Nazarene Theological Seminary

Translated by Danilo I. Aguilar (Current NTS M.A. student)

I was born in a pastoral home in Peru. My father was a presbyter for the Church of the Nazarene with 44 years of active ministerial service until the Lord called him to His Presence. I recall that during my childhood, my first contacts with NTS and the Nazarene universities in the United States were through the catalogues that my father would bring home from the General Assemblies.

I would read the catalogues and look at the pictures with great interest, but in those years I never imagined that one day I would be able to study in one those programs that NTS offered. The truth is, for a South American, that was a distant and unattainable possibility that usually abided only on the plateau of one’s aspirations.

After completing my studies at the Nazarene Seminary of the Americas (SENDAS) in Costa Rica, my wife and I served the Lord for three years at our Seminary in Quito, Ecuador. Then, we moved to Argentina to continue our ministry in theological education at the Nazarene Seminary that is based in the city of Pilar, Buenos Aires.

It was at that time that the opportunity presented itself to study in the Doctor of Ministries Program that NTS was going to offer in Latin America and in our language. Personally, since I finished my studies at SENDAS my dream was to continue in a doctoral program, so when I heard the good news I knew that this was a historic opportunity that I did not want to miss.

The seminars we received as part of the Doctor of Ministries Program impacted my life and ministry. I especially would like to emphasize the quality of the professors and their initiative to share their knowledge and their ministerial experiences. That was one determining factor of the Program that profoundly marked my life. In Latin America we knew our professors because of their books or simply by name, but it was tremendous to share with them and not only learn from their erudition, but also from their humility and commitment to the Work of God.

Another distinguishing factor in the development of the Program was our enjoyment of the companionship amongst the students who came from different parts of South America. The classes were enriched by the ministerial background and education of each of the members in this group of students. The integration of pastors, educators, district superintendents and missionaries was very fruitful and we rapidly converted in to a community of learning. Each course was a festival of reunions, to which we arrived full of new experiences ready to be shared.

The class content contributed to broadening our ministerial vision and motivated us to begin greater things for God’s service in our own contexts. Not only were we academically challenged, but ministered to, by our professors, and even among ourselves.

Another positive aspect of the Program was that our bi-yearly Seminary classes permitted us to insert our studies into our respective ministries without having to leave our Region, where we serve the Lord, for long periods of time. This facilitated immediate implementation of what we learned in our classes during our ministry exercises.

Likewise, the Integrative Ministerial Project as the final requirement permitted me to develop a proposition for my job as a theological educator that we continue to use until this day in the Seminary where I serve as President. I speak of a Project of recruitment, training, and sending of pastors-professors for our Decentralized Program of Theological Studies to the countries Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina.

For me, the development of this project was not only the final requirement to graduate from the Doctorate of Ministry, but it transformed into a possibility to create a program that has blessed our church in the ministry of ministerial education. As a result of this project, every year dozens of professors are mobilized to give classes and prepare the future ministers of the Church of the Nazarene in Cono Sur.

What a great privilege it was to have had the opportunity to study at NTS! I truly consider it to have been a dream come true for many of us, an opportunity to learn, grow and to look at the future with great expectations.

In these recent decades, our church in Latin America has experienced an unprecedented growth and consequently the challenges are larger and demand more from us. We need ministers that are ready to give reason to our faith with conviction and profundity, who have deep spiritual experience, know our doctrinal heritage and have the capacity to passionately transmit it to the new generations.

I believe NTS has equipped us with the ministerial tools to face this supreme assignment. Thank God for that!

Jorge L. Julca (NTS’2004 D.Min. Graduate)

• Regional Coordinator of Theological Education- South America
• Senior Pastor, Altos de Pilar Church of the Nazarene, Buenos Aires, Argentina