We are pastors, church leaders, teachers, and theologians who are excited to be part of a new way of doing seminary – serving and building up the body of Christ by offering a theological educational resource in Southern California that can provide support for Master of Divinity students, lay leader education, continuing education to pastors, programming for churches, and independent study options.
Our strategic ecumenical academic partners include New York Theological Seminary (NYTS), and the International Theological Seminary (ITS). Through these phenomenal relationships we are able to provide access to library/research resources, shared classroom space. Ultimately our collaborations help build a stronger community that encourages spiritual formation, discipleship and helps our students manage the practical realities of ministry in modern times.
We welcome the rich diversity of cultures that is Southern California! Our focus is on spiritual formation, discipleship and the practical realities of ministry in our current times, and the intentional building of community among our students – coming along side them during their time in seminary and beyond.
This will be an adventure, and we welcome you! Join us!
Our Vision
The New Theological Seminary of the West will be a teaching/learning community of choice for those seeking a transformational education rooted in the Bible and Christian spirituality in order to serve the world in love and justice.
Our Mission
We will reach this vision by educating leaders competent to serve in a rapidly changing church and culture. Taught by faculty engaged in a wide variety of ministries, our students will be formed through learning opportunities in which theory and practice intersect, faith is deepened, and diversity cherished.
Our Teaching/Learning Values
- NTS West intends to be “innovative” (teaching traditional and emerging material in new ways) and “collaborative” (partnering with other institutions to the benefit of our students).
- The NTS West teaching/learning environment is collegial and collaborative as we form a community in which teachers and students learn together. Our faculty work collaboratively with one another and believe that students are often our best teachers.
- Our faculty are people of faith, scholar-practitioners as well as wise mentors.
- Our educational methodology favors active over passive learning, praxis/reflection over transmission, with inductive/experiential rather than deductive/theoretical starting points.
- NTS West understands the ministry context as the basic laboratory for developing pastoral identity, allowing learning to emerge from theological reflection in real-life contexts.
- Congregations and ministry sites, along with classrooms, are contexts for learning.
Our Foundational Perspectives
- NTS West serves Christ and the Church by preparing deeply spiritual leaders, competent to move between action and reflection, and able to link real life experiences with the disciplines of theological study and reflection. Our graduates will be equipped to assist people in deepening their life with God, forming Christian identity, and stepping into the world as servant-leaders.
- The conversation begins with the Bible as we listen carefully to its content as well as to Christian tradition and the diverse contexts and cultures in which our students and graduates serve.
- The Bible as the Word of God, and thus our authoritative sacred text, is foundational for our life and ministry and will be integral to all courses and arenas of learning.
- NTS West is committed to theological education that prepares leaders to face the challenges of the church that is emerging rather than the church that was.
- Christian spiritual formation will infuse all NTS West courses. Prayer, worship, spirituality and practice will be integral to the learning experience.
- NTS West cherishes diversity of all sorts and embraces the full spectrum of Christian theological traditions and perspectives.
- Among our students will be those preparing for a vocation in ministry, those who want to deepen their faith, and working clergy seeking ongoing learning, all who are passionate about Christian ministry.