Portland Bible College (PBC) is a four-year

Bible college A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological ed ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, United States that offers

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

and church ministry degrees. It was founded in 1967 and is associated with Mannahouse Church, which is associated with Ministers Fellowship International. The campus is adjacent to Mannahouse Church on

Rocky Butte Rocky Butte (previously known as Mowich Illahee and Wiberg Butte) is an extinct cinder cone butte in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is also part of the Boring Lava Field, a group of volcanic vents and lava flows throughout Oregon and Wash ...

in northeast Portland.

Accreditation

Portland Bible College has degree granting status from the State of Oregon, the State of Washington and the State of California. This means PBC is

unaccredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

and as such cannot be guaranteed by either the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Departmen ...

or the

Council for Higher Education Accreditation The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order ...

to provide quality education. However, PBC has taken positive steps to ensure strong academic standards by holding membership with the Academic Council for Educational Accountability as well as securing several articulation agreements with other accredited seminaries, colleges and universities. In Oregon, The Higher Education Coordinating Commission lists PBC in its Institutions and Programs Approved for Veterans Affairs. As for Washington, the

Washington Student Achievement Council The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) is the Washington State Government agency overseeing higher education in the state of Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capit ...

has determined that Portland Bible College qualifies for religious exempt status from the Degree-Granting Institutions Act. The Council makes no evaluation of the administration, faculty, business practices, financial condition or quality of the offerings by PBC. Any person desiring information about the requirements of the act or the applicability of those requirements to the institution may contact the council via email at [email protected]. PBC is listed in the Colleges and Institutions page of the WSAC. The Degree-Granting Institutions Act is a 1986 law requiring all educational institutions in Washington state to be properly accredited. However, exemptions to the law exist in the form of either waivers or exemption. Neither are permanent and can be revoked. The law states that so long as the school in question only offers "degree program(s) in title and abbreviation, curriculum content, and objectives reflect the strictly religious nature of the institution" (and fulfills other criteria) is exempt. PBC does appear to fulfill this criteria but only offers religious, rather than academic degrees in Washington. In California, PBC was issued a verification of exemption pursuant to the California Education Code CEC § 94874.7 as registered with the California Bureau for Private Postsecnodary Education.

Academics

The college's president, Pastor Marc Estes, states that the college is "committed to training and equipping leaders to strengthen local churches" and "offers training in Pastoral Leadership, Worship & Creative Arts,

Pastoral Counseling Pastoral counseling is a branch of counseling in which psychologically trained ministers, rabbis, priests, imams, and other persons provide therapy services. Pastoral counselors often integrate modern psychological thought and method with traditio ...

, and

Youth Ministry Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry of faith groups or other religious organizations, usually from ages 12 to 30, whose mission is to involve and engage with young people who attend ...

along with a

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

Program designed for university transfer." The college awards six different degrees with multiple emphasis, including: Associate of Theology, Associate of Church Music, Associate of Christian Humanities, Bachelor of Church Music, Bachelor of Theology. Over 35 people work as faculty or staff at the college. The School of Worship and the associated degrees in

Church Music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The ...

seek to provide a "broad knowledge of music, rhythm instruments and worship leading." According to the college's webpage, for over 40 years PBC has had a consistently high rate of international students. International students make up around "twenty percent of the PBC student body" and play "a strong role in defining the core of PBC." The college has formal transfer agreements with Portland State University, Warner Pacific College, Concordia University, Northwest Christian College and Pittsburg State University (Kansas). On a discretionary basis, the University of California (Berkeley), Arizona State University, Boise State University, Seattle Pacific University and Baylor University have accepted credits earned at the college. George Fox University, Western Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Regent University, Liberty University, Azusa Pacific University and Multnomah University have honored the college’s degrees on a discretionary basis.

Athletics

Portland Bible College Basketball Program is part of the National Christian Collegiate Athletics Association (NCCAA) and the Pacific Coast Athletics Conference (PCAC) and competes with NCAA, NAIA, and NCCAA institutions. It has had "12 All-Conference players and five All-American award winners while qualifying for the national tournament five of past six seasons." In November of 2022, they lost a men's basketball game to the Portland State Vikings after allowing the first 38 points of the game.

References

External links

www.portlandbiblecollege.org
{{authority control 1967 establishments in Oregon Bible colleges Educational institutions established in 1967 Madison South, Portland, Oregon Unaccredited Christian universities and colleges in the United States Universities and colleges in Portland, Oregon