Expecting a significant need arising within the Southern Baptist Convention for Spanish-speaking pastors and ministry leaders, Midwestern Seminary added two Spanish language master’s degrees designed to prepare leaders for pastoral ministry and post-graduate study.
Beginning with its pilot “Leadership Practicum” course at the 2017 For the Church Conference on Midwestern Seminary’s Kansas City, Mo., campus, the school expanded the reach and accessibility of affordable theological training to leaders in the Hispanic church.
“We are living in an age where there is a dearth of pastors and ministry leaders across the spectrum in Southern Baptist and evangelical churches,” said President Jason Allen. “This is no different in the Hispanic church.
[quote]“One of our aims in existing for the church includes the training of pastors and ministry leaders to serve in multicultural contexts. It is proven that those who can study and train in their heart languages will be most effective in their ministry calling. We are proud of our Asian Studies Department here, and through the addition of these two new Spanish language degree tracks we look to further strengthen our Hispanic Studies Department and offer solid, biblically based theological education to meet this growing demand within the Hispanic community.”[/quote]
With its regular rotation of courses beginning in February 2018, each of the degree programs will be offered to students through a combination of online, campus hybrid/J-Term, and conference-related courses.
Offerings within these programs are designed by Midwestern Seminary’s full time faculty members taught by Spanish-speaking professors like Dr. Bobby Sena and Félix Cabrera.
Cabrera, who is lead pastor of Iglesia Bautista Central in Oklahoma City, noted that while there is an awakening and desire to return to the truth of Scripture within the Hispanic church, there is still a need for a knowledge of “how to do church.”
“That is why our focus at Midwestern Seminary is to prepare the next generation of pastors not only with solid theological knowledge but also an ecclesiological understanding. The Spanish-speaking world desperately needs more pulpits and healthy churches!
“It is important that our future Hispanic pastors, not only in North America but also throughout the rest of the world, receive the best theological preparation. An important element is that it can be in the language they master and use. That is why we are committed to presenting a Spanish-speaking faculty to provide students with the best and most understandable tools they need.”
Cabrera added that the faculty under which the students study will be both academically solid and will have vast pastoral experience.
“We want our students to feel the instruction of pastor/theologians who have evangelistic hearts and who have demonstrated throughout their ministries a passion for the local Church,” he said.
Students interested in learning more about the new master’s tracks can contact Cabrera at [email protected], and for those considering the Doctor of Ministry program’s Hispanic track can contact Bobby Sena at [email protected].