Vision of the Seminary

Catalog

Picture of Bible World culture is evolving rapidly. Indeed, many agree that even the rate of change is changing. These shifts mean that institutions of all kinds—business, government, church, and education—either adapt purposefully or risk obsolescence. A snapshot of our contemporary culture reveals these realities:

People around the world and in America—including some Christians—increasingly do not believe in an ultimate truth.
Failures of personal and moral integrity among pastors and Christian leaders are savagely damaging church communities.
Cultural and ethnic diversity often result in divisions and strife rather than reconciliation and mutual respect.
Leadership effectiveness is more difficult than ever to achieve.

Churches and Christian ministry agencies must therefore respond meaningfully to these realities: exponential change, capitulation to the relativity of truth, personal and spiritual brokenness, racial and ethnic barriers, and multiple demands for excellence in leadership.

At Bethel Seminary, we feel keenly the effects of these larger movements. Bethel has made intentional efforts to respond to these realities, and innovation and change continue. We’re committed to educating and nurturing graduates who can respond effectively to the significant changes in contemporary world culture that are still ahead even as they engage in kingdom ministry.

Vision as the Framework for Innovation

Bethel Seminary’s vision statement reflects the core values that have always impelled our work. The vision statement reads:

The passion of Bethel Seminary is to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ among all people in culturally sensitive ways. As a Spirit-empowered, biblically grounded community of learning, Bethel strives to develop and equip whole and holy persons to serve and lead so that churches and ministry agencies can become all they are called to be and do all they are called to do in the world for the glory of God.

"What matters to local churches and ministry agencies matters to Bethel Seminary."

The first sentence of this vision ties Bethel Seminary’s purpose to the mission that Jesus entrusted to His church in the Great Commission. Therefore we can say, “What matters to local churches and ministry agencies matters to Bethel Seminary.”

To gain clarity about what really matters, we have listened carefully to a broad spectrum of leaders from churches and ministry agencies. Feedback from major studies and focus groups (including alumni feedback) has been taken seriously. The combined populations represented in these groups include the insights of several thousand pastors and lay persons.

What are these godly Christian leaders saying about the nature of seminary education? Quite honestly, some of what we heard was hard to receive. But broad converging lines of analysis and evaluation about seminary education emerged from across North America and around the world. As we listened, we heard a massive and growing consensus that said:

Effective ministry demands solid biblical grounding; the highest qualities of character and integrity; and significant leadership skills.

When we assessed Bethel Seminary in light of these findings, we discovered that Bethel, like most seminaries, effectively educated to meet the first of these goals (biblical grounding), but too often fell short in the others (character formation and leadership skills). We set out to change how we did seminary in order to address what was missing in seminary education.

What has happened during this process of self-examination and change has refocused the energies of Bethel’s faculty and administration. We have renewed our purpose to educate students in a holistic way for transformative leadership in God’s church.

This means that the educational ethos—the corporate culture or spiritual climate of Bethel Seminary—is evolving on each campus. From top to bottom, Bethel is becoming an intentionally missional group of people who team together, straining every muscle and expending every energy to accomplish the vision to serve within churches and ministry agencies. Bethel is becoming, at all locations, a place where people increasingly understand the truth of the gospel, grasp the contexts of diverse cultures, grow toward personal holiness and wholeness, and gain the skill and passion to lead people to transforming encounters with the Lord whom that gospel declares.

The specific ways in which this mission and vision are expressed on each campus are spelled out in the sections of this catalog that apply to each campus. The faculty and administration of all the seminary’s locations are deeply committed to the mission Christ entrusted to His church as expressed in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Due to size and cultural contexts, specific emphases are nuanced somewhat differently on each campus. However, these differences occur in the context of ongoing, frequent communication among the faculties and administrations of all campuses.

That communication has been greatly enhanced through a compressed video linkage connecting San Diego, St. Paul, and Seminary of the East. Faculty and administration have frequent real-time dialogue about crucial matters such as interviewing and selecting candidates for faculty on all campuses, curriculum design and change, and crucial issues in student formation. A shared faculty retreat each quarter greatly contributes to the closeness that the faculty feels even though separated by thousands of miles. Finally, the distinctives of the faculty and administration on each campus serve as a catalyst to deepen our understanding and commitment to the mission and vision to which we feel called.

That communication has been greatly enhanced through a compressed video linkage connecting San Diego, St. Paul, and Seminary of the East. Faculty and administration have frequent real-time dialogue about crucial matters such as interviewing and selecting candidates for faculty on all campuses, curriculum design and change, and crucial issues in student formation. A shared faculty retreat each fall greatly contributes to the closeness that the faculty feels though separated by thousands of miles. Finally, the distinctives of the faculty and administration on each campus serve as a catalyst to deepen our understanding and com-mitment to the mission and vision to which we feel called.

The Bethel Seminary Catalog is provided online as a convenience for those who desire course information in electronic form. The printed version of the Bethel Seminary catalog is the official version, and it will be treated as the document of record in all seminary business.