Truett Seminary establishes Anglican Episcopal House

Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary announced Oct. 13 the formation of an Anglican Episcopal House of Studies.

In making its announcement, the seminary stated the graduate-level program “will cultivate theologically grounded, liturgically formed and missionally engaged clergy and lay leaders for service in Anglican and Episcopal contexts.”

“Since its inception, Baylor’s Truett Seminary has welcomed and trained ministers both within and beyond Baptist life. In recent years, especially through Truett’s Wesley House of Studies, our seminary has enjoyed an influx of students from other Christian denominations,” Dean Todd Still said.

“Indeed, there are currently no less than 26 different denominations represented in our school’s student body.”

Currently, 15 Truett Seminary students are enrolled from various dioceses within the Anglican Church in North America, The Episcopal Church and from other provinces internationally.

“The launching of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Truett is due primarily to our commitment and desire to equip more fully the Anglican and Episcopalian students who are already studying with us and have been entrusted to us,” Still said.

“Our present and future hope is that we would prepare them and other such seminarians well so that they might thoughtfully, faithfully and skillfully serve as ministers of the gospel across this vast and vibrant communion of believers around the world.”

Truett aims to strengthen support for current students while deepening relationships with the ecclesial bodies already represented at the seminary. The seminary also will seek to build new connections with other like-minded bishops, rectors and prospective students, the announcement stated.

On Oct. 28-29, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012, will deliver the annual Parchman Lectures at Truett Seminary.

Once the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies is firmly in place at Truett Seminary’s Waco campus, the seminary will expand its course offerings to its Houston and San Antonio campuses.

Matthew Aughtry named acting director

Truett Seminary has appointed Matthew Aughtry as acting director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies. A priest in the Anglican Church in North America and resident within the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others, Aughtry’s time as an Anglican has primarily been defined by assisting various church plants in both Los Angeles and Waco.

He also serves Baylor University as an associate chaplain, working as the assistant director for chapel and ministry in the arts in Baylor Spiritual Life.

Aughtry, who grew up in a small-town Baptist church, was drawn to the Anglican tradition through the writings of C.S. Lewis.

He particularly cited Mere Christianity, “with vision of the Church as a mansion—its broad hallways full of lively conversation, yet its rooms alone reserved for offering food, fire and rest.”

“Seminary ushered me into the Anglican room of this great estate,” Aughtry said. “The Prayer Book’s sustaining patterns have become a safe harbor for me through years of church-planting and ministry in Baylor Chapel.

“I am honored by Dean Still’s invitation to join the launch of this initiative at Truett Seminary, a place I have experienced as akin to Mere Christianity’s magnificent mansion. It is my joy to serve this room, and I anticipate the ways doing so will further the mission of the entire home.”

Charles Ramsey, university chaplain and dean of Spiritual Life at Baylor, expressed “joy” at the launch of Truett Seminary’s Anglican Episcopal House of Studies.

“Faithful proclamation of the gospel in word and deed is at the heart of Baylor University and Truett Seminary. God has blessed this faithfulness and is drawing people from across denominational lines to become formed and equipped for kingdom service,” Ramsey said.

“It is a joy to celebrate the opening of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Truett Seminary and to welcome these brothers and sisters as we seek to glorify and serve God together in the church and the world.”

‘Serve the broader body of Christ’

The announcement from Baylor University quoted Stephen Stookey, director of theological education and institutional engagement with Texas Baptists, who voiced support for Truett Seminary’s decision to launch the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies.

“This initiative is a thoughtful and faithful effort to serve the broader body of Christ through ecumenical engagement and academic excellence, rooted in the historic Christian faith,” Stookey said.

“As a Baptist community, we value our distinctives while also embracing opportunities to collaborate with Christian sisters and brothers who seek to proclaim the gospel, foster spiritual formation, and equip leaders for Great Commandment/Great Commission ministry.”

By establishing the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies, Truett Seminary is demonstrating its “ongoing commitment to forming ministers from a variety of traditions within the one body of Christ,” Stookey said.

“I am confident that this new initiative will enrich the seminary community, broaden theological dialogue, and enhance the preparation of students called to serve in their respective ecclesial contexts,” he said.

“It is my prayer that this partnership will bear lasting fruit for the kingdom of God.”

‘A prophetic vision’

Chris Backert, senior director of Ascent Movement, an emerging mission network, praised Truett Seminary for its willingness to collaborate outside of Baptist circles.

“Truett Seminary has uplifted a prophetic vision to offer space for distinction in polity and Christian heritage within a broader commitment to a globally engaged, evangelically orthodox theological witness,” Backert said.

By launching the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies alongside its Wesley House of Studies, Truett Seminary is demonstrating “for theological education what the wider church must attend to in other arenas,” he said.

“If the broader, joyfully confessional evangelical community can find its way together to prepare future church leaders, then perhaps our congregations, denominational structures, mission agencies and the like will follow suit,” Backert said.

Elizabeth Newman, vice chair of the Baptist World Alliance Commission on Baptist Doctrine and Christian Unity, praised Truett Seminary for continuing to “expand its vision of theological education by establishing an Anglican Episcopal House of Studies.”

“This initiative opens up rich possibilities for ecumenical formation while also enhancing the mission of the church,” said Newman, adjunct professor of theology at Duke Divinity School.

“I am delighted to see this kind of seminary response to Jesus’ prayer that all may be one so that the world may know.”

A Truett Seminary spokesperson said the “next area of focus” will be the Baptist World Alliance program approved this summer. The seminary is now preparing to search for a candidate to fill the newly created Lampsato Endowed Chair of Baptist World Missional Engagement.