Andhra Christian Theological College

This article is about UGC-recognised undergraduate courses (for the Clergy) and diploma, undergraduate and master's courses (for the Laity) offered by ACTC. For UGC-recognised master's courses (for the Clergy) specializing in Religion and Sacred Scripture, see Advanced Institute for Research on Religion and Culture.

17°25′00.4″N 78°29′17.7″E / 17.416778°N 78.488250°E / 17.416778; 78.488250

Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC)
Academic block of ACTC
Motto
AD CONSUMMATIONEM SANCTORUM IN OPUS MINISTERII
Motto in English
Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry
TypeAffiliated institution
Established1 July 1964; 60 years ago (1 July 1964)
FoundersProtestant Churches in Telugu states
AccreditationAsia Theological Association
AffiliationSenate of Serampore College (University)
Religious affiliation
Christianity
ChairpersonThe Rt. Rev. T. George Cornelious, CSI
VisitorBishop Anilkumar John Servand, MCI
PrincipalThe Rev. T. Swami Raju, AELC, D.Th. (Serampore)[1]
Academic staff
18+
Total staff
40+
Address
Lower Tank Bund Road, Gandhinagar Post
,
Secunderabad
,
Telangana
,
500 086
,
India

17°25′36″N 78°27′10″E / 17.42667°N 78.45278°E / 17.42667; 78.45278
CampusResidential, 10+ acres
LanguageTelugu and English
Websitewww.actc.edu.in
White cross and ACTC against a black-and-pink background

Andhra Christian Theological College (ACTC) is a seminary[2] in Telangana which was founded in 1964.[3] It is affiliated with India's first[4] university, the Senate of Serampore College (University) (a university under section 2(f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956),[5][6] and has degree-granting authority under a Danish charter ratified by the government of West Bengal.[7] ACTC is on the Hussain Sagar canal (north) in Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the Secunderabad Junction railway station.[8]

The college was founded on the Lutheran Theological College campus in Rajahmundry and the founding societies included[9][10] the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Church of South India, the Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars, the Methodist Church in India and the South Andhra Lutheran Church. The Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches held its B.D. classes at ACTC in 1967, and in 1972 the B.D. programme of the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theological Seminary was integrated into the college. When M. Victor Paul was principal (1991–1993), Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church joined the college.[11][12][10]

Christian missions in Andhra Pradesh[13] opened seminaries in Gooty (Union Theological Seminary),[14] Dornakal (Andhra Union Theological College,[15] for the Church of South India), Ramayapatnam (Baptist Theological Seminary, for the American Baptists), Luthergiri[16] (Lutheran Theological College), Kakinada (Baptist Theological Seminary, for Canadian Baptists) and Shamshabad (Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College, for the Anabaptists). Although professors were exchanged among the seminaries, Bachelor of Divinity students attended Serampore College in West Bengal.

Participating ecclesiastical societies
(in reverse alphabetical order)
  1. ^ Principal's Annual Report 2023-2024 presented at the 60th graduation service, ACTC, Hyderabad
  2. ^ Roger E. Hedlund, World Christianity: South Asia, Missions Advanced Research and Communication Center, 1980, p.48. [1]
  3. ^ M. Ezra Sargunam (Edited), Mission Mandate: A compendium of the perspective of missions in India, Mission India, Madras, 1992, p.495. [2]
  4. ^ Sankar Ray, The Hindu (Business Line), 11 April 2008 "Almost a century later, the charter was endorsed officially under the Bengal Govt Act IV of 1918." Internet, accessed 30 November 2008. [3]
  5. ^ "UGC Act-1956" (PDF). mhrd.gov.in/. Secretary, University Grants Commission. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  6. ^ The Senate of Serampore College (University) is a University within the meaning of Section 2 (f) of the UGC Act, 1956 under which a University means a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act, and includes any such institution as may, in consultation with the University concerned, be recognised by the Commission in accordance with the regulations made in this behalf under this Act. The UGC took the opinion that the Senate fell under the purview of Section 2 (f) of the said Act since The Serampore College Act, 1918 was passed by the Government of West Bengal.[4] Archived 12 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ History of Council of Serampore College
  8. ^ Google Maps
  9. ^ a b c d e f Prospectus ACTC, Printed by A. Nageswara Rao at Saraswathi Power Press, Rajahmundry, 1969, p.4.
  10. ^ a b Rajaiah David Paul, Ecumenism in action: a historical survey of the Church of South India, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1972, p.146. [5]
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Foundations was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Baptist yearbook was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Martin Senftleben [6] Archived 9 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Influences of Hinduism on Christianity in Andhra Pradesh. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
  14. ^ Edmund Davies draws attention to Prof. Wilfred Scopes, a Missionary of the London Missionary Society who taught in the seminaries in Gooty and Dornakal. Edmund Davis, The History of Theological Education in Jamaica: The United Theological College of the West Indies and its four antecedent colleges (1841-1966), 1998, page 167. [7]
  15. ^ "Library file" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2003. Retrieved 5 March 2006.
  16. ^ Winnipeg Free Press [8] United Lutheran Church Advances - The Board sends new missionaries to each of six foreign mission fields. Retrieved 23 April 2006.
  17. ^ Foundations, Volume 11, American Baptist Historical Society, 1968. p. 321. [9]