Carolina Graduate School of Divinity is positioned to provide graduate theological education for men and women from multi-denominational backgrounds. The mission of Carolina Graduate School of Divinity is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as he forms students spiritually, intellectually, and vocationally to shepherd God’s people with integrity of heart and lead them with skillful hands (Psalm 78:70-72).

In pursuit of its mission, Carolina Graduate School of Divinity is committed to the following purposes:

• Exploring life in the Spirit.
• Equipping students with the tools they need to interact with biblical and theological literature.
• Enhancing the ministry skills of those God has called to shepherd his people in the twenty-first century.

Educational programs at Carolina Graduate School of Divinity are designed to assist the student develop four ministry-related competencies:

• Spiritual Competence will enable the student to demonstrate growth in the life of the Spirit.
• Biblical Competence will enable the student to summarize the development and content of the two testaments and to interpret their texts using the methodological approaches available to expositors and scholars.
• Theological Competence will enable the student to outline the theological teachings of the Scriptures and to identify key persons and periods in the development of Christian theology.
• Vocational Competence will enable the student to select a ministry discipline, learn its theories, and develop the skills required by the discipline.

The core values of Carolina Graduate School of Divinity are:

• Christ as Teacher – We believe that the teacher who has come from God continues in that role today as he reveals the Father and opens the Scriptures to us through the Spirit.
• Scripture as Trustworthy – We have the Scriptures at the center of our curriculum because they are a totally trustworthy revelation of God’s will and redemptive activity.
• Discipleship as Transformation – We understand discipleship as transformation into the image of Christ which enables us to love him with the totality of our being and to obey his commands.
• Scholarship as Rigorous – We hold that preparation for ministry should be rigorous in the development of the required theological and professional competencies.
• Ministry as Servanthood – We choose the model for ministry given by Jesus who came to serve, not be served.
• Evangelicalism as Multi-denominational – We cherish the multi-denominational nature of evangelicalism and respect theological differences among Christ-centered Christians.
• Mission as Global – We anticipate the day when the entire earth will be filled with the glory of God and commit ourselves to participating in the global mission given by the risen Lord.

Divinity School administration and faculty affirm those core beliefs held by Christians throughout the church’s history:

• God – We believe there is one true and living God (Isa. 45:5) who created (John 1:1-3) and preserves all things (Col. 1:15-17). He is one in essence (John 10:30) but exists eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). As the source of all truth (John 14:6, 17), God has revealed himself through his creation (Ps. 19:1), the Scriptures (Luke 24:17), the person and work of Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1-3), and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the Christian (John 16:13-15).
• Jesus Christ – We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son (2 Pet. 1:17), conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18), born of the virgin Mary (Lk. 1:26-38), crucified at the hand of Pilate as the only atonement for the sin of the world (1 John 2:2), raised from the dead by God the Father (Acts 2:24), and now seated at his right hand in heaven (Eph. 1:20) where he serves as our High Priest (Heb. 4:14-16) while awaiting his return to earth to judge the righteous and unrighteous (Acts 17:31).
• Holy Spirit – We believe the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father (John 14:25) to glorify the Son (John 16:14), convict the world of its sin (John 16:8), regenerate those who believe (Titus 3:5), indwell the Christian (Rom. 8:9-11), guide into all truth (John 16:13), and equip the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:7-13).
• Scriptures – We believe that the Old and New Testament Scriptures, inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16-17), are a totally trustworthy record of divine revelation (2 Pet. 1:21) and, therefore, the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
• Sin – We believe sin entered the human race through our original parents (Rom. 5:12) who were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), enjoyed an intimate relationship with him but chose to reject his will (Gen. 2:15-17; 3:1-7), leaving descendants of Adam estranged from God (Eph. 2:1), and enslaved to the power of sin through their own disobedience (John 8:34).
• Salvation – We believe God reaches out in grace (Titus 2:11) and justifies those who respond in faith to his offer of salvation in Christ (Rom. 4:23-25).
• Mission – We believe the mission given to the church is to penetrate the many cultures and people groups of the world with the gospel, to make disciples (Matt. 28:19), and to plant local churches which will themselves be faithful to the mission.

Accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, and the following degree programs are approved: Master of Divinity, MA in Ministry, MA (Biblical Studies), and Doctor of Ministry.

The Commission contact information is:
The Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada
10 Summit Park Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15275
USA

Telephone: 412-788-6505
Fax: 412-788-6510
Website: www.ats.edu

Carolinas Theological Library Consortium
Carolina Graduate School of Divinity joined the Carolinas Theological Library Consortium in 1998. Member institutions include such schools as Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Charlotte), Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury), and Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte). Students at CGSD have full access to and borrowing privileges at the libraries comprising the consortium.

Council on Higher Education Accreditation
CHEA is national advocate and institutional voice for self-regulation of academic quality through accreditation, CHEA is an association of 3,000 degree-granting colleges and universities and recognizes 60 institutional and programmatic accrediting organizations.

Higher Education Transfer Alliance
HETA is a voluntary group of accredited institutions that are concerned with the importance of student mobility, enhancing success in transfer of credit, and affirming the responsibility and prerogative of individual institutions with respect to acceptance of transfer credits. HETA is a web-based directory of colleges and universities that is open to all institutions that are accredited by an organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or the United States Department of Education (USDE).