RTS students and faculty at July 2010 graduation. At right - Dean Dr. Barthel and Prof. Achim Härtner.

The Reutlingen School of Theology in Reutlingen, Germany, recently received its institutional re-accreditation for an unprecedented 10 year period from Germany’s Federal Board of Science. In its press release, the board notes the positive development in research and teaching as well as the international relationships of the school as being crucial points for their decision. The Foundation for Evangelism was mentioned five times in the Board of Science’s public statement on the re-accreditation of the school, clearly indicating that the long-term support of the E. Stanley Jones Chair of Evangelism has had a significant impact on the development of the school as a whole as well as its public perception within the academic community.

The Reutlingen School of Theology, founded in 1877, was federally accredited in 2005 as the first United Methodist related institution of higher education in the German-speaking part of Europe. Professor Achim Härtner, E Stanley Jones Chair of Evangelism, has been a professor at Reutlingen School of Theology (RTS) since 1995. The position, funded by a grant from The Foundation for Evangelism, has helped the institution, and many like it, gain notoriety amongst their academic peers. These chairs of evangelism (9 in the United States and one in Germany, Africa, and Russia) provide sound theological teaching to prepare pastors for ministry in a local church, and train them to help persons experience God’s transforming love through Jesus Christ.

Dr. Stephen Gunter, Professorship Director at The Foundation for Evangelism commented, “Full accreditation at Reutlingen School of Theology for a 10-year term is extremely difficult to receive in the German educational system. This extended accreditation is the by-product of generations of investment by the Evangelical Methodist Church of Germany – stretching back 150 years. This represents a vote of confidence by peer theology school representatives at the highest levels, and it is a recognition that German Methodists and all evangelical Christians in Germany may be justifiably proud. So, to Achim and his colleagues, we say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servants!’”

Mrs. Jane Wood, interim executive director for The Foundation for Evangelism also praised the institution’s accomplishment saying, “we send hearty congratulations to Dean Dr. Jörg Barthel, the faculty including Professor Achim Härtner, and the staff of RTS for this amazing accomplishment.”

The full report (in German) by the Board of Science can be reviewed at: http://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/archiv/1007-11.pdf

More information on Reutlingen School of Theology may be found at http://www.th-reutlingen.de/en/top-menue/home/