PCT considers revamping seminaries to increase influence, help local churches

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3081 Edition

March 14-20, 2011

General Assembly News

PCT considers revamping seminaries to increase influence, help local churches

Reported by Sam Lee

Written by Lydia Ma

During a forum on PCT higher education on February 19, 2011, PCT General 
Secretary Andrew Chang suggested all three PCT seminaries seriously consider 
the possibility of merging and creating a “Presbyterian United Seminary” in the 
future.

Chang explained that the challenges being self-sufficient were taking their 
toll on every seminary and many tasks could be done with more efficiency and 
achieve further cost-savings if these seminaries became one. 

He listed examples such as supporting three board of directors, hosting 3 
different student recruitments, maintaining equitable financial distribution, 
etc. was a financial burden for all three institutions and the General Assembly 
which not only created resource waste, but also hampered each seminary from 
gaining an edge among seminaries in East Asia.

If all PCT seminaries were merged into one, there would be less duplication of 
services, better allocation of resources, less financial burden for all, and 
more administrative efficiency. More importantly, a unified PCT seminary could 
exert much more influence in Taiwan.

The primary goal of theological education is to train pastors and help them 
become more like Christ. Chang said that if all three seminaries were merged, 
students on the typical 3 year program could take classes at three campuses – 
that is, one year in Tainan, one year in Taipei, and one year in Hualien. This 
would enable them to see different environments and interact with different 
ethnic groups, which would equip them for their church ministries later down 
the road.

In related news, Chang Jung Christian University School of Theology – the first 
university with an accredited seminary in Taiwan – Dean Wang Chung-yao observed 
that seminaries based within colleges or universities is the current world 
trend. He added that not only does this trend facilitate dialogue between 
different disciplines within an university, it also helps seminaries to be 
heard when they issue statements with a prominent university’s name backing 
them up. 

Reflecting on the standings of seminaries in Taiwan, Wang said seminaries had 
limited influence in Taiwan in the past because KMT governments and western 
seminaries were at odds with contextual theology – a basic tenet of PCT’s 
mission statement and its seminaries.

But with the loosening of regulations that were disadvantageous to theological 
education in recent years, Wang believes that setting up seminaries within 
universities might offer the former an opportunity to rise up and increase its 
standing among other academic institutions. This would also elevate the 
standing of pastors and churches nationwide and help Christians and theologians 
to become voices of influence in society. 

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