/pub/resources/text/reformed: nr94-040.txt ------------------------------------------ For Immediate Release August 20, 1994 Release #1994-40 For Further Information Contact: Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service Voice: (616) 674-8446 FAX: (616) 674-8454 E-Mail: Darrell128@AOL.com PO Box 691, Lawrence, MI 49064-0691 Feature Article: A Profile of Westminster Theological Seminary in California by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service ESCONDIDO, CALIF. (August 20, 1994) RBPS - "Can Calvinism survive in the sun?" quips Dr. W. Robert Godfrey, president of Westminster Theological Seminary in California. Godfrey's biography answers his own question. As a native Californian converted from liberalism through Christian Reformed mission work who has become one of the CRC's most prominent conservatives, few in the Reformed world would argue that Godfrey's Calvinism has been diluted by solar rays. Mentioning southern California usually summons up images of beaches and surfing, not the black-robed scholars of the Synod of Dordt or the Westminster Assembly. Solar warmth might have a bit of an impact on a seminary where many professors work in shirtsleeves while lecturing on books written under the grey skies of Scotland, New England, or the Netherlands, but sunny skies and a religiously tolerant atmosphere have not qualified Westminster's theology. "California is a place that historically has not been strong in concentration of Reformed churches," noted Dr. Dennis Johnson, academic dean of Westminster in California. "This is not Grand Rapids, this is not Jackson, Mississippi, this is an opportunity for us to bring the depth of Reformed understanding to the world around us." Westminster's faculty hope to change the theological climate, not merely of southern California but also of Reformed Christianity elsewhere in the country. "Our emphasis from the beginning has been to emphasize first of all preparing men for the pastoral ministry, as the east campus began to focus on academic and Ph.D. training," said Johnson. Keith Vander Pol, Westminster's vice president for development, noted that training competent leaders is essential to the health of the church. "In this day and age churches which were once very solid have experienced a change in their leadership and become otherwise," said Vander Pol. "We want to train the leadership of the future." A focus on promoting Reformed Christianity has brought an uncommonly strong focus on pastoral involvement to the only accredited Reformed seminary west of the Missouri River. Six of the seminary's eleven regular faculty members currently double as pastors or assistant pastors of area churches and another two - including the seminary president - serve as elders in Escondido CRC. Almost all of Westminster's 13 adjunct and visiting faculty are pastors or heads of Christian ministry organizations, ranging from Dr. Timothy Monsma, executive director of Cities for Christ Worldwide and former Mid-America Reformed Seminary professor to Rev. Tae Young Shin, pastor of English worship at Dr. John E. Kim's 1960-member Los Angeles Christian Presbyterian Church. Westminster in California began in 1979 as a 50th Anniversary project of Westminster's original campus in Philadelphia, dating back to 1929 and founded by J. Gresham Machen during his conflict with liberalism in the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA). "They had a long-term plan to plant a Reformed seminary on the west coast," said Vander Pol. "Unbeknownst to them, there were groups of various intensities meeting in Los Angeles and San Diego when at the same time we were looking for such an opportunity." Escondido, a growing town of approximately 100,000, was intentionally chosen midway between the two major southern California cities of San Diego and Los Angeles. The impetus for the new school came from members of a variety of denominations, particularly the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America but also members of the Presbyterian Church in America, Christian Reformed Church, and Reformed Church in the United States. Classes at the new school began meeting in 1980, using temporary facilities seven miles away in San Marcos. Planting a school in southern California was not cheap: the facility built on a 9 acre campus is valued at $1.35 million. Finances were not always easy. "We had four faculty in the early days," said Johnson. "Probably one of the greatest challenges to me to grow in my faith was the financial struggle." Westminster in California officially separated from Westminster in Philadelphia in 1984 when it moved into its just-completed Escondido quarters, and while the two schools maintain good relations, each now has an entirely separate board of trustees, faculty, and degree-granting authority. The only formal connection between the two is "Westminster Seminary Ministries ," an organization which promotes cooperation and mutual assistance between the two campuses. The eastern campus, located in the historic Presbyterian city of Philadelphia, currently has over 400 students in a wide variety of degree programs, ranging from M.A. programs in Christian education to the Ph.D. program. By contrast, the California campus has 108 masters-level students in only two programs: the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program usually used to prepare for ordained ministry and two Master of Arts (M.A.) programs normally used to prepare for positions in church education, teaching, or counselling. An additional 51 students are currently enrolled in Westminster-California's Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) curriculum, a program focussing on preaching and pastoral work which is largely completed off campus. One distinctive of the Westminster-California program is almost unique among Reformed seminaries: women are not admitted to the D.Min or M.Div. programs "because the seminary board and faculty understand the Scriptures as limiting the gospel ministry in the church to qualified males only," in the words of the official seminary catalog. Women, are, however, admitted to the two tracks of the M.A. program which do not require students to preach or exercise pastoral