On January 3, 1944, The Cedars of Lebanon Seminary (a Free Will Baptist theological seminary) was founded in Pinar del Río, Cuba. Thomas H. (Pop) Willey was the driving force behind the seminary. Conceived as a center for theological training, the institution purposed to promote missionary growth within the emerging Free Will Baptist Convention in western Cuba. Several students enrolled for this initial stage.
Pioneer missionaries played a fundamental role in the rapid growth of the FWB Convention of Cuba, the fastest-growing work in Cuba during its first 18 years. Missionary work was closely linked to training those who would work in the field. Before the seminary was founded, only two or three young (or newly founded) Free Will Baptist churches existed, so we cannot speak of the local church as the genesis of Free Will Baptist theological education in Cuba. Rather, theological education led to a strong missionary movement, contributing to growth among Cuban Free Will Baptists.
From a biblical perspective, a symbiosis between theological education and the local church is evident. When we analyze the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, the spread of the gospel is an exercise in theological education: go and make disciples, teaching them to obey all things. But theological education also depends on the local church, which nurtures seminaries and is the reason for their existence in training and forming the servants of God.
The seminary experienced three important phases.
After being founded January 3, 1944, over the next 18 years, the seminary graduated 45 students who served in various Free Will Baptist churches in Cuba. In April 1958, the date of the last graduation, the seminary closed for maintenance. The doors did not reopen for 30 years.
After the communist revolution in 1959, our seminary was not authorized to reopen. Miraculously, in 1986, the school received authorization to resume its teaching program. While closed, the seminary’s importance in Cuba became evident. The missionary process was significantly hindered. Many pastors were forced to study in other seminaries or work in ministry without training.
Churches called pastors from other institutions, creating a problem in many cases for the convention. Many churches disappeared. Pastors had to shepherd more than one church at a time. These and other challenges clearly demonstrated the importance of the seminary in pastoral and ecclesial theological education.
More recently, an even deeper working relationship has emerged between the local church and the seminary. Through satellite biblical and theological study closer to the local churches, more people benefit from the seminary.
These extensions have several important objectives:
Bring theological education closer to the local church.
Be a training tool and play a role in church growth.
Provide space for non-believers.
The Cedars of Lebanon Seminary has always been the backbone of missionary growth in the Free Will Baptist Convention of Cuba, but it has also been much more. While educating pastors and missionaries was always foundational for the seminary, in recent years the seminary has become a vital tool for leadership development and discipleship in local churches.
The seminary has extended its vision to train local leadership by establishing Bible institutes in local churches, conducting discipleship courses, and providing leadership training led by the church’s pastor. These institutes, created and endorsed by The Cedars of Lebanon Seminary, consist of three modules: a basic module invites new converts to be disciples on their journey to becoming church members, an intermediate module, and an advanced module. Upon completing these three modules, the student has completed the first year of associate studies in our seminary.
Students may continue their studies at the seminary or the nearest extension school as desired.
Furthermore, these extensions have provided theological education for numerous pastors, missionaries, and church leaders. The extension schools arose from the growing number of those called to serve God in their local churches or presbyteries but unable to travel to the seminary or study full-time.
We set a goal to create an extension in each presbytery in our convention. These extensions are tended by local pastors who have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in theology and Bible and are supported by a group of professors from the seminary faculty. Students from these extensions achieve an associate degree in Bible and theology, with the opportunity to continue undergraduate studies in person at our main campus. As the convention saw students complete extension studies and continue their education, it led to a second training center in the eastern part of the country.
While evangelization and missionary work contribute to church growth, discipleship becomes the tool to help new believers in their walk with Christ. Churches with solid discipleship programs have fewer desertions, and fewer new believers succumb to false doctrines and unhealthy practices, forming a solid foundation of thought against heresies.
A brief statistical analysis shows 40% of the pastors who graduated from the seminary in the last ten years studied in a seminary extension. Furthermore, 100% of the local leaders trained in the seminary completed studies in one of the seminary’s extensions.
Clearly, seminary extension schools and Bible institutes in local churches are crucial to the discipleship and training of Free Will Baptist leaders in Cuba.
About the Writer: Boris Sarlabous is the director of the 80-year-old FWB seminary in Cuba, Los Cedros del Líbano, with a campus on the western side of the island and another one on the eastern side. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Ecclesiology. Boris is married to Ana Marys, and they have three children.
