New ‘Great Commission apologetics’ focus to be a tool for evangelism and missions

“We want our students and our graduates to be the most effective evangelists and disciplers for any person from any faith tradition anywhere in the world, and be able to do it off the top of their heads,” says Travis S. Kerns, associate professor of apologetics and world religions at The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. A new program in the seminary’s Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions—the Master of Arts in Great Commission Apologetics—will help students do just that, Kerns says.

In their spring meeting, April 7, Southwestern Seminary’s Board of Trustees voted to rename and revise the Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics as the Master of Arts in Great Commission Apologetics. In addition, the Fish School plans to offer Great Commission apologetics as a concentration in its Master of Divinity, Doctor of Ministry, and Ph.D. programs. According to the school’s administration, this focus on specifically “Great Commission” apologetics speaks to the global task that the church has in using apologetics as a tool for evangelism and missions.

“We want our graduates very well-schooled in atheism, very well-schooled in world religions, well-schooled in cults, also well-schooled in evangelism and missiology so that they know how to appropriately, culturally adapt their presentation of the Gospel, yet do so in a biblically faithful way,” Kerns says.

John D. Massey, dean of the Fish School, says the formation of the Great Commission apologetics focus “is very much in line with the historical legacy of Southwestern Seminary.”

“There has always been at the core, at the heart, of the seminary, from its founder to its current president, an evangelistic and missions fervor—a heart for reaching the nations for Christ,” says Massey. “And this Great Commission apologetics emphasis is just going to be a natural extension of that historic Southwestern legacy.”

Massey adds that this focus also fits well with President Adam W. Greenway’s “big-tent” vision for Southwestern Seminary, specifically the pillar of the Great Commission.

“We are interpreting that as a call to more effectively equip students who come on our campus to make disciples of all nations,” Massey explains. “The focus of apologetics being a handmaiden to those two tasks is something I think really will define the spirit of all the programs that we’re going to offer, and the heart of what students are going to be exposed to in the classroom.”

“The kind of student who will be attracted to these programs,” Massey continues, “will be those, generally speaking, who have a deep passion to share the Gospel in an informed and effective way to the people around them, but also there’s going to be a strong interest on the part of those who are serving through our International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, who are serving in cross-cultural contexts, who understand the importance of not only learning the language, but the culture of the people, which involves, oftentimes, some unique challenges to the presentation of the Gospel. … So this is a tool, a discipline that is going to help advance the Gospel globally.”

Kerns clarifies that this program “will not teach you how to be a better person at making arguments. This program will make you a better evangelist and a better discipler—a person who is better equipped and more well-rounded in sharing about who Jesus is and what He’s done, and then about teaching others about who Jesus is and what He’s done. [It’s] for the purpose of conversion and discipleship.”