Our Mission

The mission of the Church of God Theological Seminary is to prepare men and women for Christian ministry in today’s world. The school is dedicated to carry out this task as an act of obedience to God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Seminary is committed to the absolute authority of Scripture and to the Holiness-Pentecostal interpretation of the Christian faith as set forth in the Declaration of Faith of the Church of God. The school seeks to be a community of faith, worship and study, which nurtures covenantal relationships and creates awareness of the world mission and global diversity of the Church.

Our Vision

From inception the Church of God Theological Seminary has followed a model of ministerial development drawn from the Scriptures and the heritage of Wesleyan-Pentecostalism: the community of faith. The underlying thesis for this model is that equipping persons for ministry is the responsibility of the church and must be done in the context of being the church. The Seminary is God's church gathered for theological education. This conviction challenges the Seminary to continually seek to conform to the nature of the church, to see its mission as an expression of the mission of the church, and to maintain an interdependent relationship with the larger church. These constitute the governing vision of the nature of the seminary.

History

Early in its history, the Church of God sensed a need for educational and training to prepare its constituency for ministry. The first educational endeavor was the founding of the Bible Training School (BTS) in 1918, which later became Lee College and now Lee University.  In the mid-forties as young ministers began to enroll in seminaries of other denominations, the vision for the Church of God to have its own seminary was birthed in the hearts of church leaders.

Theological Commitment

We Believe:

1. In the verbal inspiration of the Bible.

2. In one God eternally existing in three persons: namely the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

3. That Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father, conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary. That Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. That He ascended to heaven and is today at the right hand of the Father as the Intercessor.

4. That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that repentance is commanded of God for all and necessary for forgiveness of sins.

5. That justification, regeneration, and the new birth are wrought by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.

6. In sanctification subsequent to the new birth, through faith in the blood of Christ, through the Word and by the Holy Ghost.

7. Holiness to be God’s standard of living for His people.

8. In the baptism with the Holy Ghost subsequent to a clean heart.

9. In speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance and that it is the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

10. In water baptism by immersion, and all who repent should be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

11. Divine healing is provided for all in the Atonement.

12. In the Lord’s Supper and washing of the saints’ feet.

13. In the premillennial second coming of Jesus. First, to resurrect the righteous dead and to catch away the living saints to Him in the air. Second, to reign on the earth a thousand years.

14. In the bodily resurrection; eternal life for the righteous, and eternal punishment for the wicked.

Accreditation

Charter, Approvals & Accreditation

The Seminary is sponsored by the Church of God headquartered in Cleveland, Tennessee and operates under a charter of incorporation from the state of Tennessee and Bradley County. The School and its programs are approved by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. The Seminary is also approved by the State Approving Agency for the training of eligible persons under the terms of the Veterans Education Benefits, and is authorized under Federal law to enroll international students.

The Church of God Theological Seminary is nationally accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) to offer all of its degrees; the Master of Arts in Discipleship and Christian Formation (M.A.D.C.F.), the Master of Arts in Church Ministries (M.A.C.M.), the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) all approved by the same agency. The Association of Theological Schools has recently approved the Master of Arts in Counseling for Seminary West. The Church of God Theological Seminary is also accredited regionally by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097: Telephone number 404-679-4501) to award the Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Discipleship and Christian Formation, and the Master of Arts in Church Ministries degrees. The Seminary is also approved by ATS to offer the M.A.C.M. degree at extension sites in Puerto Rico and California.