“One of our goals in the merger is to bring closer together two constituencies that never should have been separated in the first place.”

“We come out of slightly different milieus. Faith comes historically from the Regular Baptist movement, and Central comes from the very conservative wing of the Conservative Baptist movement. Over time, these two branches have grown much closer together,” Bauder says. “One of our goals in the merger is to bring closer together two constituencies that never should have been separated in the first place.”

Dr. Bauder’s comment is very interesting. Studying in college at Maranatha (which grew historically from the CBA branch) and in seminary at Faith (which grew directly from the GARBC branch), I feel like I received two very different perspectives regarding an extremely short but important period in church history — from representatives of two groups which have ended up at similar places.

Perhaps one day someone will write the definitive history of these things and answer all my questions. Until then, I do not understand why the folks who ended up going into the CBA (then back out again) did not join the GARBC to begin with (or after they left the CBA, for that matter). With hindsight, that certainly seems like it was a Biblically healthier arrangement.

Something else that might come as a result is a school/university that has a larger visibility and possibly the ability to compete with BJU more effectively in terms of students and donors. It also creates another area of study [and hopefully research and publishing!] for Fundamentalists who are leery of getting all of their education from Greenville, while keeping them from looking [immediately] to Dallas or TMS if they want to go outside the sphere of Fundy influence.

I was slightly skeptical at first about the benefits, but I think I’m warming to the idea now that I have a little more info.

When the Minnesota Baptist Association withdrew from the CBA they were fairly strong and independent. There were only one or two GARBC churches in Minnesota at the time. Doc Clearwaters expressly stated that he felt the GARBC was too Calvinistic. He helped found the N.T. Association. However, it really never went anywhere. Minnesota was said to have its own brand of Fundamentalism. My observation as a West Coaster who went to Central was that it was very different than the GARBC on the West coast. When I was talking to DOC at one of the daily Coffee breaks I told him I was probably going to go back to the west coast after graduation. He said; “Thats OK, we often send emissaries from the kingdom.” Central has always been very moderately Calvinistic. Very few 5 pointers come out of there and most would never have an Ordo that saw regeneration preceding Faith. The sovereignty of God is emphasized but Calvinism as a system is in the background to Dispensationalism. Dr, Vanhetloo, the founding dean, called himself a Biblicist rather than a Calvinist. He had the THM from Calvin and the THD from Dallas. I appreciated the attempt at balance. Something that the New Calvinist movement and many other Calvinist Reformed today lack. This balance and Dispensational perspective was historically so at both Grace sminary and Dallas. Although Alva J. McClain appears to have been more overtly Calvinistic than Chafer and Dallas. Detroit Baptist appears to have more of a Calvinistic emphasis with some into regeneration preceding faith. Calvary in Landsdale is more like Central was. Probably because Vanhetloo went there as its first Dean and was there over 20 years.

It will be interesting to see how this merger works out. I think Central has less than 100 full time students at present. I would think this may be the same for Faith. Being a two campus seminary would go along with what some other seminaries have done. Multiple location campuses have worked well. What they need to do is open a third Campus in Florida. There could be a fairly good sized student body on that campus. Central established Central in Virginia. However, it became totally independent but is still “Central” while really being “east.”

We need schools that maintain the course of Classic Dispensational moderate Calvinistic (very moderate) theology with an emphasis that looks to evangelism and does not see revivalism as all bad. What will the new school be? “Central Faith Fundamentalist Theological Seminary” is an option. Motto: “Where the Fun and Mental are both alive.”

I agree with almost everything you said re: theology.

How about this for a school slogan? “We’re putting the ‘mental’ in fundamentalism!” :)

[Bob T.] We need schools that maintain the course of Classic Dispensational moderate Calvinistic (very moderate) theology with an emphasis that looks to evangelism and does not see revivalism as all bad. What will the new school be? “Central Faith Fundamentalist Theological Seminary” is an option. Motto: “Where the Fun and Mental are both alive.”

Or, to play with all the non-Calvinists, we could make “Faith Central Seminary” ;p

Ministry consolidation on a church, ministry, and educational level is a good idea in this day in which we live. It requires believers in a given ministry to humble themselves and realize they are not, and never have been, an island unto themselves. Often times, more is accomplished for Christ when bible-believing Christians come together for the cause of the gospel. The students in these seminaries are privileged to be right int he middle of something beautiful.

If your ministry, what ever it may be, is struggling, why not consider merging with some else of like precious faith? Just last year, I helped to lead a struggling church planting ministry into a merge with Baptist Church Planters in OH. I believe we were blessed by recognizing we could accomplish more with Baptist Church Planters than without them.

I know of several situations where I believe communities could be better served if a couple of struggling churches would just come together and combine their gifts and resources to minister the gospel to their communities.

I salute these two seminaries for making this beautiful move.

Joe,

I appreciated your last post. I have preached this for years when it comes to struggling local churches. There, however, it seems that pride, backward thinking and ties to the past usually trump such aggressive projects. I am glad you had success in your endeavor.

As one man said in my hearing about a similar issue in the secular realm, “Everyone wants to have their own kingdom, but not everyone can have a kingdom.”

There is only room for so many “kings” and so many “kingdoms,” and I think sometimes we forget that.

In the situation under discussion, I will be praying that if God wills, it will be used by Him to create a much stronger institution than either seminary could provide on its own — something like Jay describes in post #2. That would truly be exciting.

The merger looks good. Bauder is right on the money! No reason today for there to be a wall between the “Central orb” and the “Faith orb.” Far too much in common. Of course I would add a few more “orb’s” to the list of “unnecessary divisions.” But I’ve mentioned all that before. I hope this merger goes through!

Straight Ahead!

jt