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Our History
Our History
From Belo to Ndu
CBTS started in 1947 in Belo. Missionaries from the North American Baptist denomination were organising churches at the time and saw the need to train pastors to serve in them. The first student body was fourteen part-time students, with Rev. Don S. Ganstom as the first principal-teacher, assisted by Rev. Stephen N. Nteff and Mrs Lois Ahrens.
After three years the school moved to Mbem in 1950, where the student body grew to twenty-eight. In 1954, considering future expansion, the school moved to Ndu with forty-one students.
Four Eras of Growth
Belo, 1947
Founded to train pastors for the churches the North American Baptist missionaries were organising. Fourteen part-time students.
Ndu, 1954
Moved again with an eye on expansion, arriving with forty-one students. Ndu remains the main campus.
Mbem, 1950
The school moved after three years, and the student body grew to twenty-eight.
Seminary, 1983
Renamed Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary to reflect its status as a degree-offering institution.
The Story in Detail
In 1954, when the school moved from Mbem to Ndu, the name changed from Cameroon Baptist Mission Bible School to Baptist Bible Training Centre, Ndu. In 1973 it changed again, keeping the same initials, to Baptist Bible Training College, indicating its secondary level status. In 1983 it became the Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary, to show its status as a degree-offering institution. In 1988 the title of Principal changed to President, and the head of the institution is today the Provost.
Between 1960 and 1972, under Rev. Elmer C. Strauss, new classrooms, a library and office building, and a chapel were built, financed by North American Baptist churches. The library was extended in 1981 and again in 1998 with funds from the Baptist World Alliance; one of its rooms now serves as the Digital Library. The Bethlehem Complex, funded by Bethlehem Baptist Church of Minneapolis, provides offices, the Wycliffe Hall and fourteen classrooms.
In 1985 a school for teaching missionary children was built. It was remodelled in 1996 into a building for the Women’s Ministries Department, with office and classroom space, a conference room, a sewing room and a modern kitchen for domestic science classes.
The Child Care Centre began in 1972 as a children’s room for the children of mothers studying in the Women’s Ministries Department. It grew into a nursery and then a complete primary school, recognised in 2012 by the Cameroon Ministry of Basic Education as a CBC Bilingual Primary and Nursery School.
The Kumba campus, at the time called the Cameroon Baptist Seminary, Kumba, answered the need for more coastal pastors given the distance to Ndu. The hierarchy of the CBC later decided to have one seminary operating on two campuses, and CBTS is now led by one Provost and two Deputy Provosts.
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| Rev. Don S. Ganstom | 1947–1950 |
| Rev. Earl H. Ahrens | 1950–1960 |
| Rev. Elmer C. Strauss | 1960–1969 |
| Rev. George W. Lang | 1970–1971 |
| Rev. Dr Louis Johnson | 1971–1973 |
| Rev. J. N. Nfor | 1973–1985 |
| Rev. Alfred V. Bumuh | 1985–1987 |
| Rev. David H. Burgess | 1987–1988 |
| Rev. Kenneth Gullman | 1988–1993 |
| Rev. Alfred V. Bumuh | 1993–1994 |
| Rev. Kenneth Gullman, first President | 1994–1995 |
| Rev. Dr Wilfred Fon | 1995–2005 |
| Rev. Peter Nyumnloh | 2005–2006 |
| Rev. Dr Wilfred Fon | 2006–2009 |
| Rev. George Mbongko | 2009–2014 |
| Rev. Dr Johnson Nseimboh, first Provost | 2015–present |