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Good News Theological
College and Seminary
The primary companion of the ELCA in Ghana is not a Lutheran church, but
an institution for training pastors and church leaders, the
Good News Theological College
and Seminary, formerly known as the Good News Training Institute. The ELCA, along with the
Mennonite Board of Missions, has provided personnel, scholarships, and financial
assistance to GNTCS since its beginning.
Good News Theological College and Seminary was founded in 1971 by
visionary leaders of the church in Ghana to educate Christian workers in the Word of God,
and to prepare them for service to God's people.
The major aim was to make this education available to the leadership of the Independent
Churches of Ghana and West Africa. The College/Seminary also strives to encourage
inter-church discussion and study and to promote and document Christian experience
indigenous to West Africa.
GNTCS is the only school in Ghana sponsored and funded by the Independent,
Spiritual, and Pentecostal churches of Ghana. Churches which are indigenous to Africa are
often referred to as AICs, or African Instituted Churches. They represent one of the
strongest movements of Christian growth in the continent.
GNTCS is flourishing under the strong leadership of its Ghanaian
principal, Thomas Oduro, who received a degree at Luther Seminary in St.
Paul, Minnesota in 1994. The College/Seminary purchased its own land and broke ground for
its first building in 1996 after 25 years in rented and borrowed facilities in Accra. The
first building is a combination classroom and library building.
As an interdenominational school, the College/Seminary does not teach the
doctrines and practices of any individual church, nor does it criticize their teachings
and rituals. The major emphasis at GNTCS is God's
plan of redemption as revealed in the Holy Bible, both Old and New Testaments. Biblical
studies provide the basis for a ministry which conforms to the Word of God. In addition to
academic studies, learners are given individual attention by the staff in the development
of their spirituality and personal Christian life. A well-supplied library greatly
enhances the academic programs.
GNTCS also seeks to raise the level of biblical knowledge and pastoral
skills for those who are already serving congregations. It offers both full-time and
part-time programs of study, as well as Theological Education by Extension (TEE) and
special seminars and short-term training programs. Over twenty students are enrolled in
the full-time four-year residential program.
ELCA Global Mission has provided missionary lecturers to GNTCS from its beginning until
1996, when the last salaried missionaries retired. ELCA Global Mission continues to provide lecturers
through the Lutheran World Mission Volunteer program. Five Ghanaian faculty members have
received training through ELCA Global Mission's International
Scholarship program.
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