Goals include a common learning location, expanded cultural contacts
Leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Inter-European Division—a world church region with a rich history of theological education at the graduate level—voted a new master’s degree plan that will strengthen the next generation of leadership with education in a single location, a common language, and the chance to expand their cultural horizons.
The vote was taken by division leadership during the 2020 midyear meetings, with additional action on the plan expected at the region’s upcoming year-end meetings.
The move will create a single master’s degree program, to be hosted at an institution to be designated, with a two-year residential course of instruction. English will be the instructional language, promoting communication without barriers among the students. The 24 months of onsite instruction in one location will also offer the advantage of knowing each other better, and exposure to different cultures and mindsets.
Church officials said the goal was a program to educate pastors who understand and bring the mission of the church to a level where it can successfully face the challenges of the post-Christian, postmodern European society. Such education is expected to foster greater unity of the church in a multi-ethnic and multicultural setting that has become the “new normal” in Europe.
Those selected for the program will be fully sponsored for their tuition; the division will cover costs of room and board for the two years. In return, students will commit to service in their local sending field after graduation.
The voted proposals follow a 2015 mandate from the EUD Executive Committee to address the question of the two division-level educational institutions and to come up with a proposal to reduce redundancy of ministerial programs at the master’s level across the church region. Both the former Marienhöhe Seminary, now in Friedensau, Germany, and the Theological Faculty at Collonges, are valued institutions with a deep history of service to the church regions now incorporated into the Inter-European Division.
A decision on which institution will host the program is to be made following a recommendation from a group of educational experts and administrators nominated by the division’s Executive Committee. The group will decide on criteria for selecting the final location, officials said.
This article was originally published on the Inter-European Division’s news site