Korea Baptist Theological University

Overview

Korea Baptist Theological University is a theological university operated by the Korea Baptist Convention. It trains pastors and other church leaders for Baptist churches. Its English abbreviation is KBTUS. The school's founding principles are truth, regeneration (being born again), and freedom. Its motto is 2 Timothy 2:15: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

Founding and History

The school traces its origins to 1953. That year the Korea Baptist Church (Daehan Gidokgyo Chimnyehoe), the former name of the Korea Baptist Convention, and the Korea Mission of the Southern Baptist Convention jointly founded the Baptist Bible Institute in Daejeon. The following year the Ministry of Education authorized the school under the name Baptist Theological Seminary. Its first principal is reported to have been Na Yo-han. In 1968 it took over the Daehan Baptist Theological Seminary, which had been founded separately during a denominational split. In 1973 it was authorized as a four-year college under the name Korea Baptist Theological College. In 1980 it was renamed Baptist Theological College and established a graduate school and a graduate school of theology. In 1992 the campus moved from Mok-dong in Jung District, Daejeon, to its present site in Hagi-dong, Yuseong District. In 1993 the school became Baptist Theological University.

In 1981, in Seoul, Pastor Kim Jang-hwan (Billy Kim) led the merger of several theological schools into Sudo Baptist Theological Seminary. The two institutions merged their educational corporations in 2001, and the schools themselves were consolidated in 2006. In October 2020 the school adopted its present name, Korea Baptist Theological University.

Major Activities

The university's programs center on its Department of Theology. It also offers undergraduate and graduate programs related to church ministry, including Christian education, church music, social welfare, and early childhood education. In 2020 it opened a Department of Youth Studies and a Graduate School of Biblical Exposition. It has exchange agreements with Baptist seminaries abroad, including Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the United States. Each year the university also holds revival meetings for students, faculty, and staff.

Denomination and Governance

As the denominational seminary of the Korea Baptist Convention, the university is operated by its educational corporation, the Korea Baptist Theological Institute. The corporation's board of trustees consists mainly of pastors from the denomination. The president is an ex officio member of the board.

Controversies and Evaluation

Conflicts within the denomination have repeatedly spread to the board of trustees and prevented the board from functioning properly. In 2018 the Ministry of Education appointed interim trustees. In 2020 the school returned to governance by a regular board.

In 2025 the Korean University Accreditation Institute issued a "deferred accreditation" decision in its institutional accreditation review of the university. It cited the school's failure to meet the required standards for enrollment of new and current students and for faculty staffing. The General Assembly of the Korea Baptist Convention concluded that the board's repeated dysfunction had burdened the school's operations. It decided to convene an extraordinary session to address the question of responsibility. President Pi Young-min, however, had argued before this decision that the board had failed to cooperate with the administration. Among other things, he pointed to the board's failure to approve new faculty appointments.

The Ministry of Education later found that the school had violated the Private School Act by failing to fill trustee vacancies within the required period. It therefore revoked its approval of four trustees and decided to appoint interim trustees again. This is the second time the school has been placed under interim trustees.