Union School of Theology, formerly known as the Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST), is a Reformed Christian educational institution in Bryntirion in Bridgend, South Wales. Its doctrinal position is conservative evangelical.
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History
The college was founded in 1936 as the Barry School of Evangelism (1936-1950) (also called Barry Bible College). It was successively known as South Wales Bible College (1950-1985), Evangelical Theological College of Wales (1985-2006), and Wales Evangelical School of Theology (2006-2016). The school was situated in Barry from 1950 to 1985. Eryl Davies became Principal in September 1985, moving the college to the seven acre grounds of the historic Bryntirion House in Bridgend. Jonathan Stephen became Principal in 2006 and the college was renamed Wales Evangelical School of Theology.
The school had 170 students in 2009-10 in undergraduate and graduate degree programs up to the Ph.D. It is accredited by the British Accreditation Council to grant the PhD, MA, MMin, DMin, MPhil, MTh, LTh, and the BA in Theology.
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Graduate programme
The graduate programme was described by Iain Murray as "well-known British training schools for ministers and missionaries" that attracts evangelical Christians wishing to study for the ministry. WEST has a significant international enrolment, including students from Korea. It has trained generations of men for the Reformed ministry.
Fund raising
Soon after assuming the Presidency, Stephen announced major fundraising and expansion campaigns. As of 2008, the School was looking for suitable real estate to purchase. The proposal met local opposition from groups that did not want the change to come to the proposed site and difficulties over the high price.
SaRang links
Since 2007 WEST's mission of spreading the gospel has been backed though a partnership with the SaRang Community Church which has added WEST and Wales to its worldwide areas of active mission. According to WEST lecturer Sungho Choi, Welsh and Korean evangelicals have a "unique link" because the first Protestant missionary to Korea, the 19th century Robert Jermain Thomas, was from Llanover, Abergavenny, Wales.
Controversies
The affiliations and practice of the Korean churches, the involvement of the international director of the Lausanne movement on WEST's board till 2014, and claims of ecumenical connections in Poland have generated controversy. The appointment of a Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies who has described portions of John's Gospel as 'fiction', who is 'agnostic whether the gospel and the epistles of John have common authorship' and claims the Beloved Disciple is 'not the author' of the Gospel has been cited to raise doubt about the persistence of the Evangelical character of the college.
Notable alumni
- Ian Paisley began his theological training at the school when it was known as the Barry School of Evangelism.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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