Mission & Values
NBTS – A Light in God’s Cities.
Educating people and calling communities to
Think Critically,
Act Justly, and
Lead Faithfully.
Called in Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, New Brunswick Theological Seminary participates in God’s own laboring to fulfill God’s reign on earth.
Rooted in the Reformed tradition and centered in its trust of God’s sovereignty and grace, the Seminary is an inter-cultural, ecumenical school of Christian faith, learning, and scholarship committed to its metro-urban and global contexts.
Our mission is to educate persons and strengthen communities for transformational, public ministries in church and society. We fulfill this mission through creative, contextual, and critical engagement with texts, traditions, and practices.
The Seminary seeks to serve men and women of all ages, church traditions and racial/ethnic backgrounds with academic programs suited to their needs. Students are welcome to study full or part-time, day and evening, in residence and on-line.
The Seminary draws upon the resources of its university contexts for graduate instruction in a variety of academic disciplines. Located in a socially diverse, religiously plural, and racially mixed metropolitan culture, the Seminary seeks the integration of a classical theological education with the effective practice of ministry in urban, suburban, and rural churches and institutions.
Core Values
New Brunswick Seminary values:
- the Bible as the authoritative witness to God’s self-revelation and definitive guide for Christian faith and practice.
- its roots in the Reformed tradition, centered in its trust in God’s sovereignty and grace, as an inter-cultural, ecumenical school of Christian faith, learning, and scholarship.
- the community as it exists on its New Jersey campus, its New York site, and online and the conversations within and between the communities.
- a theology of ministry requiring scholarship, critical discernment, and intentional conversations as the basis for ministerial vocation guided by the principle of faith seeking understanding.
- the spiritual formation of the whole person in the image of God in Christ.
- the diversity of its students and faculty in terms of tradition, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, and life experience.
- the task of preparing people for ministries that are prophetic, pastoral, and transformational.
- the sacred work of providing accessible theological education, especially to those for whom theological education would be otherwise unavailable.
- the importance of engaging our students in a diverse learning environment in hybrid and online experiences.