ITRT is the fruit of the vision of Abins Varghese. He had his preliminary theological education in Delhi, Bachelor of Theology (B.Th) from Delhi Theological College. After B.Th he pursued his Bachelor of Divinity (B.D), from Immanuel Baptist Theological Seminary Sharpsburg, Georgia (Extension in New Delhi, India). God helped him to do his Master of Theology in Mission (M.Th) from ACTS Academy Higher Education at Bangalore. After a long 9 years of seminary life, with a great burden, he came out for work. He saw many theological students complete training with much confidence and others and revert with equal frustration and ambiguity.  He felt that after graduation, students become nervous and bewildered to take steps in ministry activities. Their training did not enable them to locate their place in the ministry. Subsequently, they just get into any place or position for which they are not called or fit for. So remembering the prayers of his parents and their dedication toward ministry, he was motivated to establish ITRT in 2012 with the aim is to inspire one another for the work in a multi-cultural, religiously pluralistic, and socially diverse environment with new age communication tools and technology.

 

                       We are living in a critical time where many theological colleges are not doing what they should be doing, and theological education has become expensive. Most of the theological colleges and seminaries have  become business hubs for private investors. They are simply promising us to provide big infrastructures and high tech modern tech along with high-quality education materials and human resources, but in reality, most of the time, there will be less than 50% of what they offered. Due to this, the number of theologians in our country is decreasing. Another main reason is that we are ashamed or embarrassed to admit that we are theologians to the secular world. Because these people do not know what it means to be a  theologian, they think we become theologians because we are not qualified to get any other secular jobs or we are simply wasting our time being lazy. In reality, they need to understand that theological studies are not as easy as they compare to our secular education institutes. Theologians have to complete  around 50 to 60 subjects in 3 years to complete a bachelor's degree where the subjects include both secular and biblical, and all subjects are new to them. Now, in secular institutes, for a bachelor's degree, they need to complete at least 48 subjects in 4 years where the subjects are the continuation of their secular higher secondary syllabus. So, comparing to secular studies, theological studies are harder. The head of ITRT decided to create a Theological Studies program where education is available  in high quality at low cost.

 

                     It's a challenge to stand alone and firm in these situations at the current time. It is hard to stand alone and go with the passion we desire, as it is so easy to go with the crowd. We understand that if we want to make a difference, standing alone doesn't help, so we  stand together with the right group of people and make a difference. You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight. 

 

If the Lord directs you to, don’t hesitate to come and join us. I warmly welcome you to feel the difference, and we inspire you to fly high.

                                                                                                                     

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