Global Theological Seminary advances theological education
The Global Theological Seminary (GTS) has chalked up a successful milestone in its bid to advance theological training in the country.
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The institution has obtained an accreditation from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to offer diploma programmes in theological studies after years of offering certificate courses in the said field.
The GTS was established by the Global Evangelical Church (GEC) in 1991 for the training of pastors and other church workers within and outside the church.
Focus of training
The seminary has conducted leadership training, thus certificate in Christian ministry for various category of leaders such as catechists, evangelists, presbyters among others.
With its two main campuses in Accra and Adaklu in the Greater Accra and Volta regions respectively and other satellite campuses in Ho, Kumasi, Keta and Akatsi, GTS has trained over 2,000 pastors and church leaders from GEC and other denominations in the country.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Graphic, the Rector of GTS, Rev. Dr Komi Hiagbe, said the accreditation was an important feat for the institution as it positioned itself in using theological studies to propel positive transformation in the country in terms of development.
Theological education, he said, apart from giving grounding to the church, helped human development in all aspects of life and that was what the seminary wanted to achieve through the training.
Being a full-fledged accredited institution, Rev. Hiagbe said one area that the seminary would be looking at critically was the role of the church in the socio-economic development of the people and that would be incorporated in the training of students.
GTS, Rev. Hiagbe said, was in the process of applying for the Bachelor in Theology programme and Master of Arts in Theological Studies.
“We are now admitting people into the accredited diploma programme,” he said, adding that apart from the diploma and certificate programmes, the institution had special affiliation with the Gordon Conwell Seminary in the US which offered Master of Arts programmes in Theology and Global leadership to registered students. Currently the seminary has 91 students doing the MA programme.
“We have two other programmes coming up, the fisheries college to be located at Anloga, in the Keta Presbytery.
Plans are underway to affiliate it to the seminary.”
“There is another college and this probably will be in agriculture particularly on crops.
With these three faculties in place, we look forward to becoming a full-fledged university in the next 10 years,” he indicated.
The Fisheries College has since been registered with authorities in the process of preparing documentation on policy guideline for recruitment of staff and students.
To achieve the vision of becoming a fully fledged university, the church has started developing the 100-acre land at Adaklu Wumanu in the Volta Region as a permanent campus for the university.
The church’s decision to set up a fisheries college was apart from supporting members with modern ways of fishing and also help the country to sustainable development in the fisheries sector.
“We are going into fisheries because the church has a big constituency of fisher folk along the coast and Volta Region.
Churches in Ashanti, Eastern, Northern, most of them are along the river”.
Scholarship for students
Agriculture has been a major source of income for the seminary as proceeds from established farms including GTS Enterprises Limited in Hoviefe in the Volta Region were used to finance the education of some students.
The rector disclosed that most students at the seminary were on scholarship because “the general philosophy of the seminary is, make enough money to offer scholarship to students because they are offering themselves to do God’s work”.
