Baptist Theological Seminary
Guatemala
Brief History
The Baptist Theological Seminary of Guatemala was born as a result of the initiative of national leaders and the help of the Foreign Mission Board (FMB) on the 3 rd of May, 1946 with the idea of preparing national leadership that would have a solid doctrine and the necessary tools to carry out pastoral ministry. For more than 30 years the leadership of the Seminary was in the hands of the FMB. Due to a change in policy the FMB (now IMB) the missionaries left our seminary. The Seminary in Guatemala was left without professors and without resources for the students and to maintain the facilities. Some Central American Seminaries closed down. Our seminary kept on teaching mainly intensive courses taught by professors and PhD students from Southwestern Seminary. In the midst of it all we prayed that the Lord would give us His guidance and a vision of what He would have us to do. The vision the Lord gave us included not only Guatemala but also the Central American countries. As a result of our partnership with the GTl program of Southwestern we now have over 500 students on our campus and our extensions. Despite the miraculous progress we have made, there is so much more that we could accomplish in partnership with Champion Churches.
Projects Involving a Champion Church/Partner
The pastors of Champion Churches could teach intensive (week-long) courses
Teams from the Champion Church could come and be involved in evangelism, missions and ministry projects along with seminary students.
Work teams could be involved in painting, remodeling and other projects to improve the classrooms.
Projects Related to the Facult
Scholarships ($1,600 each) for 5 professors to enroll in the Master of Theological Studies degree at
Southwestern Seminary (which is totally online and totally in Spanish)
Scholarships ($3,000 each) for the President and Academic Dean to enroll in the DMin Spanish language degree at Midwestern Seminary. Have 2 Annual Retreats to update and equip our professors
Have resources for intensive courses taught by professors from SWBTs
Two annual retreats to update the faculty
Caps and gowns for graduations
Projects Related to Students
Scholarships ($500 each) to assist students with dire economic need to enroll in the seminary.
Projects Related to the Campus
Laptops, for the various classrooms
Data projectors for the classrooms and the extensions
Remodel the chapel
Update the library
Video camera to record courses and conferences
In collaboration with Southwestern Seminary, Trinity Academic can make available to this Seminary an electronic portal that will enable the seminary to offer online courses, virtual courses and an untold number of library resources to the students. A Champion Church can assist by providing the initial cost of installing this system and the very affordable cost to maintain thus saving the Seminary thousands of dollars in equipment and local personnel to maintain it.
Projects Related to the Seminary Extensions
Purchase a minibus to facilitate travel to the extensions without having to rent a vehicle each time a trip is made
Financial resources to help our professors with travel and lodging costs as they go to the various extensions within Guatemala and in other countries (El Salvador, Belize, Costa Rica). Nicaragua has asked us for help but we do not have the resources to assist them at this time.
The Guatemalan Baptist Theological Seminary has literally experienced a resurrection from being down to 7 students and almost closing its doors to catching a vision for all of Central America and now having over 500 students. Most of this has been done on the basis of personal commitment and sacrifice in light of extremely limited financial and personnel limitations. With the help of some Champion Churches, this seminary could become an even greater Flagship for theological education in all of Central America.
