My wish is for every young person in the Church of God—and many who are not-so-young—to attend ABC. But most do not. Perhaps the reasons for not making the decision to attend ABC is because of misconceptions and misunderstandings about what Ambassador is, and what attending is like. It also seems that many elders and even pastors in UCG misunderstand the nature and goals of ABC.

Thus, rather than guessing at why many do not come to ABC, I want to make a case for why young adults should! To clear up possible misunderstandings, the faculty will write a series of descriptions of the classes we teach in the United News and the MMS eNews. We will also have some of our graduates write about what ABC has meant to them and how it has positively affected their lives.

To start, though, let me talk about what Ambassador Bible College strives to be.

Our motto is simply, “Teaching the Truth,” and that summarizes what we do. ABC is an academic course of study that in one academic year (nine months) examines and covers the entirety of the Bible. This is based on the firm belief that the Holy Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God. While many different men put pen to ink, it was Almighty God who inspired and directed the writing of more than 40 authors. A thorough study over one academic year shows clearly the unity of the Bible. It is interconnected, with different parts of it supporting and reinforcing each other.

Future articles in this series will discuss how specific classes explore and explain sections of Scripture. Please consider for now that God’s Word, as Christ explicitly said, is truth. He said the truth will make a person free. Furthermore, He said that the words He spoke “are spirit and they are life.” Certainly, studying those words is worthy of our time and effort.

While it is good for a young person to study and train to earn a living; God’s Word shows a person how to live. That was the intent of Ambassador College when it was founded more than 70 years ago, and it is the intent of ABC still today. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy that a study of the scriptures would make a person “thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

In the world today, truth is doubted, questioned and despised. But at ABC, the truth of God’s Word is held in high regard. Study of it is a noble pursuit, and living by it is a high calling. College degrees are good—I have five of them myself!—but a firm foundation of understanding the truth of God’s Word is essential to properly appreciating and implementing all other knowledge. Many young adults entering ABC have told us that they came because they knew what they believed, but they wanted to better understand why. They wanted to learn how to explain what they believed through God’s Word to others. At ABC, we strive to help students do exactly that.

I would love to have every young adult in the Church of God join us at ABC.