Home  About STM Introduction And History
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Written by Administrator
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STM came into existence as a joint Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran and Methodist venture on the 6th of January 1979. For Anglicans and Evangelical Lutherans this marked a further stage in their co-operation in theological education in Malaysia, which had earlier included the Christian Training Centre and Kolej Theoloji Malaysia. We are conscious of the vision and contribution of the many people who played their part in the growth and development of STM and we are also aware of the immense task that still lies ahead.
Until the year 1998 we have had to be located at three different sites in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. From 1979 to mid-1983 we were guests of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Brickfields and after that we were renting premises from the Methodist Church in Sentul. In the years that we were in Sentul, improvements were made to the facilities, but it was then recognised that a larger and permanent site was required for the long term development of our ministry to the churches of Malaysia. Then in 1990 we had to move again, this time we had to rent office space, classrooms and student accommodation from the Catholics in and around St. Francis Xavier Church, Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya.
The good news is that God has been very gracious to us in when we were provided with a site in Seremban for a new campus. The building project was launched in 1993 and completed by the end of 1997. We finally moved to our permanent campus at Seremban for the new academic year in 1998.
During our short history the number of students has grown to over 70 at any one time, and we have graduated over 230 students who are now serving in all parts of Malaysia. Our faculty has increased in qualifications and experience, and we are glad to see that the supporting churches are taking steps to prepare suitably qualified ministers for teaching in the seminary. Our founding fathers, the late Bishop Emeritus C.N. Fang, the late Bishop E.B. Muthusami and the late Bishop Tan Sri J.G. Savarimuthu, together with the first principal, the Rev Dr Denis C. Dutton (now Bishop Emeritus of the Methodist Church of Malaysia and also a Datuk) have left an outstanding contribution to their vision and capacity for getting things done. We are pleased to be building on the foundation that they and others have laid.
The accreditation of the seminary by the Association for Theological Education in South East Asia in 1984 was an important milestone, but on the whole our development has been steady rather than spectacular. We have continued to revise the curriculum, to bring lectures and assignments into a corresponding balance, to improve the quality of field education experience and to make adjustments to details of community life. We have also consolidated our administrative procedures and enlisted the basic facilities required by the seminary community. We have continued to add more books to the library. Last by not least we have sought to pray and to plan and to act with foresight as we look to the needs and challenges of the future.
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