Famed Pastor Reveals Plan to Launch New Seminary: 'The Bible Calls Us to Take the Gospel to the Nations...

A New York City organization and megachurch led by well-known pastor Tim Keller will be partnering with a conservative Christian college to launch a new seminary in the heart of New York City.

Pastor Tim Keller (Image via Twitter @TimKellerNYC)

Reformed Theological Seminary, a Bible school based in Jackson, Mississippi, that offers advanced degrees in cities across the nation, is teaming up with Keller's Redeemer City to City organization and Redeemer Presbyterian Church to launch a new campus slated to open in 2015.

"The Bible calls us to take the gospel to the nations, but the nations of the world are pouring into the cities on a history-changing scale. This massive migration is both a significant opportunity and challenge," Keller said in a statement announcing the school. "Even in parts of the world where Christianity is growing rapidly, the national churches have difficulty reaching their own greatest urban areas."

The preacher said he's hopeful that the new partnership will help meet this need by equipping students in the city with graduate-level, Bible-based education.

Seminarians will be able to participate in a two-year Master of Arts of Biblical Studies program as well as the subsequent City Ministry Year program, which is described as a "year of practical ministry training through Redeemer City to City."

According to Religion News Service, the campus will likely be inside Redeemer's offices in Manhattan, with the cost of each credit hour falling somewhere between $430 to $450.

While many seminaries and Bible colleges across America are struggling, Reformed Theological Seminary has continued to expand across the U.S., according to Christian Today.

Redeemer Presbyterian is likely an ideal partner, as the church has planted more than 300 churches in 45 cities through the City to City effort, showing that it knows how to develop and foster deep community roots.

The Reformed Theological Seminary has pushed back against the trend of online education by providing local institutions; Redeemer will help facilitate this goal with the new New York City partnership.

Read more about the seminary project here.

(H/T: Christian Today)