Gordon-Conwell launched its CACSemlink Chinese Theology Online Education Program earlier this month with an online ceremony for an inaugural cohort of 66 students.

Marking a milestone in the seminary’s outreach to the Chinese-speaking world, this program aims to translate Gordon-Conwell’s core curriculum into Asian languages and deliver theological education online to serve churches and ministry leaders across Asia.

“Gordon-Conwell is a seminary driven by the vision of Revelation 7—people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language standing before the throne and the Lamb,” stated Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, president of Gordon-Conwell, in a video address to new students. He described the Chinese Semlink program, now offering a certificate of completion through the Gordon-Conwell Institute and exploring accredited degrees in the future, as a cornerstone of the seminary’s broader Asian outreach. “The 60-plus students joining today are already part of the Gordon-Conwell family,” he said.

The program’s origins trace back more than 20 years to Chi Kong Shue, a member of Gordon-Conwell’s Board of Trustees, who first conceived the idea while studying theology in the seminary’s evening school program. Reflecting on that experience at the ceremony, Mr. Shue said he had been deeply enriched by the courses and had long hoped to make them accessible to the Chinese-speaking world through online education. He expressed his continued commitment to seeing the program flourish within the CACSemlink framework.

Dr. Kevin Xiyi Yao, a Gordon-Conwell professor serving as the program’s academic director, described the CACSemlink curriculum as an academically rigorous representation of the seminary’s most enduring course offerings and said it would significantly impact Chinese-language theological education.

Independent scholar Yang Peng spoke, encouraging students to focus not only on academic learning but also to cultivate fellowship and dialogue among themselves—an essential dimension of forming Christian community. He invoked Matthew 18:20 to illuminate the mentor-student relationship: “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” 

Representatives from the mentoring and administrative teams highlighted the distinctiveness of the program. Two student representatives shared moving personal testimonies of faith and the longing for deeper theological grounding. An alumnus of the original Semlink program, who went on to earn a degree at Gordon-Conwell, offered a living witness to the doors that theological education opens.

Mr. Shue closed the ceremony with a prayer, reflecting on the program’s significance for the spread of the gospel and asking for God’s guidance as the initiative moves forward.

Visit the Gordon-Conwell Institute and the CACSemlink websites to learn more.