In recent months, I have had the joy of collaborating with Rev. Dr, Neal Presa, former moderator of the General Assembly, in the development of a Certificate Program that will fulfill the educational requirements for candidates to becoming Commissioned Ruling Elders. The program is designed to emphasize both missional and intercultural elements that are so much part of our sense of call as a Presbytery. It will soon be open to registration after being reviewed by State entities. The video and information below will give a brief overview of The International Theological Seminary
The mission of International Theological Seminary (ITS), as an ATS-accredited seminary in the San Gabriel Valley, is to offer M.Div. and D.Min. degrees to students serving the global church, to equip and train teachers, community leaders, and pastors in the Reformed tradition, who can help transform local communities into vibrant places of worship, mission, and justice.
In response to the pressing needs and challenges of the churches in the Major World countries, ITS primarily provides theological education integrated with ministry skills to students who will serve in these areas; and secondarily ITS trains leaders for ethnic/immigrant churches in the United States. With this clear vision and mission, ITS has been serving churches and communities around the world faithfully over thirty years, with over 900 alumni/ae serving the Lord, primarily in Asia and Africa.
The seminary’s mission, according to President Dr. James Lee, has a big-picture perspective: “To raise local leaders for the majority world.” ITS was founded in 1982 by a Korean-American pastor, John Eui-Whan Kim, who had a vision for starting a seminary for students from developing countries – students who after graduation could be theological leaders in their own settings.
At many U.S. seminaries, international students make up a relatively small percentage of the student body, and the focus often is on training for ministry in an American context. At ITS, both the faculty and board are diverse and multicultural. Most students receive financial aid to cover their tuition (grants that become forgivable loans if they serve in ministry in their home countries for five years after graduation), plus stipends to cover housing. At ITS, their whole financial system is set up so that the local indigenous churches will help send these people over, and as long as the students go back to their home churches, then their scholarship is waived.
More than 1,000 alumni now serve around the world as Bible college presidents, denominational leaders, pastors, community leaders — as “agents of transformation turning their local communities into centers of mission, worship, and justice.” When donors provide funding for forgivable loans, “they’re investing in someone who’s going to transform a community.”
While relatively unknown, ITS is perched on the cutting edge of innovation for training church leaders from the global south –one of a number of small, relatively new seminaries that are in the United States, but whose focus is on educating students from other places. Many of those ITS students are mid-career in ministry from Africa or Asia – they already have a track record of leadership in their home countries and are pursuing an advanced theological education made affordable through forgivable loans.
During their seminary years, some students are building partnerships with California churches and entrepreneurs that will help them pursue innovative ministry initiatives once they return home, and which lay the foundation for ongoing ministry partnerships with U.S. congregations. But the diversity provides opportunities too — with students becoming exposed to many ways of looking at the Bible and creative approaches to doing ministry and practicing their faith. Entrepreneurial ministry while at ITS, some students form connections with local congregations or entrepreneurs that lead to long-term mission partnerships down the road.