On January 19, 2018, Guangdong Union Theological Seminary held a closing ceremony for the first semester of the school year 2017-2018.
The ceremony was hosted by Rev. Cai Jianwei, the college's vice-president and provost. Deacon Zhou Jiebo, the office director, gave the opening prayer. Citing 1 Timothy 4:12, one pastor exhorted the students to remain humble and engaged in church ministries and set examples for believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity, according to the seminary's official website.
In addition, departments such as the office of academic affairs, the library, and the students' union made reports.
Founded in 1914, GUTS was originally Canton Union Theological College but was suspended in 1960. It reopened in 1986 with the current name. The seminary offered a two-year theological program in Guangzhou Dongshan Church. In 1994 the school started a three-year program that awarded an associate's degree and was relocated in the former Bishop House of the Anglican Church in Shamian. It moved to the present campus in 2001 and became the first provincial-level seminary to run an undergraduate program in 2009.
As of September 2016, it had trained more than 700 theological graduates with further pastoral classes and research and advanced classes, and over 800 graduates. 75% of the pastoral personnel in Guangdong are from Guangdong Union Theological Seminary and most of the graduates serve in Guangdong churches while some serve in Hainan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
There are three junior college classes, four undergraduate classes, three extended classes and one two-year sacred music class, with 200 students at the school.
- Translated by Karen Luo
