The Celtic Cross Ministry inc

Celtic, Authentic, Christ Centered, United Churches.

Education

Celtic Cross Theological Seminary

The Celtic Cross Theological Seminary Training Course of the National Theological Association (NTA) is designed to train men for gospel ministry in the 21st century. The thinking behind the course is that there is that there is an urgent need for men who can faithfully preach and teach God’s timeless truth and relate and apply it to our ever changing world.

How the course works:

  • Part-time and distance learning
  • Four year course
  • Two residential weeks each year
  • Assigned reading
  • Essay writing and tutor feedback
  • Local mentor

The course is particularly suitable for men whose circumstances or convictions make attending a full-time course impossible. Men already in preaching, pastoral, or evangelistic ministry who have not had the opportunity of training will also find the course especially suitable for them.

Areas of study:

  • Biblical Studies
  • Church History
  • Systematic Theology
  • Pastoral Theology

Course Details;

Philosophy and aims

Only God can give the graces and impart the gifts which are needed for gospel ministry. The Course seeks to help develop these gifts and graces in a number of ways. It does not provide a general theological education for anyone who is interested in such studies; rather, it seeks to give the necessary training to help a man develop the graces and gifts which God has imparted to him, so that he will be an effective preacher and teacher of God’s Word, a pastor of God’s people, and be able to function evangelistically in God’s world.

Who is it for?

Men who will serve God effectively and who will benefit from the Course will have a conviction that they should give themselves wholly to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word and the care of God’s people, and will have a burden to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. Their home church will have responsibly assessed them and will share the conviction that they should devote themselves to gospel ministry.

The Course is particularly suited for men whose circumstances or convictions are such that attendance at a theological college is not possible. Men already in preaching / pastoral / evangelistic ministry who have not had the opportunity of training may also find the Course to be especially suitable for them.

What does the Course involve?

The Course lasts for four years: years A, B, C, and D. Men may join in any year (thus it is possible to start in Year D or end in Year A). All students, therefore, study the same material at the same time.

There are 2 residential sessions, one towards the end of August and the other running from Easter Monday. These sessions begin on Monday morning and end on Friday afternoon. Each morning there are lectures in the following subjects: Biblical Studies, Systematic Theology, and Church History. There is free time each afternoon between lunch and afternoon tea, during which men may use the sports facilities at the Conference Centre where the Course is run, or at the Thomson Villa Conference Centre. Alternatively men may choose simply to enjoy the scenic beauty of the surrounding area or spend time with their families if these have accompanied them.

Between tea and dinner there are lectures on Pastoral Theology (which, as can be seen from the syllabus, is widely defined). After dinner there will either be an open discussion session or a paper given on a subject chosen from a wide variety of issues, such as contemporary culture, issues of theological concern, or historical or biographical material. These papers are then followed by discussion.

For the rest of the year students will follow a course of guided reading, having to submit a total of nine assignments through the year. There will be six written assignments after the August session (one per month) and three after the Easter session (also one per month). Where at all possible students will be allocated to a local tutor with whom they should meet each month for nine months of the year. The tutor’s function will be to help the student’s thinking with respect to the written assignments, as well as to be something of a mentor to him.

In addition, it will normally be the case that a student will be active in his home church, being given opportunities to preach, to take meetings, and to be involved in evangelistic and/or pastoral work.

How is the Course delivered?

By a mixture of lectures and discussions, guided reading and assessment of written assignments.

What qualifications are needed?

The essential qualifications are that a man must have a sense of conviction that he should devote himself wholly to the work of preaching, teaching, and pastoring, and, in the normal course of events, have the support and endorsement of the officers and members of his home church that he is suitable for this work.

No formal academic qualifications are needed to be accepted onto the Course. This should not be interpreted to mean that the Course is a ‘soft option’. Quite the contrary! Men with first class degrees or doctorates from excellent universities have testified to the fact that the Course stretched their minds. On the other hand, men of lesser academic abilities or with few, if any, academic qualifications have found the Course to be extremely profitable and beneficial. Since God calls and equips both types of men for gospel ministry, we believe it to be right to provide training for all those who are gifted and equipped by God.

Applications

Applications will be sympathetically considered from men who are convinced that they should devote themselves to gospel ministry. The applicant’s home church will normally have to support the application. His home church will need to confirm its belief that the applicant has been born again and that he has been equipped by God in such a way as to hold out promise for future gospel ministry. Applicants must be whole-heartedly committed to the evangelical faith and be able to give unreserved assent to the Doctrinal Belief of the Evangelical Movement of Wales. (If at any time a student can no longer assent to this statement of belief, it is expected that he will make this fact known to the Principal and, if so requested, resign from the Course.)

The leadership of the Course reserve the right to turn down any application they deem unsuitable and also to suspend from the Course any student who is either not profiting from it or who, it becomes clear, is not suitable for the Course.

New students are normally admitted at the beginning of the Course year, that is, the August session.

