Lives Well-Lived

GLOBAL VOICES

Jim and Beth Tebbe

College Church missionaries Jim and Beth Tebbe retired in November of last year. Jim sat down with the board of missions, to talk about his and Beth's journey in serving God.

Becoming College Church missionaries is a reason for celebration. Being married for 25 years is also worth celebrating. For Jim and Beth Tebbe, those two celebrations converged when, in 1997, they celebrated their silver anniversary and were interviewed by the Board of Missions over two days. Both their marriage and career missionary service have flourished.

The Tebbes began serving as missionaries with College Church when Jim was executive director of InterServe, from there, they transitioned to InterVarsity and eventually to leadership at Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan.

At the end of February, we celebrated God’s faithfulness to the Tebbes as they retired from their most recent assignment at Forman. Jim recalled some special memories of College Church coming alongside them in two key short-term trips.

Jim and Beth served with InterVarsity from 2002-2010, where Jim directed three Urbana student missions conferences. In 2015, College Church sent a team to help at the conference. That team was made up of former missionaries, educators, a lawyer and a nurse.

“At Urbana,” recalled Jim, “we introduced a new way to do Bible study, and students attended training on how to hold evangelistic Bible studies on their campuses. Also, some students had brought non-Christian friends to Urbana, and in the evangelistic session, some 450 people stood to make a commitment to receive Christ.”

This was the beginning of a new wave of Bible studies on campuses all over the country geared for outreach. At Jim's last Urbana in 2009, around 4,800 students made commitments to lead evangelistic Bible studies.

When Jim and Beth left InterVarsity for Forman Christian College, it was like going home for Jim. “I was born and raised in Pakistan,” Jim explains. “But when Beth and I went out as missionaries, we didn’t really know what we were doing. People asked what they could pray for. I told them to pray for us to not be distracted from Muslim ministry and that it was God who brought us to Forman.”

Jim became rector of the college in 2012 and under his leadership, the student enrollment grew by more than 50% to 8,000. The campus has had many building programs for academics and academic support. They are moving toward accreditation in American educational standards.

On the Friends of Forman website, you'll find an apt description of the college that it provides "an environment where Christians and Muslims are allowed to live and study side-by-side, many for the first time." In a country where Christians are less than two percent of the population and are often mistreated by neighbors and employers, Forman Christian College provides scholarships to 80-85% of the Christian students. And Jim is quick to thank College Church for its faithful support toward the scholarship fund for these students.

In 2015, Brad Bailey, chair of the board of missions, was part of a College Church short-term team of five to Pakistan. The team worked and helped with one of the campus building projects. Jim pointed out that the team worked alongside people who were poor and without status in Pakistan. The team's ministry was life-changing for them, and it went well beyond the actual physical work they performed. “Those same people that the STAMP team worked with we are working with still today,” says Jim. “The boys in their teens and 20s—the best they can do is the sweeping job. We are reaching out to them and developing mercy health centers.”

In November 2018, Asia Bibi, a follower of Christ, was finally released from prison after false accusations of blasphemy (Pakistan continues to violate human rights with its arcane blasphemy laws.) When Beth and her housekeeper heard the news, they sat side by side and wept as they thanked God for her release.

In 2019 Jim was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, or Star of Excellence, award from Pakistani president Arif Alvi. This is similar to the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. At the time of the award, Jim said it was really an award for the entire Forman Christian College community.

Jim describes his position as rector of the college as "the hardest and most rewarding" job he has had, but throughout the hard times and the good times, Jim and Beth have been steadfast in serving, and retirement won't slow them down as they look forward to serving College Church.