Our impressions of KRTS (Written by Tobie de Wet)

• It was indeed a blessed experience to stay for three months, together with Stephan and family, on the campus of the Kobe Theological Seminary and taste a little of the atmosphere and spirit (ethos) of this well-known and respected institution in Christian and Reformed circles in Japan and in neighboring Korea.
• The new and impressive buildings with dormitories for students and their families and homes for lecturers were erected after the big eartquake in Kobe of 1995. The apartment building in which we lived when we were in Kobe doing our Japanese language studies, was completely destroyed in that earthquake, and so also the RCJ Ashiya church across the road.
• At the moment 18 Japanese students and 6 Korean students (including some women) are studying under three full-time lecturers (including Stephan) and 15 part-time lecturers, all ministers in the Christian Reformed Church of Japan. One lecturer is a lady who has been a missionary from the RCJ and lecturer in a Theological Institution in Singapore.
• For acceptance at the Seminary as a student, you have to be a four-year graduate from a university and be committed to the ethos, disciplne and life of the Seminary.Some of the students are already ministers in their denominations but are coming here to have a better Reformed foundation, even from Korea.
• Every morning begins with a pre-breakfast prayer meeting at 6:40, where one of the students brings a short message (the past months while we were here they were working chapter-by-chapter through the Book of Job). Between morning lectures they also have (every morning) a chapel service where students and lecturers take turns to preach the Word.
• Students (together with the lecturers) are also themselves responsible for cleaning the buildings and campus grounds. Friday afternoons is cleaning time.
• This is indeed a truly Reformed Seminary where Calvinistic Reformed theology is taught. Our Reformed Creeds and Confessions (especially the Westminister Confession) and Reformed Traditions are playing a determining role. Lecturers and preachers will always again and again refer especially to Calvin and his Institutes in emphasizing their statements.
• Therefore, the Bible as Word of God is completely at the centre of all meetings and lectures. Sermons are not only Bible-based but also expositary preaching, expounding and applying the Biblical text (with very few, if any, illustrations or stories). Sermons are of high quality marked by very good exegesis and always well-prepared.
• This Seminary (and RCJ Church) is very evangelical in its essence and focus, always preaching Christ and the salvation through and in Christ, leading us back to the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, Saviour-Lord, the focus of the whole Bible and our only hope and comfort for now and eternity and the church’s one and only message for the world.
• Daily prayer is playing a big role in the operation of the seminary, praying for one another and for the church, praying in groups, always closing with the “Lord’s Prayer.” The Korean students, coming from churches where thousands of ordinary members gather every morning for prayer meetings, are even conducting weekly “extra” prayer meetings over the weekends.
• Though the academic standard is very high and the students are working very hard academically (basically all RCJ Japanese pastors are academics studying very hard, spending many hours everyday in their studies to read theology and prepare sermons and Bible Studies and talks), big emphasis is layed on the Christian education and the spiritual formation of the students.
• All the students are sent to a congregation in the RCJ where they attend every Sunday. They are involved and assist in the ministry of that congregation, as part of their practical experience.
• The Kobe Reformed Theological Seminary is deliberately not a university but a Theological Seminary, funded exclusively by the small Christian Reformed Church of Japan for the training of ministers and missionaries/evangelists.
• We as Mission Japan and our supporting churches and members in SA can truly feel proud to be involved through Stephan in this great Seminary and in the training of Japanese and Korean pastors and evangelists and sending them out to minister in local congregations and to reach the unreached millions of this beautiful country and great nation!
• Stephan’s speciality of Pastoral Care is very important, equipping not only pastors to take care of their congregations in a pastoral way, but also in the reaching out to and counselling of so many people outside the church with many emotional and psychological needs. One of Stephan’s co-lecturers mentioned in a talk on pastoral care at a ministers’ meeting I attended the other day, that according to a survey, more than 70% of Japanese who have been coming to church for the first time (and eventually becoming believers), have come because of an emotional and psychological need.
• The fact that Stephan and Carina are living as a family on the campus and are an integral part of the Seminary, its personnel and students, is seen as very important. Together Stephan and Carina have almost daily interaction with the students and their families, and are involved in their pastoral care. Carina is also actively involved in the local RCJ congregation with the Seminary Chapel as their base. Over and above this, Carina has the big responsibility of taking care of their household and guiding and conducting the homeschooling of their four children.