Welcome to Bethel College

In 2004 Bethel Temple church felt that it was important for them to establish a Christian college for the purpose of training pastors to be successful within the large, urban church context and for equipping missionaries to aggressively evangelize the world. The church had previously chartered a training center, Bethel Bible Institute, for assisting students in the Assemblies of God credentialing process, but the church saw the need of a four-year college that could award associates and bachelor’s degrees in pastoral, worship, and mission ministries. A distinctive feature of Bethel College is its intercultural characteristic which can be detected in both its student body and faculty. This characteristic is also a distinguishing aspect of the school’s founding church, Bethel Temple. In 2005, Bethel College was incorporated in the, Commonwealth of Virginia as a nonprofit corporation (501(c)(3)) and was authorized to operate as an in-state, nonprofit college. In February 2009 America's premier biblical accreditation agency, The Association of Biblical Higher Education, granted Bethel College a new level of accreditation, Candidacy Status, enabling students to receive federally subsidized grants and loans.

From its inception as an institution, to its current status as a private four-year college, the school's goal has been the development of students within a comprehensive academic learning center as part of a successful church ministry. From its very foundation the school’s mission has been to prepare students spiritually, practically, and academically for dynamic professional and lay ministry endeavors. And now with the achievement of the Candidacy Status of accreditation, Bethel College possesses even more advantages: