In traditional theological education and training, students come from many places to one college or campus. This takes them out of their environment and places them in an artificial academic environment, often unrelated to real life.

In the VBI system, theological education and training travels through the internet to multiple church based training contexts. The student remains in their context in the local church. Theological content is therefore applied and contextualized.

Many colleges try hard to provide local church contexts to their students. There is also much to be said for the dynamics of seat time in the class room. It is our opinion that despite these advantages, they cannot outweigh the benefits of a system where quality education is made available to multiple church based training contexts. Our cohort system, with its real time online classes (webinars) and forum interaction, combined with mentoring in the local church, provides a unique balance of traditional and local church education.

The church base element takes place through our system of Partner Churches. For full details, use the help tab on Partner Churches, or visit the Wiki.