1901-Present
Central Seminary and the Judson Legacy
Overland Park Kansas KS
There are at least two Judson namesakes in the history of Central Baptist Theological Seminary–one in the past and the other in the present. At the beginning of the 20th century there was no Baptist seminary west of the Mississippi River. Rev. Evan B. Meredith of the Kansas Baptist State Convention and committed Baptist Joanna Barber Lovelace merged their energies to birth the Kansas City Baptist Theological Seminary in 1901 and the school formally opened classes on 21 October 1902 with 4 faculty and 6 students. (The name was formally changed to Central Seminary in 1941.)
By 1913 the Women’s Training School was fully operational with 31 women enrolled. They created the Ann Hasseltine Missionary Society as seen in this 1928 photo of their membership.
From its beginning the seminary had an international vision and by 1920 students from eleven nations ere enrolled in classes. Today Judson Communities at Central Seminary serves pastors and church leaders from Burma that have been resettled in America. These ministers, mainly trained in Burma and Thailand, find themselves making dramatic cultural and lifestyle changes in the USA while leading congregations of people making similar adjustments. They have not been prepared for all the situations they face in the US so additional training is needed in the heart-language they can fully comprehend.
FOUNDATIONS Judson Communities was originally organized and implemented by Duane & Marcia Binkley, jointly appointed missionaries by International Ministries of the ABC-USA and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The first session was launched in 2012 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Upon the Binkley’s retirement, the responsibility for directing the program was transferred to Marlene Po at Central Seminary.
Judson Communities includes the following seminars:
- Pastoral Arts
- New Testament Overview
- Old Testament Overview
- Baptist Heritage Overview
- Church Administration
- Ministry Contextualization
- Ministry Ethics
- Missional Church
- Proclamation
- Theology
Monthly or bi-monthly classes are scheduled at a strategic location to attract as many students as possible in each area. Students arrive on Friday for a 2-3 hour session on Friday evening and return on Saturday for another eight hour training session. Students completing all ten sessions receive a Certificate of Ministry Studies from CBTS. Thus far classes have been conducted at 14 different locations in 11 different states.[1]
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[1] https://www.cbts.edu/global-partnerships/