Burridge hosts a live webcast on Thursday evenings where anyone in the world can watch and listen. The topics range from theology to the everyday challenges that Christians face in the world. Sixteenth century Geneva became a place and symbol of those moved to test things by comparing them with the Scriptures. Men like John Calvin and others settled there and re-formed doctrine and life around the standards laid out in God’s Word.

Modern day ‘Genevans’ do not have to travel to this distant city to work together learning the lessons of the Reformed Christian Faith. The Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies is available anywhere touched by the Internet.

In the early 1990s a number of people who wanted to learn more about God’s Word approached PCA Pastor Bob Burridge to see if he would teach a seminary level theology course for laymen and for those who could not move to attend seminary.

Burridge met with them one night each week working through the Westminster Confession of Faith using the commentary by A. A. Hodge. The class started to grow with people from other churches joining in. Some local pastors also joined the classes to further their theological education.

By the time this first series of classes concluded many of the students wanted to go through the whole study again. Burridge started printing his own notes and study guides in the form of a syllabus. Each time the course was taught, more people joined and his notes expanded.

Some of the past students of the Genevan Institute have gone on to become ordained officers and writers of Christian books. One pastor left his denomination as a result of his Institute studies to join a Reformed denomination. Another joined a Reformed agency and is now working with it full time.

Today, all these studies and more are published and available for free on the Genevan Institute’s website along with a full commentary on the Shorter Catechism. Soon a new study guide on Romans will be added to the site. The extensive and growing library of articles and studies about the Reformed faith offer helpful information for those who desire to see what God’s Word has to say about current and historical issues. Some of the Institute’s definitions of theological words are quoted on Wikipedia and Theopedia.

Burridge hosts a live webcast on Thursday evenings where anyone in the world can watch and listen. The topics range from theology to the everyday challenges that Christians face in the world. In the past few months the webcasts have covered topics like the authority of Scripture, parenting, marriage, how to keep the Sabbath Day, the limits and duties of governments, how to reason with unbelievers, the meaning of love, using translations of the Bible, and God’s infinite nature.

The webcast is not a lecture; it is an interactive classroom atmosphere where visitors can ask questions and add their own thoughts and comments. The webcast is accessible from the Institute’s website on Thursdays from 9 – 10 PM (Eastern Time).

The Genevan Institute’s online ministry started before the World Wide Web was born. It began with a bulletin-board program written by Burridge, and run on his home computer over a phone line. When the Internet came along this outreach expanded to the web. The Genevan Institute celebrated its 15th anniversary of online discussions on November 6, 2011. It is now looking into ways to improve and expand that outreach.

Since its new format went online in November 2010, almost 15,000 different users have visited the Institute to use its materials. Many visitors return for more study after their first visit. The Institute’s materials have gone into over 160 countries. Visitors have viewed nearly 51,000 lessons and pages of information. This ministry has been able to provide teachings in countries such as Pakistan, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea.

The Genevan Institute offers all of these resources as a ministry, with no charges for its services and products. Its intent is to continue to offer this ministry to a worldwide audience that desires to learn what the Bible says.

To access the The Genevan Institute studies, to be placed on it weekly e-mail list, or to support this ministry, go to here. Follow the tweets from the Institute at @Genevan_Inst.