptance to: gibs.dbc@gmail.com

If you attend one of our sister churches in MN or WI, you will need to apply and have the approval of your senior pastor as well.

If you attend Duluth Bible Church, you will be contacted to set up an interview to discuss your application for acceptance with at least 2 of our elders.

GIBS Online Students

The following are the requirements for those who are eligible to apply for the Online Phase 1 training in the USA, Canada, or internationally with options #1, #2, or #3 (explained on the previous page).

1. At least 18 years of age.
2. A believer in Christ (you will be required to write out your salvation testimony).
3. A willingness to be a faithful and teachable student as unto the Lord.

If you are interested in applying for G.I.B.S. as a local church group, make this a matter of diligent prayer, fill out the applications as a group, and submit them via email for possible acceptance into GIBS at: gibs.dbc@gmail.com

If you are interested in applying for G.I.B.S. as an individual, make this a matter of diligent prayer, fill out the following application, and submit it via email for possible acceptance into GIBS at:
gibs.dbc@gmail.com

THE LOCAL CHURCH ADVANTAGE

It is our studied conviction from the Scriptures that the local church is God’s primary context and focal point for the equipping of the saints for their work of ministry to our Lord in this present age. And though we are grateful for any Bible college or seminary where the Word of God from a grace-perspective is taught in truth, it is by participating in a Bible-believing, Christ-exalting local church where a believer should be:

  • established in sound doctrine (2 Tim. 4:1-4).
  • equipped for ministry with training, oversight, etc. (Eph. 4:11-13)
  • exercising his or her spiritual gifts and learn the one-anothers of a healthy body-life concept (1 Cor. 12).

The local church is to be the primary context for the believer’s teaching / training for spiritual ministry and the proving ground of an individual’s spirituality, spiritual growth, submission, spiritual giftedness, etc.

The local church advantage is far more than merely physically housing a seminary class in a local church building. It involves reaping the benefits of a real life ministry context under spiritual leadership and oversight with doctrinal and practical preparation for more specialized ministry for our Lord and to His Church. If it does not work in an individual’s life in the local church, do not export it somewhere else! Yet, unfortunately many individual believers do not have access to a doctrinally sound, grace-oriented local church in their area, nor the opportunity to study the Scriptures like offered in GIBS. We understand that and by God’s grace would love to change that in both aspects. Perhaps God will use you to accomplish that very worthy objective. Will you let Him?

IN CONCLUSION

The Lord Jesus Christ observed, “The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few.” The solution? “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38). While each believer in an ambassador for Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:20), some need more equipping and preparation than others. If you sense the leading of God for specialized ministry in your life, perhaps G.I.B.S. is for you!

If you are interested in learning more about GIBS, or wish to apply, further information and an application are available in the GIBS introductory booklet available at: www.duluthbible.org/ministries/gibs/ ■

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  1. This article is adapted from the GIBS introductory booklet, which is available at:  www.duluthbible.org/ministries/gibs/

Dennis Rokser has been the pastor-teacher of the Duluth Bible Church since 1985 and has authored numerous books, booklets, and articles designed to reach the lost and meet the spiritual needs of believers.