The institution for the training of I-Kiribati pastors to serve the Kiribati Uniting Church (formerly known as the Kiribati Protestant Church) in Kiribati was established in 1900 by the London Missionary Society (LMS) at Rongorongo in Beru. The LMS was originally headquartered at Rongorongo. Over the years, the training institution successfully provided the required numbers of I-Kiribati pastors to serve in different islands.

The period 1900 to 1957 saw important changes taking place in Kiribati. The Colonial Administration headquarters was set up in Bairiki. Betio was made the main port and shipping hub, as well as the main communication centre. The national hospital was built in Bikenibeu. These changes influenced the Church to relocate its headquarters and the training institution from Beru to Tarawa to improve administrative convenience and coordination between the colonial administration and LMS Office. The proposal for relocation was moved and endorsed by the Mission Conference during the 100 anniversary of the Protestant Church held at Morikao, Abaiang, in 1957.

Mobilising the facilities and personnel from Beru to Tarawa took almost two years and construction at the new site started in 1960. The location of the training institution at Tangintebu, was identified in a Spiritually-inspired, almost miraculous, manner by the then Principal, Reverend Emlyn Jones. In local folklore, Tangintebu, which literally means the sound of a conch shell, was the place where the Tarawa ‘warrior’ spirits were gathered by the sounding of a conch shell to call their traditional gods so they could prepare for war and defend the island from intruders. With the landing of Rev. Jones and her convoy at Tangintebu in 1960, the spiritual warriors of darkness were defenceless and soundly defeated/conquered, and still are up to this day!

Work on the site completed in 1961 and Tangintebu Colllege was officially opened on 28 October by MK Ruturu Tebetaio with Rev Jones its first Principal. Tangintebu is now a place where warriors of Christ are trained and sent out to fight for the light of Christ in different mission fields, and no longer an adode for dart spirits. The first graduation of TThC took place in 1963.

TThC continues the work pioneered by the Rongorongo training institution, but in a more dynamically academic and contemporary manner. The College offered its first recognized Diploma in Theology and Certificate in Theology in 1983. TThC introduced the full programme for Diploma-level students where mini-thesis writing was incorporated into the syllabus. For the first time in the history of TThC, the students’ Thesis Projects in 1985 were externally marked by recognised scholars and universities in and outside Kiribati.

The college has managed to start the BD programme in 2004 with only three students, two female pastor students and one male pastor student. This first and only class of 2008 was graduated with BD. The programme discontinued due to the unavailability

of at least one lecturer holding a doctorate qualification, since Dr. Kambati resigned. The BD programme commenced again in 2020 after 13 years break.