Global Leadership Development

Baptist Theological Seminary

Madrid Spain

Brief History

Since the mid 1950’s the Baptist Theological Seminary in Alcobendas (a suburb of Madrid) has been training God-called persons for ministry. Initially established and led by IMB missionaries, now the leadership of the seminary is in the hands of Spanish professors with Dr. Julio Diaz as their president. After decades of trying, the seminary is now accredited by the Spanish government. Despite serious financial limitations due to the economic crisis in the country, this seminary has managed to continue functioning with local pastors who are serving as professors (often without financial remuneration) and has even expanded its ministry through the establishment of extensions. The leaders of the seminary are deeply committed to the implementation of the vision that the Lord has given them. The following is a list ofpotential projects that the leadership of The Champion Church and the Baptist Theological Seminary could dialog about with the purpose of strengthening the work of the Seminary and making an even greater impact in the training of leaders for ministry in Spain as well as other European Countries. A visit by your senior pastor and you to the Madrid Seminary would greatly enhance the agreement that is reached and the activities that will follow.

Projects Involving the Champion Church

E

The pastor of the Champion Church could go to Madrid to teach short term (week-long) courses and or workshops in areas of studies that are greatly needed in Spain today.

E

Champion Church members could go and participate along with the students of the Seminary in missions projects related to evangelism, discipleship, ministry, VBS, etc.

Projects Related to the Faculty Development

Scholarships provided by The Champion Church for faculty members would be of inestimable value. Seeking to address this need, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has designed the following degree programs

a. Master of Theological Studies — Totally in Spanish and Totally on line. Available at an incredible cost of $1 ,6000 for the entire degree which will consist of 12 courses which professors can take without leaving their teaching posts in Spain.

b. PhD in World Christian Studies which requires only 3 weeks a year at the Southwestern campus. Southwestern is in a position to offer this degree program in Spanish assigning Spanish-speaking professors as academic advisors to the PhD candidates.

Projects Related to Students

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In light of their extremely limited financial resources (50% unemployment among youth) some key students with high potential could benefit tremendously from scholarships provided by The Champion Church.

E

Some of the scholarships could be connected with Church Planting Projects that would greatly strengthen the work of their national convention

Projects Related to the Seminary Extensions

E

The Madrid Seminary has sacrificially started extensions in other cities to enable students who cannot come to the central campus to obtain a theological education. One of these extensions is in the city ofDenia.

E

At this point funding is needed to provide for the travel, lodging and meals of the professors who go from the central campus to teach in these extensions and some in other countries that the seminary is projecting

Projects Related to the Campus

E

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.

E

Projects in which work teams from the Champion Church could be involved could include the renovation of classrooms and updating of equipment.

E

Other projects could include the purchase of equipment for the classrooms such as data projectors, computers, white boards, etc.

Conclusion

This is simply a list of potential projects in which the Champion Church could be involved during the 5 year agreement with the Madrid Seminary and Southwestern Seminary. Once a visit is made to the campus and dialog takes place, decisions can be made concerning the projects that are selected (and perhaps new ones that the Champion leadership suggests) and a set of priorities is established.
After decades of making serious efforts, the Spanish Baptist Theological Seminary was able to obtain government academic recognition for its degree programs. This places this seminary in a position of helping Spanish-Speaking seminaries around the world to upgrade their theological educational programs and wherever possible to obtain academic recognition. This is one of the reasons why this seminary is in such a strategic position nationally and internationally.

Dr. Julio Diaz

President

Email: @ftuebe.es
Phone Number: 34-916-624-099