Dr. Jaime Castrejon, president of the Inter-American Theological Seminary, holds the accreditation letter from the Association of Theological Schools. The institution is a distributed campus and operates in 10 countries. [photo: Libna Stevens]
Institution offers graduate degrees free for pastors in region
6 Sep 2011, Miami, Florida, United States
Libna Stevens/IAD/ANN
The Association of Theological Schools granted the Inter-American Adventist Theological Seminary full accreditation status this summer, giving the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the region its own fully accredited institution offering graduate degrees in theology and religion.
The institution, operated with a distributed campus, offers degrees taught in English, Spanish and French to active Adventist ministers in 10 countries throughout the church in Inter-America. It offers a Master of Arts in Pastoral Theology, a Master of Arts in Religion, and a Doctor of Ministry.
Dr. Jaime Castrejon, president of the Inter-American Theological Seminary, holds the accreditation letter from the Association of Theological Schools. The institution is a distributed campus and operates in 10 countries. [photo: Libna Stevens]
Based at the division headquarters in Miami, IATS was launched in three countries in 1996 in partnership with United States-based Andrews University. School officials later expanded the number of sites and in 2003 began seeking independent accreditation. Its 10 sites are now located in Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Venezuela.
ATS is a membership organization for the United States and Canada that accredits schools and approves post-graduate professional and academic degrees in the practice of ministry and research in theological disciplines. Its accreditation of IATS is effective as of June 2011 until 2018.
"This is such a milestone," said Jaime Castrejon, IATS president. "To have this prestigious accreditation is simply wonderful."
IATS also received accredited in 2000 from the Adventist Accrediting Association.
Church officials said the seminary was originally launched to enable ministers to study and work within their own territory and culture.
"This has been a long awaited accomplishment," said Israel Leito, president of the Inter-American Divison. "It confirms to us that we have been on the right path now to offer all of our ministers the opportunity to get an advanced degree so that they can help our churches better, preach better sermons and minister to the educated member of today."
Ministers from across Inter-America are able to obtain a degree from IATS free of charge, thanks to a 0.5 percent share of tithe sent from each field territory as of this year. In previous years, the division covered all the costs, according to Filiberto Verduzco, treasurer for the church in Inter-America.
The investment has already produced 408 pastors, who graduated with masters and doctorate degrees from IATS while it remained in candidacy status awaiting accreditation from ATS, Verduzco said.
Castrejon, the IATS president, who holds a Ph.D. in Religious Education, says he has seen and felt the benefits of IATS throughout the territory.
"We have intelligent, thinking people sitting on the pews who are not content with mediocre sermons," Castrejon said. "Our members are educated, informed, so it is important that our ministers are trained to communicate at their level. I have seen a change in the spiritual adequacy of the members and I credit that to better professional sermons."
IATS originally launched by offering graduate degrees from Andrews at three sites: Montemorelos University in Mexico, Antillean Adventist University in Puerto Rico and Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica.
Two additional sites were later added: the University of Southern Caribbean in Trinidad and Colombia Adventist University in Colombia. Four additional sites were added in the 1990s.
But as ministers traveled to Andrews, the operation proved to be expensive for their employers in the short term, and costly in the long run as many graduates found jobs in the U.S.
"We were facing a brain drain in our territory with this situation, as pastors would get their visa and just stayed in the United States," Castrejon said.
While awaiting accreditation, IATS established its central site for academic operations at the Antillean Adventist University campus in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, in 2009.
Pursuing accreditation with ATS took longer than usual because of the need for the accrediting organization to understand the structure of a seminar like IATS, with multiple educational sites spread across many countries, Castrejon said.
For more information on the Inter-American Theological Seminary, visit www.interamerica.org.
Source Adventist News Network
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