BANGKOK, Thailand (ABP) — A consortium of Asian Baptist seminaries has elected a Singaporean woman as its president and admitted a Japanese seminary to its membership.
The board of the Asian Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary elected Lilian Lim president and agreed to admit Japan Baptist Theological Seminary in Yokohama as a member during their meeting July 12-14 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Lim, from Singapore, served as ABGTS board chair before her election as president. She is the first woman, and only the second Asian, to serve in that capacity for the 46-year-old consortium. Chaiwat Chawmuangman, from Thailand, will take her place as chair.
Lim was elected to a seven-year term. She will succeed Chow Lien-Hwa as president. Chow served as chaplain to Taiwan President Chiang Kai-shek prior to his ABGTS election. He has also written or translated more than 80 Chinese books.
Chow said he is glad the course he set for the consortium will continue under Lim's leadership. “The philosophy of the seminary has always been ‘by Asians, for Asians,' Chow said.
Lim, in turn, praised her predecessor. “He is the father of Asian Baptists,” she said of Chow. “He was a visionary for the contextualization of the gospel in Asia, and we are grateful for his service as president.”
The seminary consortium was founded in 1959 as part of the mission work of the then-Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. When that group — now known as the SBC's International Mission Board — pulled out of ABGTS in 1999, Baptist-related Mercer University in Macon, Ga., helped keep the consortium afloat.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has also supported the ABGTS through scholarships and the work of CBF Global Missions Envoy Rita Mashburn. She has served from the ABGTS main office in Hong Kong for two years. In recent years, CBF missionaries stationed in eastern Asia have developed strong relationships with the consortium's member schools.
“This has been one of the most exciting partnerships for CBF in Asia,” said Jack Snell, interim coordinator of CBF Global Missions and a former Singapore-based missionary. “We are thrilled that Dr. Lim will continue the strong leadership of Dr. Chow and grateful that we have played a small role in [the consortium's] continuing growth and development.”
In addition to the Japanese seminary, ABGTS is composed of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Indonesia; Baptist Theological Seminary, Singapore; Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary; Korea Baptist Theological Seminary; Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary and Bible School Inc.; Seinan Gakuin University, Department of Theology, Japan; Taiwan Baptist Theological Seminary; and Thailand Baptist Theological Seminary.
— Lance Wallace of CBF Communications contributed to this story.