Somerset Christian College

Pillar College
Motto	Educate, Inspire, Equip
Type	Private
Established	1908
Chairman	Robert W. Cruver
President	David E. Schroeder
Location	Zarephath, NJ, USA
Campus	Suburban
Colours	Red, black, white
Sports	Intramural
Mascot	Panther
Affiliations	Pillar of Fire
Website	http://www.pillar.edu/

Somerset Christian College, now known as Pillar College (changed in 2013), is a private evangelical Christian college, formerly owned and operated by Pillar of Fire International, a religious denomination. The college was located in the Zarephath section of Franklin Township in Somerset County, New Jersey. Due to the flood caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011, the Zarephath campus buildings have been condemned, and all classes met at Stonecrest Church in Warren, NJ.^[1] The decision was made to leave the condemned Zaraphath site and relocate the main campus and administrative offices to the Newark location. A new extension site was opened in Somerset near the original college in February 2013. Pillar College is the only accredited evangelical college in the state of New Jersey.

History

Somerset Christian College was established in 2001 in the buildings and property formerly used by Zarephath Bible Institute, founded in 1908 and Alma White College, founded in 1921. Like SCC, these institutions were established by The Pillar of Fire Church, now Pillar of Fire International, as training schools for missionaries, preachers, and teachers. While both ZBI and AWC were either completely or mostly dormant for approximately three decades, in 2001, under the sponsorship of Pillar of Fire International, the same parent organization of ZBI and AWC, the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education issued the newly created Somerset Christian College a charter to grant the two-year associate degree in Biblical Studies. In 2006 the college was approved to offer four-year Bachelor of Arts degrees. Somerset Christian College became Pillar College in April, 2013.

Religious ties

The Pillar of Fire International, founded in 1901 by Alma Bridwell White, was initially called the Penticostal Union and developed out of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the American Holiness Movement. The Pillar of Fire Church was noted for appointing the first woman as a bishop in the United States as its founder and was an early advocate for women's equality, especially within the structure of the church. It has also been noted for vigorously promoting anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, nativism, white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan,^[2]^[3] although in 1996 the Pillar of Fire repudiated its former association with the Klan. The college is run in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition.

Accreditation

Somerset Christian College is accredited through the following organizations:

Mission statement

Somerset Christian College educates, inspires, and equips students for excellent scholarship, service, and leadership. Rooted in and committed to Christian faith and love, SCC fosters intellectual, spiritual, and social development among its diverse student population at various instructional sites.

Beliefs

The College holds that there is one Church universal according to the ancient Apostles' Creed. At the same time, it recognizes that the one Church in time and history is made up of many confessing traditions and denominations. The College is committed to an approach to Christian undergraduate education that is based upon the classical Christian faith with its apostolic view of the church as one body with many members. Therefore, the College seeks to educate students of various theological traditions for service within their own denominations and churches. In addition, the College strives to create a climate for study and fellowship which encourages, equips, and enhances spiritual development and ministry.

Standard of Conduct

"Actions such as stealing, the use of slanderous or profane language, occult practices, and sexual sins such as premarital sex, adultery, and homosexual behavior are unacceptable...The use of illegal drugs and other substances that are harmful to the temple of the indwelling Spirit are prohibited."^[4]

Extension sites

In February 2011 the college opened its first extension site in the city of Newark, New Jersey. The center known as “SCCN” (Somerset Christian College Newark) is located on the 7th floor of the Military Park Building in downtown Newark. The center is located one block south of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and four blocks north of the Prudential Center.

Academics

Areas of study offered at the college include:

LEAD

Somerset Christian College offers adult students a non-traditional opportunity to complete a baccalaureate degree for the advancement of their professional careers and for personal achievement. The Life Enhancing Accelerated Degree (LEAD) program is an adult degree completion program that allows individuals to complete their bachelor's degree in as little as 20 months.

Ministry partners

The college's ministry partners include:

Star 99.1, an award winning Contemporary Christian music radio station which serves the New York metropolitan area and broadcasts from Zarephath.
Urban Impact, a camp that helps inner city boys and girls with negative influences to grow academically and spiritually.
Zarephath Christian Church, a congregation which formerly met on the Zarephath campus.
Somerset Christian Academy, formerly Zarephath Academy, formerly Alma Preparatory School and Temple Christian Day School, this K-12 school opened in 1908 and closed in June 2009.
Pillar of Fire International, a mission-based organization with outreach in various parts of the world.
Victory Sports Camps, a summer sports camp.
Autumn Blaze, a seasonal concert that once took place on the Zarephath campus but now has grown in size to require a move of venue.

References

↑ http://www.somerset.edu/
↑ White, Alma (August 1929). "America---the White Man's Heritage". The Good Citizen. Pillar of Fire Church: 3. Where people seek for social equality between the black and white races, they violate the edicts of the Holy Writ and every social and moral code... Segregation is our only hope. Social and political equality would plunge the world into an Inferno as black as the regions of night and as far from the teachings of the New Testament as heaven is from hell. The presumption of the colored people under such conditions would know no bounds...This is white man's country by every law of God and man, and was so determined from the beginning of Creation. Let us not therefore surrender our heritage to the sons of Ham. Perhaps it would be well for white people to take the advice of a great American patriot, Dr. Hiram Wesley Evans and repeal the Fifteenth Amendment. The editor of The Good Citizen would be with him in this.
↑ White, Alma (August 1929). "America---the White Man's Heritage". The Good Citizen. Pillar of Fire Church: 4.
↑ "Somerset Christian College 2011-2012 Catalog" (PDF). Pillar of Fire Church. p. 11. Retrieved 2011-08-15.

External links

Religious Colleges and Schools in New Jersey

Protestant Theological Seminaries	Drew Theological Seminary New Brunswick Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary

Rabbinical Schools	Bais Medrash Toras Chesed Beth Medrash Govoha Mesivta Keser Torah Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Rabbinical College of America Talmudical Academy of Central New Jersey Yeshivas Be'er Yitzchok Yeshiva Gedola Zichron Leyma Yeshiva Toras Chaim Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah

Independent Religious Colleges	Assumption College for Sisters Pillar College

Coordinates: 40°32′13″N 74°34′41″W / 40.537°N 74.578°W / 40.537; -74.578

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