Alumni Profile: Dr. Sukhwant Singh Bhatia

On the day Sukhwant Singh Bhatia removed his turban, cut his hair, and was baptized, his mother screamed, and his gun-wielding father threatened to shoot him. But eventually, his family accepted him, his mother believed, and Sukhwant came to DTS to earn his ThM (1991)—the first Sikh convert to Christianity to study at the seminary.

While pursuing his studies, he said, “I made a commitment to contribute to the spread of the Word of God by making it understandable to the north Indians.”

In 2001, Sukhwant earned his PhD from the University of North Texas under the joint doctoral program with DTS. And today Dr. Sukhwant Bhatia is the founder of Seek Partners Int’l (SPI) and the North India Institute of Theological Studies. He is also consultant and chief editor for Biblica’s Hindi Study Bible project and Punjabi Standard Bible Project of the Asia Bible Society.  He said, “I am in the ministry not because I fear that God’s work won’t be done—but because I fear that if I were not involved, it would be done without me.”