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CTBS VISION

Training Christian Leaders to Transform Society Biblically

Cape Town Baptist Seminary is a South African Baptist Theological Training Institution globally connected and contextually engaged with a mission to train Christian leaders to transform society biblically. Our training is ministry and mission-focused with research that is critical and adventurous of our faith tradition. We train our students to be professional, confident, courageous, transformational servant leaders who respond to the church's challenges and society in Africa. Our vision is to become the preferred evangelical theological institution that trains christian leaders to transform lives and society biblically.

Our mission in training the head (academic formation); training the heart (spiritual formation) and training the hand (practical formation and application)
 
The success of CTBS is built on our strong Evangelical traditional  but also on:

  • The dedication of inspiring and excellent faculty and staff.
  • The commitment to the highest standards in theological training.
  • Partnership with other stakeholders, e.g., churches and other NGO’s with the same missional focus.
  • Our focus is on students, helping train them towards the fulfillment of their calling in Christian service, to be on mission with Christ.

VISION 2025 - 2030

Vision - 2025, our statement of strategic directions continues the evolution of  Cape Town Baptist Seminary since its inception in 1974 that demonstrated a commitment to change. At CTBS, we embrace the challenges that face our sector with a clear goal to become South Africa's premier theological training institution that is relevant and contextual,  with a  focus on developing transformational servant leaders who serve the church of Christ and Christ’s World.

Vision 2025 has an evident Christocentric focus by placing people at the heart of our program. Through our training,  students will be able to Lead like Jesus, Lead For Jesus and Lead to Jesus.

Cape Town Baptist Seminary understands the everchanging realities and pressures placed upon Christian leaders and therefore understand the need to train our students for future work that meets these challenges. The digital world and socio-political realities in South Africa are lifting and changing the theological expectations of ministry training which requires adaptation for CTBS to stay ahead. Technological changes, ministry and societal need are transforming the theological landscape and the church, thus requiring flexibility of the programme to do training while in ministry for ministry.
 
Therefore, CTBS understands the need for innovativeness in learning, teaching and content in programs are needed now, more than ever before. The challenges for church and society are more interconnected, thus requiring interdisciplinary responses.

People: Programs are learner-focused, taking into consideration formal and informal training. We understand the importance of having the right staff and faculty who love Christ, His Word, His church, His mission, and His world with the correct academic and spiritual qualifications.

Place: Training for ministry while in ministry, thus making theological training accessible using technology-assisted means to accomplish our mission.

Programs: Theological training that is relevant, contextual, affordable, and accessible, with an academic standard adhering to the best national and international practices.

Through VISION-2025-2030, we will continue to shape our future as Cape Town Baptist Seminary seeks to train Christian leaders to transform lives and society biblically.

The Cape Town Baptist Seminary (CTBS) is one of the Seminaries of the Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA). As a Christian organisation accountable to Baptist Union of Southern Africa under God, the Cape Town Baptist Seminary affirms the following beliefs and Baptist Principles.

  1. We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writing as fully inspired of God and accept them as the supreme and final authority for faith and life.
  2. We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  3. We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true man.
  4. We believe that God created man in His own image; that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual; that all human beings inherit a sinful nature which issues (in the case of those who reach moral responsibility) in actual transgression involving personal guilt.
  5. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitutionary sacrifice, according to the Scriptures, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.
  6. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus, His ascension into heaven, and His present life as our High Priest and advocate.
  7. We believe in the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
  8. We believe that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God.
  9. We believe in the resurrection both of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessedness of the redeemed and the eternal banishment of those who have rejected the offer of salvation.
  10. We believe that the one true Church is the whole company of those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit; that the local Church on earth should take its character from this conception of the Church spiritual, and therefore that the new birth and personal confession of Christ are essentials of Church membership.
  11. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ appointed two ordinances - Baptism and the Lord's Supper - to be observed as acts of obedience and as perpetual witnesses to the cardinal facts of the Christian faith; that Baptism is the immersion of the believer in water as a confession of identification with Christ in burial and resurrection, and that the Lord's Supper is the partaking of bread and wine as symbolical of the Saviour's broken body and shed blood, in remembrance of His sacrificial death till He comes.

The following statement was passed at the Baptist Union Assembly in Krugersdorp in 2000: That God has ordained marriage as a heterosexual relationship between a natural man and a natural woman.

Preamble: We as Baptists share many areas of our faith with other members of the professing Christian Church. These include a belief in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; in the supreme Lordship of Jesus Christ as Head of the Church; and in the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and as the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. There are however areas of principle and practice where we as Baptists make distinctive emphases arising out of our understanding of the Scriptures. It is to clarify these that the following statement is made. We as Baptists believe in:

  1. The DIRECT LORDSHIP OF CHRIST over every believer and over the local church. By this we understand that Christ exercises His authority over the believer and the local Church directly, without delegating it to another.
  2. The CHURCH as the whole company of those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The local church, being a manifestation of the universal church, is a community of believers in a particular place where the Word of God is preached and observed. It is fully autonomous and remains so notwithstanding responsibilities it may accept by voluntary association.
  3. BELIEVER'S BAPTISM as an act of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ and a sign of personal repentance, faith and regeneration; it consists of the immersion in water into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  4. The CONGREGATIONAL PRINCIPLE, namely that each member has the privilege and responsibility to use his/her gifts and abilities to participate fully in the life of the Church. We recognise that God gifts His Church with Overseers (who are called Pastors or Elders) whose primary function is to lead in a spirit of servant hood, to equip and provide spiritual oversight, and Deacons whose primary function is to facilitate the smooth functioning of the Church. This principle further recognises that each member should participate in the appointment of the church's leaders, and that constituted church meeting, subject to the direct Lordship of Christ and the authority of Scripture, is the highest court of authority for the local Church.
  5. The PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS, by which we understand that each Christian has direct access to God through Christ our High Priest, and shares with Him in His work of reconciliation. This involves intercession, worship, faithful service and bearing witness to Jesus Christ, even to the end of the earth.
  6. The principle of RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, namely that no individual should be coerced either by the State or by any secular, ecclesiastical or religious group in matters of faith. The right of private conscience is to be respected. For each believer this means the right to interpret the Scriptures responsibly and to act in the light of his conscience.
  7. The principle of SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE in that, in the providence of God, the two differ in their respective natures and functions. The Church is not to be identified with the State nor is it, in its faith or practice, to be directed or controlled by the State. The State is responsible for administering justice, ensuring an orderly community, and promoting the welfare of its citizens. The Church is responsible for preaching the Gospel and for demonstrating and making known God's will and care for all mankind.
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