Finance

Most students will be funded by themselves or by their home church. This being the case, every effort is made to keep the costs of the Course as low as possible. This does not mean that the quality of the teaching is substandard; rather, we wish to give the very best value for money. Further details can be obtained by contacting the Office through the email address below.

More information

Contact: info@celticcrossministry.org

Course Syllabus

The course is divided into four consecutive years. Applicants can join the Course in any year and continue throughout the four-year cycle. Thus someone starting in Year A would do Years A, B, C, D (in that order). Someone starting in Year C would do Years C, D, A and B (in that order).

Although there is no formal teaching of the biblical languages, help can be given by the Biblical Studies lecturers (who are university trained to degree or post graduate level in these languages) to men who so require it.

In all sections of the Course, issues over which evangelicals are in disagreement in their interpretation of Scripture will be treated with integrity and charity, and with an earnest desire to be faithful in all things to the Scriptures.

YEAR A:

BIBLICAL STUDIES
  • The Pentateuch, with special reference to Creation, Fall, Covenant with Abraham and Israel, paying particular attention to the progressive nature of revelation and the importance of this to biblical theology.
  • The Pre-Exilic Prophets with special reference to Hosea in Israel and Isaiah in Judah.
CHURCH HISTORY 
  • The Early Church. Origins and Growth; Persecutions; Life, Worship and Church Order; Controversies up to 451 – the Church and the Roman Empire.
  • The Mediaeval Period. Relationship of Eastern to Western; Growth of the Papacy; Monasticism; Scholasticism; Intellectual Developments; Mysticism; The Demand for Reform; Preparation for the Reformation.
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY 
  • The Doctrine of Scripture – Revelation, Inspiration, Authority and Interpretation; Text and Canon of Scripture; Contemporary Challenges.
  • The Doctrine of God – His Being, Attributes; The Holy Trinity; Works; Contemporary Challenges.
  • The Doctrine of Man – His original state; in sin; under grace; Relevance to Contemporary Issues.
PASTORAL THEOLOGY 
  • Exegesis and Hermeneutics: Intro to Exegesis
  • Pastoral Practice: Personal Care & Development / Intro to Counselling
  • Church Life: Principles of Mission / Local Church Mission

YEAR B:

BIBLICAL STUDIES 
  • The Johaninne Literature.
  • Luke-Acts.
CHURCH HISTORY 
  • The Reformation in Europe. Luther; Calvin; Knox; Zwingli; Anabaptists; Counter-Reformation; The Reformation in England; The Origins of Puritanism.
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY 
  • The Doctrine of Christ: His Person, States, Offices; Historic and contemporary controversies.
  • The Work of Christ with special reference to the Atonement; Challenges to preaching the Atonement.
  • The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit: His Divinity, Personality; His work in the church and the individual.
PASTORAL THEOLOGY 
  • Exegesis and Hermeneutics: Mapping the text / Preaching Genre
    Pastoral Practice: Pastoral Problems
    Church Life: World Mission / Pastoral Visitation

YEAR C:

BIBLICAL STUDIES
  • The Wisdom Literature with special reference to Ecclesiastes.
  • Jeremiah and Haggai.
CHURCH HISTORY
  • Puritanism and the Rise of Nonconformity.
  • The Evangelical Awakening in Wales; Early Welsh Nonconformity; The Rise of Calvinistic Methodism.
  • The Revivals of 1859 and 1904.
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY 
  • The Doctrine of the Application of the Work of Redemption: special attention will be paid to contemporary challenges to the doctrine of justification by faith, and to differing views of sanctification.
  • The Doctrine of the Church: Introduction.
PASTORAL THEOLOGY 
  • Exegesis and Hermeneutics: From Text to Sermon / Illustrations and Application
    Pastoral Practice: Pastoral Problems
    Church Life: Church Leadership / Church Meetings

YEAR D:

BIBLICAL STUDIES
  • The Epistle to the Romans
  • 1 Corinthians
  • Colossians
CHURCH HISTORY
  • The Evangelical Awakening in England and America: Nineteenth and Twentieth-century Developments.
  • The Missionary Movement: Intellectual and Religious Developments; Conflicts and Attitudes of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries.
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY 
  • The Church: Relationship between Old and New Testament view of God’s people; Features, Functions, and Form of the Church (including Structures, Offices, Gifts, and Ministries).
  • The Doctrine of the Last Things.
PASTORAL THEOLOGY
  • Exegesis and Hermeneutics: Different types of Preaching / Developing your Preaching
    Pastoral Practice: Pastoral Problems
    Church Life: Weddings / Funerals

LECTURERS

Biblical Studies: New Testament

Archbishop L . Joseph Mohan Kumar

Biblical Studies: Old Testament

Archbishop Sam Jayakumar

Pastoral Theology 

Archbishop Anish Nr

Systematic Theology

Archbishop Michael Nchang Abongwa

Department of Christian Evangelism

Archbishop Michael Brown

We hope you will find all the information you need about the course on this site, but if you need more information please contact us here