Dear BGU Community,

Happy New Year from the Academic Dean’s office at BGU! We have so much to be thankful for as we look back on 2021. We had a record number of students registered for courses in our five graduate degree programs last year, and our students persevered through many extraordinary circumstances in order to complete their course work. We are so proud of BGU’s student body for the leaders they are and for the amazing research and transformational interventions that they initiated last year. And, of course, the incredible work of the students would not have been possible without the strong support and guidance from our world class faculty, staff, and contractors at BGU. Our Board of Directors has been very engaged and instrumental in shaping the strategies that have led to this season of growth. We are so appreciative of their visionary leadership and unwavering support of the mission. Furthermore, BGU’s Board of Regents added new members last year, and they’re working hard together on projects aimed at increasing BGU’s global presence and effectiveness at training leaders across cultures. BGU’s Alumni have also been highly engaged this past year with gathering together virtually and in person, recruiting new students, giving generously, and advocating for BGU in countless ways. It really has been a special year at BGU, even in the midst of challenging circumstances globally.

While each stakeholder at BGU has contributed to so many positive outcomes, the glory for everything that happens at BGU belongs to God. We continue to keep Christ at the center of everything that we do at BGU. We launched new courses in Spanish and Korean languages in 2021, and that was only possible through relationships and collaboration empowered by the Holy Spirit. We set the table for learning to happen through the urban immersion in Philadelphia, a virtual urban immersion that highlighted eight cities, and through all of BGU’s diverse offerings of online courses. The Lord then orchestrated transformation in the lives of the students and with people in the places where they lead through those courses.

As BGU is right at the forefront of equipping leaders for the unique times that we are living in, we are very conscious of our frailty and dependence on the Lord and on the power of His Spirit as He could say in the old times: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). Could you please continue to PRAY for BGU and her various stakeholders so that we can together work under the strong leadership of the Holy Spirit, as we march on into 2022?

Similarly, we are trusting the Lord to continue to empower each of you in your specific contexts and circumstances for the new adventures that He will have come our way in this New Year.

Again, thank you so much for being a part of the BGU family. Happy New Year filled with divine hope!

In Christ,

Dr. Bryan McCabe, Academic Dean

Dr. Martine Audéoud, Associate Academic Dean