Seventh Day Baptists have long been committed to education, especially education for their pastoral leaders.  This mission of the Council on Ministry and the School of Ministry is to provide programs in line with this longterm commitment.  In order to be certain that our leaders have received the requisite training in Seventh Day Baptist distinctives our churches desire, we offer specialized classes on those distinctives for all SDB pastors and leaders. These classes are known as the Summer Institutes, so named because of the time of year during which they are traditionally held.  There are three such classes:  SDB History, SDB Polity and Sabbath Theology, each dealing with a particular part of our tradition.  The classes are required by the General Conference for accreditation, and are a prescribed part of the educational programs for our Seminary students.

This year’s Summer Institute is focused on Seventh Day Baptist History and begins on February 1st.  The class consists of both an online component, which begins on February 1 and runs through May 15th, and a week long seminar, which will be held at the SDB Center in Janesville, WI from August 9-14.  The previously announced deadline for registration for this class was January 15th, but is now being extended until next Thursday, January 22nd.  Application forms for the class can be found here.  If you are planning to attend this year’s class, please move quickly to apply!

Those with questions about either Summer Institute are encouraged to contact Nick Kersten at the SDB Center either by phone ((608)752-5055) or by email (nkersten@seventhdaybaptist.org).