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About LTS  

Aim
LTS exists to uphold and promote the ministry of God’s Word. It is fully committed to the truthfulness of the Holy Scriptures and to the necessity of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to give understanding and spiritual power. We believe that preaching the Holy Scriptures in the power of the Holy Spirit will regenerate, reform and revive at a time when many in western society feel that Christianity has had its day.

No seminary (or church for that matter) can make a man a preacher - only God can do that. But it is the aim of LTS to help in some measure to develop those gifts which the Lord gives.

The need of the hour is for men who are called to preach and are able to preach the everlasting gospel. Men like this will be God’s spokesmen and Christ’s ambassadors for a new millennium.

They will be evangelical men in the fullest sense of that term. They will stand in the line of the Reformers, the Puritans, the leaders of the Evangelical Awakening - all those in every age from whom the word of life has sounded out even in the most daunting circumstances.

It was in order to go some way towards meeting this need that LTS was established. The needs of the hour are the needs that called it into existence.

 

Policy
LTS represents a break from the way in which theological education for the ministry has come to be regarded. Since the reason for its existence is the training of preachers and pastors, no provision is made for women students or for those who want to serve the Lord in other ways.

In assessing a person’s suitability for the course, LTS looks to the applicant’s home church. It also encourages the church’s continued involvement in his academic and practical training. If at some stage in the course a student proves unsuitable, his home church will be contacted.

The examination system with its attendant emphasis on diplomas and degrees has been rejected. If the threat of examinations is what keeps a man diligent in his studies, it may certainly be questioned whether he has been called of the Lord. The same thing applies if his supreme aim is the possession of some qualification.

This does not mean that degrees and diplomas have no place. We encourage men, where possible, to obtain good academic qualifications before commencing the course and perhaps to further their studies in a particular field later. History and experience, however, combine to support the Seminary’s decision to concentrate on the single aim of preparing men for preaching and pastoral ministry.

Another distinctive feature of LTS is that it expects all its students to be exposed to every aspect of the course. The whole syllabus is designed to give men an in-depth knowledge of the various theological disciplines. (Depending on the student’s ability, time spent at LTS can qualify towards a university degree. The course has been recognised as equivalent to an M.Div. degree in the USA.)

LTS uses the method of continuous assessment to evaluate students' progress. Essays and written sermons are required throughout the course. There are seminars and tutorials in addition to lectures. Time is provided for discussion. During the summer vacation the student is required to produce either two lengthy book reviews or an extended essay on a subject approved by the teaching staff. Students are encouraged to take an active part in the life of a local church while at LTS and especially so during vacations. A mentoring scheme also operates.

The aim of the tuition is to enable men to develop biblically and spiritually so that they can apply the teaching of the Scriptures to the task of preaching and pastoring the people of God and to contend for that body of truth which is properly called Christianity. In addition, we want students to leave LTS stimulated to continue theological reading and study for their on-going ministry.

Members of the Board and Lecturers come from a variety of church backgrounds. The same is true of the students. We therefore have the opportunity of demonstrating the reality of true Christian unity and hopefully of making a positive contribution to it among the churches. We give pride of place to the Gospel without diminishing the importance of those matters on which evangelicals are not in agreement. These are always given fair treatment.

 

Basis of Faith

  1. The inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures as originally given, their verbal inspiration by God and their supreme authority as the only rule of faith and practice.
  2. The trinity of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Who are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
  3. The essential, absolute and eternal Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ; His conception by the Holy Ghost; His birth of the virgin Mary; His real but sinless humanity; His voluntary humiliation in life as a Man of Sorrows culminating in His substitutionary and atoning death as a sacrifice for sin; His resurrection from the dead on the third day in that very body that had lain in the tomb; His ascension into heaven as the only and eternal Mediator between God and Man and His coming again in power and glory.
  4. The Personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit through Whom the soul is born again to saving repentance and faith and by Whom the saints are sanctified through the truth.
  5. Man's utter ruin through the fall and his salvation solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, whose righteousness imputed to him is the only ground of acceptance before God.
  6. The resurrection of the body, the judgment of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, the everlasting blessedness of the saved and the everlasting punishment of the lost.
  7. The spiritual unity of all who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and their duty to maintain in themselves and in the Church a standard of life and doctrine that is in conformity with the teaching of God's Holy Word.