ABOUT
We are a fully accredited ecumenical seminary committed to providing the best theological education in southeastern Michigan.
Who We Are
Ecumenical Theological Seminary is a fully accredited ecumenical seminary committed to providing the best theological education in southeastern Michigan while remaining rooted in Detroit. We offer several degree programs in ministry as well as a certificate program theological studies and an urban ministry diploma. We are committed to embracing the diversity found in our city and suburbs and to transcend the boundaries typical in such a setting in order to overcome alienation and help build bridges between our city and its suburbs.
What We Do
We train students to become effective church and lay leaders for the 21st century church, through a course of study which emphasizes the centrality of Christian ethics and social justice ideals. ETS encourages students to begin their training with a course in church and society, whose purpose is to examine how social position provides the foundations for beliefs and values. We provide opportunities for students to practice their beliefs within urban ministry settings, and to work with an outstanding faculty of academic and church leaders who serve as mentors for the journey.
Many Traditions. One Spirit.
Ecumenical Theological Seminary provides a multi-confessional Christian theological education within an urban context, while initiating interfaith engagement. Our approach creates spiritual leadership through personal transformation, social responsibility, critical reflection and academic rigor. ETS graduates are prepared to lead communities of faith while sharing God’s compassion in relationship to various ecumenical, interfaith, political, social, economic, and cultural contexts.
How We Do It
We combine the education of professional pastoral skills with the intentionally multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment of our students. We use dialogue as the method to transcend the boundaries, overcome the alienation, and impart the wisdom that empowers church leaders to proclaim God’s message of undivided love, healing, and hope while ministering to their congregations. We integrate our feeding program with our Field Education curriculum affording students the opportunity to witness first hand, the practice of pastoral leadership in an urban setting.
Why We Do It
The future of our churches depends not only on increasing the number of leaders, but also upon the quality of leaders who will be available. We need women and men of vision whose knowledge, wisdom, and skills have been shaped by the very best theological educators, and who are also prepared to meet the spiritual challenges inherent in the divisions of race, creed, gender, and economics that plague us as a society. Through ecumenical theological education that is firmly rooted in the communities and historical fabric of Detroit, students of Ecumenical Theological Seminary become these leaders.