Announcement from Rev Dr Tim Patrick
Principal, Bible College SA
27 January 2026
In October last year, I informed the Bible College SA Board that my wife Cat and I had reached the conclusion that the time has now come for me to finish up as the Principal of the College after having had the enormous privilege of serving in this role for the past twelve years. This is obviously a huge decision fed by lots of thought and prayer, but we do feel it is the right one.
When I arrived in 2014, Bible College SA was ready for some fresh energy, organisation, and direction, and, under God, we have seen a lot of very positive things happen since then.
First of all, we’ve had some simply excellent students come to study with us, graduate from us, and then go on to serve the Lord in all kinds of faithful and exciting ways. This is our core business, and it’s been an incredible honour to be involved in the spiritual, theological, and ministry formation of so many wonderful men and women of God, and indeed just a blessing to have been able to know them and spend so much time with them. I am truly thankful when I look at all of the ways that the graduates of my time are now faithfully serving Jesus. Praise God for this fruit of the College’s ministry, and I trust he will use our graduates to continue blessing our city, state, and the wider world for decades to come.
In my time we’ve also seen almost the entire staff team turn over, with God giving us some exceptional new faculty members and a magnificent wider staff body. Not only are they all high calibre in their different work areas, they’re also deeply faithful and pastoral, and in lots of ways our team gels together like a family. It’s been a huge honour and a real pleasure to work with them.
Our growing group of partners has been a great blessing too; individuals, families, churches, and other ministry organisations. I have just loved getting to know so many believers from across Adelaide and further afield who are so deeply committed to the work of the College, and so many church and ministry leaders around our city who strive so passionately in their different contexts for our common cause of Christ. That’s been a real gift to me.
Of course, the last twelve years has also taken us through some monumental events, including the pandemic and the College’s centenary celebrations—both so significant and memorable, even if for very different reasons.
There are still many challenges facing the College—both the external headwinds that are pervasive across our sector, as well as some important internal matters that need further attention. We are already working hard and creatively on all of these, and there are a number of significant changes for the College coming up. Now is actually an exiting time to be engaged with the College and it will be fantastic to see the changes and developments over the months and years ahead.
This season of significant change for the College is actually one of the factors that led Cat and me to conclude that now is a good time for fresh leadership. I have overseen the development and execution of a full ten year strategic plan in my time, and as we move into the next strategic cycle, it makes sense for someone new to take on the leadership of the College, bringing a freshness and a different set of experiences to its next chapter, just as I hope to go on and continue serving the Lord by bringing my own particular skills and experience to bear freshly in another ministry setting.
The College Board—a Board that has only been strengthening in recent times—is already well into preparing its recruitment process, with the public phase of the search for a new principal set to begin in February. I will finish up on the 1st of May, and if my successor isn’t in place by then, then Rev Dr Mike Roe, who currently serves as my excellent Vice Principal, will take on the role of Acting Principal in the interim. And once I finish up, I do intend to stay well connected to the College, continuing as a strong advocate and partner, and possibly even coming back to help out from time to time if that would be useful.
It is a big thing to be moving on after so long, but of course we remember that the true head of the College is not changing at all. Jesus has been overseeing Bible College SA for all of its 101 years and he continues to be the one the College will be following going forward. The College has always existed to see his name exalted, his message spread, his church built up, his people discipled, his plans extended, and none of that is changing.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says –
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens
That includes a time to stay and a time to move on. But of course there is no time when Jesus isn’t reigning supreme over all things, including over our College!
As I transition out of this role, I really want to say thank you so much to everyone who has made my time as Principal such a blessing. Our incredible students and graduates. The truly excellent staff team. The dedicated and supportive Board. The leaders and people of the churches and ministries of South Australia. And our wonderful, gospel-hearted network of partners. Ultimately, the College is a community, a wonderful community, and I do thank God for the gift it has been for me to be embedded in this community for so long. Serving at Bible College SA has been incredibly rich, and indeed I can say, one of the great blessings of my life. There is a lot that I will miss about the College and my place in it.
Thank you for all of your backing, investment, encouragement, fun, hard work, and of course thank you for your prayers. Please do pray for the College in this time of change, that God would take it from strength to strength.
There will be a formal decommissioning event on the afternoon of Saturday 23 May and I really hope many of you will be able to attend. More details of that will come in due course. Otherwise, I’ll look forward to seeing you at another Bible College SA gathering sometime before too long.
With every good blessing to you all in the name of Jesus our King.
