International Baptist Theological Seminary of the European Baptist Federation
International Baptist Theological Seminary of the European Baptist Federation, or simply The International Baptist Theological Seminary (IBTS), is located in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
It is wholly owned by the fifty Baptist Unions of the European Baptist Federation and aspires to be a leading centre of post-graduate theological study for Baptist Christians and other evangelical believers in Europe and beyond.
History
The Seminary was founded in 1949 in Ruschlikon, Switzerland. It transferred to Prague, Czech Republic, in 1997. Over the summer of 2014 the Seminary relocated to Amsterdam where it was re named as the International Baptist Theological Study Centre Amsterdam (IBTS Centre).
International Baptist Theological Study Centre Amsterdam
The IBTS Centre has been established as a Vereinging (Association) within the Netherlands. It forms part of a new community of organisations known as the Baptist House in Amsterdam. The other members of the community are the Baptist Union of the Netherlands, the Dutch Baptist Seminary and the office of the European Baptist Federation.
The seminary houses one of the largest collections of books in theology on the European mainland.
Lecturing is in English and faculty are drawn from throughout Europe. The post graduate student community is currently about 140.
The Centre offers flexible post-graduate opportunities for study and research in conjunction with three other institutions, the VU (Free University) Amsterdam, Manchester University in the UK and Acadia University in Canada.
In 2013 IBTS was recognized as a collaborative Centre in the Faculty of Theology of the VU University Amsterdam to offer PhD programmes. Students will continue to research and publish on a wide range of historical, missiological, ethical and theological issues with special attention to applied (practical) theology which takes seriously the cultural context and local church realities.
IBTS is an approved partner of the Manchester University. Students who successfully complete the IBTS Masters programme are awarded a Master of Arts degree by Manchester University.
It is a founding member of the Consortium of European Baptist Theological schools.
Presidents of seminary
The current Rector is the Rev. Dr Stuart Blythe. He is the first head of the institution to be an IBTS graduate alumnus, obtaining his BD degree magna cum laude at Rüschlikon in 1989.[1]
- 1949—1950 George W. Sadler
- 1950—1960 Josef Nordenhaug
- 1960—1964 J. D. Hughey
- 1964—1970 John D. W. Watts
- 1972—1977 Penrose St. Amant
- 1978—1981 Isam E. Ballenger
- 1982—1983 Clyde E. Fant
- 1984—1987 Altus Newel
- 1988—1997 John David Hopper
- 1997—2013 Keith Grant Jones [2]
- 2013 - Rev. Dr Stuart Blythe