Our journey as the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) began in 1960 when the late Rev. Dr. Finlay Graham, a Baptist educator of Scottish origin, developed a vision to equip Christian leaders in Lebanon and the Arab world through theological capacity building.
By the time the Lebanese war had erupted in 1975, the Seminary had trained Christian leaders of Jordanian, Lebanese, Egyptian, Moroccan, Syrian, and Iraqi nationalities who later returned home to serve in their own communities. However, with the reigning instability during the war period (1975 – 1990), few students from the Arab world and the majority of ABTS students were from Lebanon.
Another major event in ABTS’ history was the departure of the founding mission in the early 1990's. This necessitated the formation of a local entity, the Lebanese Baptist Society for Educational and Social Development - LSESD (also known as the Lebanese Baptist Society), to take over ABTS along with its two other sister institutions, namely Dar Manhal Al Hayat Publications, and the Beirut Baptist School.
Under the legal ownership of the Lebanese Baptist Society ABTS revisited its vision and mission and set out to proactively expand its programs to better match the emergent needs in the Arab World. To complement its programmatic expansion plans, ABTS renovated its Campus facilities – including its Finlay Graham Memorial Library – with the help of visionary European and North American partners who perceive the importance of well-equipped leaders in the Arab World.
In parallel, ABTS set out to develop a team of professionally qualified and spiritually committed Lebanese who are able to take the Seminary to a new level of effective ministry.
Since 1960, ABTS has made a significant contribution: 200 graduates and over 400 alumni from various Evangelical backgrounds (Presbyterian, Baptist, Anglican …) are serving all across the Arab world and beyond - Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Arab ministries in the West.
