Barely 16 years old, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond has grown from 37 students who matriculated in 1991 to a current enrollment of 291 students from 19 states and eight foreign countries. It began holding classes in facilities on the campus of the Presbyterian School of Christian Education directly across Brook Road from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond and in the intervening years has purchased several buildings from the school.
Graves Hall on the BTSR campus.
Conversations with leaders of BTSR reveal a surprising level of humility and innovation. Both Tom Graves, president of the seminary, and interim dean Mike Harton, say that seminaries must change the way they provide education or they will become irrelevant.
In the 1970s it began to be clear that seminaries were simply not preparing their students for real-life challenges they faced in congregations. In fact, data began to show that in the nation's most vital congregations more often than not the senior pastor had not gone to seminary.
Doctor of ministry student Ben
Caldwell, pastor of Corinth Baptist Church in New Kent, studies in a library cubicle.
Graves, who has announced that he will retire on July 1, believes seminaries have their work cut out for them. “We must refashion our offerings to be more responsive to the needs of congregations. Congregations and seminaries have become unhitched. As we rebuild seminary education in Virginia Baptist life the most important thing is to insure the connection between the seminaries and the congregations. My understanding is that the seminary is a second order institution. The health and vitality of the local church is the focus of all we do here.”
But Graves has good reason to be optimistic that that connection is already taking place. “We can demonstrate that a student who comes here actually has his or her interest in serving in a local church increase during their time here.” Once more, Harton offers independent collaboration. “Students fall in love with the church here. And that is not accidental. It is designed into the curriculum.”
In a process called “BTSR Goes to Church,” the needs and expectations of churches will be actively sought. Made possible by a grant from the Eli Lilly Foundation, “a team of faculty members will go to a congregation asking questions about what they need. The teams will start with Fredericksburg Baptist and The St. Paul's Baptist churches but will include many others. The idea is to find out how we need to reformulate our work to become more responsive to their work. I would see this as the key agenda for theological education for the next decade.”
Retiring president Tom Graves is enthusiastic about BTSR's future.
BTSR has objective reasons to believe it is being effective in at least one critical element of theological education. It has been discovered that graduates of some seminaries have little interest in pursuing church staff ministries. In contrast, BTSR has tracked its 424 graduates and reports that 220 serve in Virginia.
Twenty-five percent of its graduates serve as pastors while another 27 percent are associate pastors. Six percent serve in district associational positions and 8 percent are counselors. All in all, 70 percent of its graduates serve in some kind of church-related vocation.
Signs of vitality are not hard to find on campus and in the curriculum. The seminary is currently in the latter stages of a $19 million capital campaign, much of which is being used to renovate its buildings. To this point, more than $17 million has been given and a pledge by a Baptist couple, Harwood and Louise Cochrane, to match up to a total of $3 million any gift to the seminary from any source for any purpose, continues in effect through July 1, 2007.
One building, Kraemer Hall, which houses married student apartments, has already been renovated. Two other buildings, Virginia Hall, containing a chapel, lecture halls and office space, and Lamont Hall, which will provide a student center and dormitory rooms for single students, will be completed this summer.
But BTSR seems determined to demonstrate that its commitment to the church is more than lip service. Through its School of Christian Ministry, BTSR has designed a non-degree “certificate” program for lay persons and ministers who have had little opportunity for advanced study. Because it isn't always possible for students to travel to Richmond, through a distance education program all SCM courses, most master of divinity courses and many continuing education courses may be taken online.
One of its most innovative commitments to the local church, however, is a software platform it offers free to any church wanting to use it. The software—called Blackboard—allows a church to provide its own training to its own people online. A pastor could, for example, provide new member training that would be taken online at a time that fits their schedules. Harton even assures that associate dean for continuing education Jim Peak will work with the church in developing the curriculum.
The master of divinity degree continues to be the backbone of BTSR's curriculum. The M.Div. may be earned in conjunction with studies in education, music, youth and students, children and families, and with a masters in social work. BTSR also offers a doctor of ministry degree. BTSR is firmly committed to equipping both men and women for those positions to which God has called them.
What do students have to say about the school? North Carolina native Bryan Maupin who graduated from Averett University, sees diversity as one of BTSR's greatest assets. “There are students from other countries and denominations. I also really like the interaction with the Presbyterian school. I grew up fundamentalist and still consider myself very conservative, but BTSR has helped me see other perspectives. I can't honestly say that I share the viewpoint of some of [the faculty] but I respect them and they respect my viewpoint as well.”
Maupin feels drawn toward international mission work—perhaps with Arab immigrants in Europe.
Maupin and all other M.Div. students will get some of their education out of the classroom. Every student is required to participate in a Mission Immersion Experience, in which they travel to a mission field and live the culture and work with the people. Because the seminary believes the MIE is an essential part of mission preparation, no additional fees are charged regardless of where the student travels. Recently students have traveled to India to work with Virginia Baptist partners, and to Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa, as well as mission fields within the United States.
Graves cannot help but have an opinion about the kind of president needed to succeed him. He lists four requirements, of which fundraising and development is most significant.
He also believes the new president will need to exert leadership that can form healthy relationships with congregations throughout this region. This person will need to be intimate with church life.
The third and fourth requirements are the need to relate easily with other partners (particularly the BGAV and the CBF) and the need to relate easily with the faculty.
Graves believes that the possibility of a higher level of partnership or even merger between BTSR and the John Leland Center for Theological Studies should be discussed. “You have heard from Leland and hear very clearly from me that there is a need for increased funding for theological education. We are eager to work with all partners, but Virginia Baptists will have to take responsibility for providing increased support for theological education.”
“My father [long-time professor at Southern Seminary, Allen Graves] used to tell me ‘Lighthouses don't compete'—particularly in the Virginia Baptist family. We are not there to compete but to offer the best possible options in partnership with other Virginia Baptist institutions. Virginia Baptists deserve a more efficient and effective means of providing theological education that would provide a wide variety of options.”
Graves is aware that each of the schools and the Southwest Virginia Christian Leadership Network will bring unique features to the task of providing theological education. It remains to be seen whether the uniqueness of each can be preserved while at the same time exercising the good stewardship of eliminating duplication. But Graves believes it deserves to be carefully and prayerfully examined.
BTSR is a member of both the Richmond and Washington theological consortiums.