Greetings from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Throughout our website, we try to tell you, directly and indirectly, about Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. You will find pictures of a few of our students. Usually they are smiling and relaxed. Our Admissions Department wants to convey that the seminary is a happy place for contented students. That’s not completely accurate. Lifelong friendships begun here at Gordon-Conwell are forged through tough times as well. We laugh with those who laugh, but we weep and pray with those who hurt as well. There is a spirit here that can’t be captured in pictures or pages. It’s called community. 

You will also see photographs of our faculty. They are also smiling. They are friendly enough. The smiles are genuine. But what you really need to know is that they are committed scholars who take seriously the command to love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul and mind. It’s the “mind” part that is sometimes overlooked by Christians. One calling of the faculty is to think God’s thoughts after him. But members of our faculty are not scholars isolated and removed from life. They are also teachers. They do their utmost to provide our students with the tools they need for a lifetime of study, learning, and ministry.

A host of our professors serve in ministry as well. They teach and preach on the mission field. They lead churches in pastoral roles. They help establish orphanages for AIDS victims in Third World countries, and many other acts of service to Christ. If you can handle the cliché, they practice what they preach. What they teach in the classroom has been tested in “real life.”

The members of our faculty take the Bible very seriously. They believe that the Scriptures are not given to be dissected and examined as a coroner performs an autopsy on a corpse. As we examine the Scriptures, they examine us. The Bible is the living word from God on which we build our lives and through which the Holy Spirit can guide others to cast themselves on Jesus Christ and to grow more like him.

Something else I think you should know. We believe that the line of penetration moves from the classroom to the pulpit, from the pulpit to the pew and from the pew to the pavement. Not all of our alumni/ae serve in a church or as part of a religious organization. Some serve in the marketplace, in business, in government, or as counselors and teachers. No matter where they serve they must know the culture and the people where they live. That means that at Gordon-Conwell we not only study the questions our fathers asked. We anticipate and wrestle with the questions our children will ask as well.

In the interconnected world of the 21st century, none of us dare say, “My parish is my world.” All of us who take the Lord’s last command on earth seriously realize that we must affirm, “The world is my parish.” We may not bring the world to Christ, but each of us must in some way be involved in bringing Christ to the world. Evangelism and missions are part of our DNA at Gordon-Conwell. For people of the Book it cannot be otherwise.

The seminary exists on three different campuses that are located in Charlotte, NC, Boston and South Hamilton, MA (We have another developing campus in Jacksonville, Florida as well.) As you explore our website, you may sense that God’s Spirit is nudging you towards study at Gordon-Conwell. It would be great to have you! We will do everything we can to help you enroll. On whatever campus you choose to join us, I think you will discover the same community, the same commitments, and the same unswerving dedication to our Lord Jesus.

An Object of Grace,

Haddon W. Robinson
President