Fuller Announces New School of Mission and Theology

INSIDE OUR SCHOOLS

Payton Hall, on the campus of Fuller Theological Seminary (Photo – Bobak Ha’Eri)

Fuller Seminary announced that the Schools of Theology and Intercultural Studies have been reconstituted into one school, the School of Mission and Theology (SMT), effective July 1, 2021.

By News Desk

This change, both in name and in the accompanying curricular and program restructures, positions Fuller to better serve its students, learners, and partners around the world in several ways. First, the change recovers the missional orientation so central to the seminary when it was founded by radio evangelist Charles E. Fuller and pastor-scholar Harold John Ockenga in 1947. Second, it builds on SIS’s practitioner-scholar paradigm, renewing the commitment to rigorous scholarship that leads directly to effective, relevant practice amongst the new global realities in the 21st century.

The new school aims to “underscore how theology and mission are contextual and holistic. Such curricula will integrate rigorous scholarship with ministerial, missional, and practical wisdom through courses that utilize new technologies to reach the body of Christ globally. SMT students will receive indispensable formation in life-giving patterns of thinking and feeling, of believing and behaving, that are grounded in Scripture, Christ-centered, and mission-focused,” according to the school’s website.

Amos Yong, Dean of the School of Mission and Theology, said:

Fuller’s graduates encounter on-the-ground realities marked by waves of cultural change that continuously reshape what discipleship looks like and what leadership demands.

Chief Academic Officer Alexis Abernethy commented, “I am so impressed by the deep commitment of the faculties in the Schools of Theology and Intercultural Studies to engage in a process that has resulted in the School of Mission and Theology. Listening, engaging in scholarly reflection, and considering ways to serve the church and our students more effectively were key ingredients not only in this process, but also key elements for our continued work together.”

School of Intercultural Studies (SIS) Dean Emeritus C. Douglas McConnell said, “Paraphrasing the words of our beloved SIS colleague Eddie Gibbs, it is not that God’s church has a mission, rather God’s mission has a church. We celebrate the new school in which theologians and missiologists will work together for the missio Dei.”