The Baptist Theological College of Southern Africa, known to many as BTC, was established in 1951 as a ministerial training institution of the Baptist Union of Southern Africa. The College is an accredited higher education institution which seeks to equip believers for ministry and welcomes those who feel a call to Christian ministry from churches across multiple denominations. 

 

The College’s campus and offices are located in Randburg, South Africa, yet it welcomes students from across the country and further afield in its offering of both contact and distance learning. 

 

The College’s current Principal is Dr. Darryl Soal who succeeded Prof. ‘Piff’ G. C. Pereira in January 2023. 

OUR MISSION & VISION

STATEMENT OF FAITH

While our College has strong Baptist roots and we are proud of our rich Baptist heritage, we welcome students from many different denominations provided that they are willing to accept our Statement of Faith. Our Statement of Faith is based on that which was passed by the Baptist Union Assembly which was held in Durban in September 1924.

 

Our theological education is shaped by our commitment to the inspired Word of God and our belief that the Church can and should be relevant in contemporary society.

We believe

in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writing as fully inspired of God and accept them as the supreme and final authority for faith and life.

We believe

in one God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We believe

that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true man.

We believe

that God created man in His own image; that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual; that all human beings inherit a sinful nature which issues (in the case of those who reach moral responsibility) in actual transgression involving personal guilt.

We believe

that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitutionary sacrifice, according to the Scriptures, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.

We believe

in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus, His ascension into heaven, and His present life as our High Priest and advocate.

We believe

in the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe

that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are reborn again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God.

We believe

in the resurrection both of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessedness of the redeemed and the eternal banishment of those who have rejected the offer of salvation.

We believe

that the one true Church is the whole company of those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit; that the local Church on earth should take its character from this conception of the Church spiritual, and therefore that the new birth and personal confession of Christ are essentials of Church membership.

We believe

that the Lord Jesus Christ appointed two ordinances – Baptism and the Lord’s Supper – to be observed as acts of obedience and as perpetual witnesses to the cardinal facts of the Christian faith; that Baptism is the immersion of the believer in water as a confession of identification with Christ in burial and resurrection, and that the Lord’s Supper is the partaking of bread and wine as symbolical of the Saviour’s broken body and shed blood, in remembrance of His sacrificial death till He comes.

THE BTC STORY

The College was established in 1951 by the Baptist Union of Southern Africa to prepare pastors for Baptist churches. Building on its Baptist heritage, today the College welcomes students from all denominations who seek to equip themselves for Christian ministry. In 2019, more than 500 students were registered across the College’s different qualification programmes.

Baptists came to South Africa with the 1820 Settlers and the first Baptist church was established in the Salem/Kariega area near Grahamstown. They elected William Miller, one of their number, to be their pastor. When forced by economic circumstances to move to Grahamstown to work there as a carpenter, he ministered to the few Baptists there.

 

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Accreditation

The Baptist Theological College of Southern Africa is an association incorporated under section 21 Reg. No. 2003/019542/08. BTC is registered with the Department of Education as a Private Higher Education Institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997. Registration Certificate No 2000/HE08/004.