Hornsby Anglicans have a new plan for making Moore College courses more accessible to busy mums and the isolated elderly " deliver lessons in the language of their heart.
The Rev Hooi Wan Cheng, the minister for Hornsby's Mandarin Congregation says an initiative to offer Preliminary Theological Certificate (PTC) courses in Mandarin and Cantonese shows early signs of success.
"So far we've got four enrolled and a few more inquiries to follow up," Mr Cheng says.
"But I expect a lot more people to simply sit in but not do the exam. We've got 12 to 15 people who would like to do it that way."
The plan to offer Chinese language versions of the PTC has attracted the support of a significant number of mothers and elderly people, even though the course will be run on an evening.
Mr Cheng says lecturing in a person's first language makes all the difference.
"It's the language that makes it much easier for them to grab and understand ideas," he says.
"It makes it much easier to touch their heart rather than just their brain."
Moore College's Director of External Studies, the Rev Bill Salier, says one of the biggest challenges the PTC faces is accommodating the calls for new languages.
"Every six or seven weeks we get a call from someone saying, ‘Can we do it here?’," he says.
"We generally get people in those other countries to translate and then check it at our end, but it's a big job nonetheless."
The increasing pressure to develop and expand the PTC is behind the college's decision to appoint a full-time director for external studies.
Moore College describes the appointment as "imminent'.
"We’re looking at how to present a better product, with more resources to help people to do it," says Mr Salier, but he is quick to emphasise that markets like Hornsby are a higher priority.
"The first thing that needs to be done is to get both the PTC and evening lectures used more widely in Sydney. That will be our first port of call, and we’ll respond to overseas calls after that."
That being said, Moore College has successfully partnered with overseas churches and universities to offer the PTC in several key languages.
"For instance, in India it’s been translated into seven different dialects. There’s a team there doing it, and we then get people connected with the college to oversee it. There's also a full translation in Spanish which is also accredited as part of a university system in Florida," Mr Salier notes.
Back in Hornsby, Mr Cheng confirms the need for new locally based adaptations of the course.
The Mandarin and Cantonese variants look likely to build bridges across denominational barriers.
"The interest has been building for quite awhile. It’s not only our church doing it but six other Chinese churches as well," he says.
"We’ve advertised in the local Chinese paper and we’re expecting a number of people to be coming from other churches."
Hornsby's Chinese language PTC courses begin on April 4th.
Interested people can ring the church office on 02-9482 9116.
