A new academic year had arrived at Bethlehem College and Seminary after months of preparation and prayer, which provides a fitting occasion to reflect on our core commitments. What makes us tick as an organization? What do we value and prioritize? The following seven core commitments get to the heart of who we are and what we’re about at Bethlehem College and Seminary.
We Are God-Centered.
The sovereign God is supreme in the universe he created, and we emphasize and delight in his supremacy. We do not assume God but seek to trust him, treasure him, know him and make him known. We believe that “from him and through him and to him are all things” (Rom 11:36); this reality shapes what we teach, why we teach, and how we teach. We want our students to be gripped by the greatness of our Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—confident in God’s precious promises, and satisfied in his steadfast love that is better than life. We believe that God’s glory and our happiness are not at odds but that God offers us fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. In other words, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
We Are Bible-Saturated.
Charles Spurgeon once said about John Bunyan,
Prick him anywhere; and you will find that his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God.
Bethlehem College and Seminary is a bibline school. We carry out our mission “under the authority of God’s inerrant Word.” We love the Bible! Psalm 19 reminds us that God’s Word is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, altogether desirable, and sweeter than honey. So we study it, pray it, preach it, memorize it, meditate on it, and live it out. Every one of our programs is marked by serious study of the sacred Scriptures. We teach students to read the Bible in its original languages, to understand its meaning accurately, to communicate that meaning clearly and compellingly to others, and as they meditate on the Sacred Book to see and savor our Savior by the Spirit’s power. We teach students to trace biblical arguments with tools like arcing. And we teach Biblical Theology to see how the Old and New Testaments progress, integrate, and climax in Jesus Christ. We have a Bible-saturated curriculum taught by a Bible-saturated faculty who are preparing Bible-saturated pastors, teachers, missionaries, church members, moms, and dads for every good work.
We Are Church-Based.
Bethlehem College and Seminary was established by the local church. We carry out our work in local church facilities. And we aim to equip our students for faithful service in the church near and far. We love the local church because the Lord Jesus loves his Bride and has promised to “build [his] church” (Matt 16:18). Our seminarians serve as pastoral apprentices in our founding churches and other like-minded partner congregations under and alongside seasoned pastors. Our college students are active church members. Our faculty and staff love the local church and are involved in numerous ways—as pastors and elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, choir directors, ESL ministers, greeters, and more. We are rooted in the church and labor for the church.
We Are Historically Rooted.
Jeremiah 6:16 says, “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” The people of Jeremiah’s day shunned these ancient paths of wisdom, as do many in our day. At Bethlehem, we prize what is true, not just what is new. We confess a detailed affirmation of faith that is reformed, baptistic, and complementarian. Our classically oriented liberal arts curriculum cultivates habits of mind and heart that will serve our students for the rest of their lives. They read great books—most of them old books—that are recognized as important, true, and wise. We teach history to learn crucial lessons from the past and highlight God’s faithfulness to preserve his church. We teach ancient languages—Greek, Hebrew, and Latin—so that our students can study the Bible and other primary sources with precision and care. We are historically rooted because we want our students to be wise, mature, faithful Christians who stand firm in the evil day.
We Are Globally Minded.
Our mission to spread “for the joy of all peoples” informs our location—in one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse neighborhoods in the US. It guides our curriculum—including a college major in Theology and Global Studies and required courses in Global Discipleship (BA) and Missions and the Local Church (MDiv). Being globally minded means that every seminary student participates in a meaningful cross-cultural practicum. We operate a seminary site in the capital of Cameroon, West Africa, and we make possible the education of outstanding international students through the Alex Steddom Grant. We have alumni serving the Lord on every continent, including some of the least reached, most challenging places on earth.
We have a globally minded faculty—last year our teachers traveled to Cameroon, Ethiopia, Central and East Asia, Romania, and Mexico to equip the global church. And we have a globally minded student body that is eager to pray for and participate in the Great Commission. We remain resolute in pursuing God’s global glory for the joy of all peoples.
We Are Highly Relational.
We deliver this sort of God-centered, Bible-saturated, church-based, historically rooted, globally minded education in serious joy through in person, face-to-face classes, not online on-demand lectures. That’s because we believe that the goal of education is formation, not just the transfer of information. Bethlehem students really know their instructors and their classmates. This is a tight-knit community of learning and worship marked by intentional discipleship, friendship, and service. Paul writes, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2). This verse sums up, I think, the vision of Bethlehem Seminary to equip the next generation of mature shepherds who are able to teach with biblical clarity and Christ-exalting affection, and it informs our approach to intentional discipleship in every program.
We Are Remarkably Affordable.
Finally, we seek to deliver this education at an unusually low tuition rate so that students can launch immediately into life and ministry without a backpack of student loans. Last year the average tuition for students enrolled at private colleges was around $40,000. More than half of college students finish school with debt—$29,000 per borrower on average but sometimes well over $100,000. Since this school’s founding, we have chosen not to participate in the federal student loan program to avoid entanglements and pressures that could compromise our biblical convictions. We maintain a streamlined operation with low overhead and no debt. And we offer each student a $10k scholarship funded by generous Christians. At the president’s reception before Commencement, one graduate said with tears in his eyes that the Serious Joy Scholarship was for him and his fellow students “one of the greatest and long-lasting saint-to-saint acts of generosity we will know in our whole lives.” Praise God!
In our first fifteen years, this God-centered, Bible-saturated, church-based, globally minded, highly relational, remarkably affordable school has equipped hundreds of men and women with a transformative education in serious joy. What might God be pleased to do in and through us in the years and decades to come?
Brian Tabb
President
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for Bethlehem’s new students in college, seminary, and evening programs to experience the peace of Christ, the joy of the Lord, and the fellowship of God’s people as they begin their education in serious joy.
- Pray for Bethlehem’s faculty as they renew their commitment to pursue biblical excellence in their teaching and scholarship, always seeking that which edifies the church, advances the kingdom, and displays the glory of Christ.