Our History

Latvian Biblical Centre (former Riga International Bible Institute, RIBI) was founded on February 6, 1992 as a ministry of the Christian Mission "Atmoda" ("Awakening"). The Institute's founder and first director was Pastor Gennady Zavalij.
 
From 1996 the Director of RIBI was the pastor of Bethany Russian Baptist Church, Vladimir Andrijec. Under his leadership the Institute began training the first group of Latvian-speaking students. The experiment proved very successful and from then until now there have been two language groups studying side by side – Russian-speaking and Latvian. On the initiative of Pastor Andrijec two branches were opened in Tukums and Cesis.
 
In 2004 Vladimir Andrijec was succeeded by interregnum director William P. Martin, who had previously been responsible for RIBI academic part. William and his wife Cindy Martin were missionaries who have served in Latvia for more than 10 years.
 
In 2008 RIBI acquired as its new Director Dr Vitali Petrenko. He had completed his doctoral studies at Durham University in the UK and returned to Latvia in 2006 together with his wife Dr Ester Petrenko, who now occupies the post of Academic Dean. Under their leadership RIBI continued to develop and expand through introduction of different programs. They continued the policy of having RIBI extensions in different cities of Latvia. At different times we had our extensions in Daugavpils, Liepaja and Talsi. In this way the RIBI programs were made available to people who live in different parts of Latvia. This was further enhanced by the introduction of Distance Learning program which was led by Andrejs Prieditis, who pioneered and introduced our programs into prisons and different churches in Latvia in a creative way and extending learning opportunities even beyond the boundaries of Latvia.
 
The year 2011 became a significant year because RIBI’s name was changed into Latvian Biblical Centre.
 
This year also proved to be very important in the life of LBC. We received a series of significant promptings from God concerning the building next to Salvation Temple on Kraslavas street in Riga. After some research we realized that this building housed William Fetler’s Bible and Missionary school from 1924-1935. We received a vision from the Lord regarding this building and started in faith the process of renovation of this building in 2013. The Lord had been faithful to us and to His word and we finished the whole project in the autumn of 2017. We rejoiced and continue to rejoice in God’s goodness.

The most recent additions to the LBC programmes were the launch of the School of Preachers in March 2018. The "Christianity, Work and Society" programme, which started in September 2019 and thanks to our partnership with North-West University in South Africa, we started offering higher education programmes on 25 November 2020.
The history goes on…

We are always looking for the best employees, talented teachers, understanding partners and inquisitive students.
Join us and write history together with us!