Above: Canon Michael Green, speaker; Mary Browse, one of our graduates; and Dr Steve Brady, College Principal.
“To all of the graduates, remember, this is an incredibly exciting time to be alive! May the Lord equip you to make new disciples, and as the Lord said to Joshua: ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’ (Joshua 1:9) If that’s not good news, I don’t know what is!”
At the Moorlands Graduation Service on Friday 21 October in Christchurch Priory, theologian and apologist Canon Michael Green shared these words with the graduates and their guests, as we celebrated our students’ successes in Christchurch Priory.
The class of 2016 included just over 60 BA and MA students. The BA students spanned over two centres this year, from both the Moorlands Christchurch Campus and Moorlands South West. The Moorlands South West Regional Centre was set up a few years ago; this was the first year we had the joy of seeing students from there graduate. This will too be the case for our students at the Moorlands Midlands Regional Centre who will graduate for the first time in 2017.
Each year, Moorlands presents an outstanding student with the Academic Prize to commend them for their efforts. Lydia Hartwell, who graduated with a BA First Class Honours, won the prize this year.
When discussing the achievement, Lydia said, “This year has been a particularly challenging one for me, so to graduate, let alone achieve this award, firmly proves to me God’s incredible grace and faithfulness in helping me to persevere.”
Above: First Class Honours student and Academic Prize winner, Lydia Hartwell, who is now doing an internship at Gold Hill Baptist Church in Buckinghamshire.
It was a pleasure and privilege to have Canon Michael Green with us at this year’s service. He addressed the graduates and led us through a five-point talk which focused on how to train others and transform lives in the working world. Michael focused on encouraging the graduates to have a healthy Christian lifestyle; to be strong apologists; to stand in the minority for Jesus; to nurture new believers; and he ended by encouraging us to be courageous for God.
The service was a fitting farewell to our graduates and it was fantastic to celebrate all of their efforts. We thank the staff who made this day possible and the students for all their hard work.
Above: The class of 2016.