authority. "The entire academic training of our M.Div. program is available to women," noted John Sowell, student recruiter for Westminster. "We are a school primarily to train men for the pastoral ministry, but we welcome women to our M.A. program and we have several of them." Sowell pointed to the low faculty-student ratio of 1:10 as a particular benefit of Westminster in California. Even though the school's enrollment is rapidly growing, an unusual zoning requirement ensures Westminster will always have a low student population. Because its campus is located in a residential area of Escondido, local authorities issued a conditional use permit that prevents the school from ever having more than 200 masters level students. Despite Westminster's conservative reputation, both students and faculty insisted that professors require students to understand rather than merely memorize and repeat doctrinal positions. "Theological education is not just education but discipleship," said Sowell. "We insist on our students not just saying this is what I believe, but I've read the book and here's the page on which it appears." "We view ourselves as quite ecumenical and open-minded," said Dr. Steven Baugh, one of the earliest graduates of Westminster in California who now teaches Greek and New Testament at the seminary, noting that many students come to Westminster from non-Reformed backgrounds. "We do not require a doctrinal pledge of our students on the front end or on the back end," said Vander Pol. "Our major marketing point is inerrancy and Biblical infallibility. To serve the non-Reformed student this is what we want to do. The faculty, however, must sign a very specific doctrinal pledge affirming not only Reformed theology but also Presbyterian polity "as agreeable to the divine oracles." Faculty members must "solemnly promise and engage not to inculcate or insinuate anything which shall contradict or contravene, either directly or impliedly, any element of that system of doctrine, nor to oppose any of the fundamental principles of that form of church government, while [they] continue a member of the faculty in this seminary." "We do have to subscribe to the Westminster Confession ex animo as professors and we do so joyfully," said Baugh. "There are certain clear teachings in the Scripture that we stand upon." Vander Pol said the result of strict adherence by faculty members to Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity was that while half of Westminster's students come from non-Reformed backgrounds, "the joy is that 95 percent end up thoroughly Reformed upon graduation." While Westminster is strictly Reformed and strictly Presbyterian, the seminary has been interdenominational since its very beginning. From its earliest days, the Christian Reformed Church joined northern Presbyterian conservatives in the work of Westminster's Philadelphia campus. Later helpers included the Reformed Church in the United States, the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, the Presbyterian Church in America, and most recently the Korean-American Presbyterian Church. "I like very much our multi-denominational stand," said Vander Pol. "Students are not maneuvered in the direction toward a certain denomination and I very much appreciate that." Although the CRC was one of the earliest supporters of Westminster, recent developments have brought tension to that relationship. The most public conflict has been over decisions by the CRC Board of Trustees and the Calvin Seminary Board of Trustees - both overturned by Synod 1994 - to drop Westminster from the list of nondenominational agencies approved for financial support and to deny ministerial candidacy to Westminster graduate Bradd Nymeyer. "The implication is that we gain by bashing the CRC. We're bigger than the CRC and we don't want to do those things," said Vander Pol, who is himself a member of Escondido CRC. "Nine of our 20 employees working here are in the CRC so what would we gain by attacking the CRC?" asked Vander Pol. "Criticism should in no way be confused with lack of compassion for the CRC and too often it is that way." Westminster's future growth, however, may have very little to do with the CRC. At present, almost a quarter of its student body represents ethnic minority groups, mostly Korean but also other Asian groups, African, African-American, Pacific, and Hispanic minorities. Over 45 percent of Westminster's graduating M.Div. students are Korean, and although the Korean enrollment is lower in some other degree programs the number of Korean Westminster students is not likely to decline anytime soon. "We have a number of students who are a bridge between the piety of the first generation of Koreans and the Americanization of the second generation," noted Johnson, who said he hoped Westminster could play a key role in training the next generation of Korean-American church leaders. Vander Pol noted that Westminster already has one Korean lecturer and a Vietnamese registrar, and hoped to add other ethnic faculty in the future. "They're difficult to find, particularly because of the prerequisite of having a Ph.D. in the areas we're interested in," said Vander Pol. "I have become more and more convinced that the Reformed faith speaks volumes to those who are seeking scriptural truth from many diverse backgrounds. Our plan is to raise up our own ethnic faculty." What's next for Westminster? At least for the short term, much of Westminster's energy will go into a building program which will add more classrooms, a larger student lounge, and an expanded library. The expansion program, which will take six to eight months, follows a 53 percent increase in the number of students since 1992 and the donation of a 12,000-volume collection of rare books on cults. While the facilities will undergo a major change in the next few months, Johnson said future students can be assured that one thing will remain the same: "They can be confident of the faculty's commitment to the authority of Scripture, the inerrancy of Scripture, and Reformed theology," said Johnson. Contact List: For all persons cited, call: Westminster Theological Seminary 1725 Bear Valley Parkway Escondido, CA 92027 O: (619) 480-8474 FAX: (619) 480-0252