The European Baptist Federation Council, meeting in Italy, 22 – 26 September 2010, will consider a strategy report from the Board of Trustees of the International Baptist Theological Seminary (IBTS) about the ethos of the seminary and the focus of its work and location in the future.

With the global economic downturn severely affecting many institutions relying on donations, IBTS hit a funding crisis in the downturn which has severely affected the viability of the institution and the Board had to take action to try to stem the financial problems. The EBF Council meeting in Amsterdam in 2009 agreed to a special Strategy group looking at all the issues and this report was presented to the IBTS Board of Trustees this summer, who debated the report and today the report of the Board of Trustees based on the work of the Strategy Group is being issued to the EBF member bodies (the national Baptist Unions).

The report speaks positively about the ethos and place of IBTS in European Baptist life and the strong conviction that IBTS should continue maintaining the library, Masters and Doctoral courses.

The report expresses support for new initiatives in strategic partnerships with other seminaries in the region.

The report makes clear that the preferred option for the future is to maintain the EBF campus in Prague. However, if income and expenditure cannot be brought nearer a balance from the 2011 accounts the report goes on to suggest other options for the future location and operations of the seminary.

The Council will be asked to set up an Implementation Group to conduct careful research into the suggested options based on the current ethos, priorities and future core activities of the seminary as outlined in the report.

The EBF Council always receives reports from IBTS at each meeting. The last had a major debate on the future of the seminary in 1997 in Croatia.