Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary Boston

About

The Boston campus of Gordon-Conwell was founded in 1976 to provide ministerial training for urban pastors and church leaders throughout the world.

Story

The Boston campus of Gordon-Conwell, known as the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), was founded in 1976 to provide ministerial training for urban pastors and church leaders in Boston and throughout the U.S.

CUME officially opened with 30 students in September 1976 at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Now located at its own campus facility a block from the original Roxbury location, the campus currently serves more than 400 students representing 39 denominations and 21 distinct nationalities. Classes are taught in English, Spanish, French Creole and Portuguese, with occasional classes in American Sign Language.

CUME’s academic programs are contextualized to the needs of the city by means of faculty, staff, tuition, location and class schedule. The campus’ unique program has served as a model for similar programs in Minneapolis; Philadelphia; Los Angeles; and Portland, Oregon; and in international cities such as Quito, Ecuador; and Lagos, Nigeria.

Mission

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary is an educational institution serving the Lord and His Church. Its mission is to prepare men and women for ministry at home and abroad. The seminary undertakes this task as a training partner with the Church so that what is learned on campus may be complemented by the spiritual nurture and the exercise of ministry available through the Church.

Gordon-Conwell's mission arises out of God's redemptive work in this world effected in Jesus Christ, understood through the biblical Word and mediated by the Holy Spirit. As a theological seminary, it provides learning, resources and training through which men and women may acquire knowledge, gain skills and develop attitudes needed in Christ's ministry. Its mission, accordingly, is to serve the Church in the following ways:

Article 1: To encourage students to become knowledgeable of God's inerrant Word, competent in its interpretation, proclamation and application in the contemporary world. Because the teaching of God's Word is indispensable to the well-being and vitality of God's people, the seminary has a fundamental responsibility to encourage in its students a love for Scripture. The seminary is to teach exegetical skills by which they will be able to apply Scripture effectively.

Article 2: To maintain academic excellence in the highest tradition of Christian scholarship in the teaching of the biblical, historical and theological disciplines. Theological education, which is properly done within and for the Church, ought to function with rigor and academic integrity. The seminary, therefore, must provide an environment within which teaching and learning can best occur and encourage high levels of scholarly competence and research in its faculty.

Article 3: To train and encourage students, in cooperation with the Church, to become skilled in ministry. The Church and the seminary share the goal of seeing knowledge, skills and attitudes integrated in the person who ministers. Both in traditional degree programs and in continuing education, a combination of careful training and supervised experience in ministry are educational practices essential to achieving that goal.

Article 4: To work with the churches towards the maturing of students so that their experiential knowledge of God in Christ is evidenced in their character, outlook, conduct, relationships and involvement in society. Academic learning divorced from a life of biblical spirituality neither honors God nor serves His people. Such spirituality is to be expressed cognitively, relationally and socially. It is to be translated into action, God's people embodying His compassion, declaring His justice and articulating His truth in society.

Article 5: To provide leadership and educational resources for shaping an effective evangelical presence in Church and society. Gordon-Conwell's academic and institutional resources are to be put into the service of the Christian community to provide careful research on and informed understanding of critical issues, as well as in exercising leadership in learned societies, in movements of renewal and reform and in a variety of off-campus ministries in order to develop a more informed understanding of what the lordship of Christ means in our contemporary world.

Article 6: To develop in students a vision for God's redemptive work throughout the world and to formulate the strategies that will lead to effective missions, evangelism and discipleship. The central mission of the Triune God is the creation of a fellowship of men and women who are mature in Christ and who will love and serve Him forever. This mission is realized evangelistically through the proclamation of the biblical gospel by those who embody the message they proclaim and who seek to make disciples from all peoples.