OUR HISTORY
For more than 40 years, RHEMA Bible Training Center has offered some of the best ministry training available. Established in 1974 as a result of a divine mandate to Kenneth E. Hagin, Rhema has always focused on training people from all walks of life to be effective labourers in the spiritual harvest fields of the world.
OVER 80,000 GRADUATES
50+ COUNTRIES
250+ CAMPUSES
Under the direction of Kenneth W. Hagin, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA opened its doors with a charter class of 58 students.
“Many times through the years,” Brother Kenneth E. Hagin said, “when I left a seminar where I had been teaching on faith, I’d cry all the way back to my hotel room. ‘Oh God,’ I’d say, ‘the world ought to hear this message. It’s not my message—it’s the Word of God. We’ve got to get it out somehow!’ It seemed like it was fire burning inside of me. I knew we had to get this message out, but I didn’t know how we were going to do it. But when the Lord led me to begin a training center, God’s plan became clear.”
RHEMA Bible Training Center’s purpose has been clear from the start. But it was dramatically emphasized in a prophecy given through Brother Hagin during the 1979 graduation ceremony. Click here to read the entire prophecy.
1980
In 1978, Brother Kenneth E. Hagin had said that a day would come when there would be RHEMA Bible Training Centers in different countries around the world. Then in 1980, his son, Pastor Kenneth W. Hagin preached a message about opening RHEMA Bible Training Center campuses internationally. From that time, RHEMA campuses began and continue to open across the globe. There are currently over 250 campuses in over 50 countries.
1988
Reverends Matthew and Kristin Buckley are 1987 and 1988 graduates of RHEMA Bible Training College USA. They met at RHEMA and were married in 1988. Pastor Matt served in Southern Africa with an evangelist for five months from April 1988 during their engagement and they returned to Botswana together in 1989. The Buckleys have been in Africa since that time, and in 1991, they made Francistown their home. With a deep passion to teach, train and equip African leaders, the Buckleys founded Light of the World Ministries, which includes Light of the World Church (with branches in Botswana and Zambia), Light of the World Preschool Academy and a Bible Training Center.
RHEMA Bible Training Center Botswana opened its first campus on 18 January 2021 in the city of Francistown.