Virginia Theological Seminary is a seminary of the Episcopal Church accredited by the Association of Theological Schools. It seeks to further the universal mission of Christ’s church by providing graduate theological education and serving as a theological resource for the Anglican Communion and the wider church.

The Seminary’s primary mission is to form men and women for lay or ordained leadership and service in the ministry of the church. Out of its evangelical heritage and its missionary tradition, it emphasizes the life of prayer, worship and community, the ministries of preaching, teaching, pastoral care and social justice. It seeks to prepare its students as servants of Jesus Christ to equip the people of God for their vocation and ministry in the world. It also provides continuing theological education for clergy and laity of all denominations.

This seminary believes that theological education leading to ordination normally requires full time study and full participation in its common life and worship. It also believes that theological education is greatly enhanced when it is done within an ecumenical, international and cross-cultural context.

Adopted by the Board of Trustees November 1998

Commitment

The Seminary believes that its primary allegiance is to Jesus Christ. Its first duty is to know him and to make him known. It seeks to form lives of strong faith and true piety, fashioned and enriched by personal communion with Christ and to enable men and women out of their own experience to proclaim him to others as Lord and Savior.

The Seminary, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is open to new truths discovered by reason and experience and is committed to respond eagerly and faithfully to the challenges of each succeeding age.

We are committed to the church as the body of which Christ is the head, which is composed of all baptized persons and in which the gospel is communicated through the word and sacraments, and through the common life including worship, study, and service.

We are committed to the church as the people of God offering up praise and thanksgiving to the Lord who gives us life, overcomes allienation, separation and death, and brings all things to the fulfillment of his purpose. In this family of God's people we are called to live and serve together in fellowship of mind and heart, and in helpfulness and mutual esteem.