page_title: Union Theological Seminary (Philippines)
section_title: The Union
hierarchical_section_title: Union Theological Seminary (Philippines) / History / The Union
caption_attribution_description: English: SC 374568 Union Theological Seminary on Taft Avenue in Manila, damaged during the fight for the city. Signal Corps Photo #SWPA-45-30308 (Guyon) Released by BPR - 25 Aug 1945 Orig. neg. Lot 12144
context_page_description: Union Theological Seminary is the oldest Protestant seminary in the Philippines. It was created when the Ellinwood Bible Training School and the Florence B. Nicholson Bible Seminary merged into one theological institution in 1907. The fusion of these two institutions was a significant event for The Comity Agreement, which intended to unify various mainline Protestant denominations established by American missionaries during American Colonial Era of the Philippines. Though the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and the United Methodist Church in the Philippines collectively support it, the seminary is independent of both in structure and curricular formation.
  Since its creation, the seminary has produced pastors and church workers who contributed substantially to Protestantism in the Philippines. Graduates of the seminary went to work for well-established local churches. Its alumni played a vital role in the creation of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in 1948.
context_section_description: Because of the vision of uniting various Protestant traditions, the Presbyterian and the Methodist Missions have combined efforts to hold Bible classes for workers in 1905. Under the direction of Wright and Farmer, the sessions have been proven to be a success and made it as a regular event. Earlier in 1907, the leadership of the Ellinwood Bible School and the Florence Nicholson Seminary came up with an idea of a possible establishment of a united theological institution that would jointly train church workers from these two Protestant traditions.
  After a conference was held, this vision came to reality and gave birth to the Union Bible Seminary. Its first classes join institutions started in June 1907 in Ellinwood building in Malate. The following years, classes were also held in Caloocan. The division of classes into two different locations were found to be inconvenient, so they just decided to hold the sessions in Ellinwood buildings and the Central Methodist Church. The said "union" was first considered to be a mutual cooperation. The established bond was so strong that almost everything from the faculty to properties had been mutually shared. In the succeeding years, more denominations decided to join the union and started sending their students to seminary. The United Brethren joined the cooperative effort in 1911, the Disciples of Christ in 1916, and the Congregationalists in 1919. In 1920, the name Union Theological Seminary was adopted as official name of the institution. A year after, the corporation was formed having its own Constitution and By-Laws. In its earlier years, the newly incorporated seminary did not have facilities of its own until a new building was erected at the corner of Taft Avenue and Herran Street (now Pedro Gil). It was dedicated in 1926. During World War II, the seminary temporarily suspended classes and resumed after the war had ended. In the bombing of Manila in 1945, the city was severely devastated. Many of the historic buildings and landmarks were ruined, but UTS building remained intact and stays firm even until today. From 1926 to 1962, the seminary stood on Taft Avenue, Manila.
  During the special meeting of the Board of Trustees on June 2, 1961 held at Baguio City, it was approved that the seminary be assigned to a new location.  The Board of Founders of the Nanking Theological Seminary provided the funds needed to buy a property. There were two options at that time. First was to acquire the 5-hectare property at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, which would substantiate the seminary's relationship with the university (which was also founded by the Presbyterians).The second option was to purchase a property in a nearby province south of Manila. The latter choice was more appealing, because the site would be great to establish the new UTS community and it would create an opportunity for expansion for its ministries in the rural areas.  In June 1962, the seminary moved to Dasmariñas, Cavite. The 97-hectare property had started to be developed even before the transfer. The buildings for dormitories, classrooms, library and refectory was already in progress at that time. Housing projects for the faculty was also initiated. The seminary continues to stay in this vicinity until today.
  While the seminary was still in its original location, a Union High School was established in Manila by the Evangelical Union in 1919. Later on, the Union Christian College in San Fernando, La Union, was founded in 1936 with elementary and college departments. The seminary began offering college courses in Manila, which eventually led to the birth of Manila Union University in 1947. This institution has become the Philippine Christian College. These schools were all initiated by the seminary leadership to serve the educational needs of pastors, their families and the surrounding communities. For many years, the seminary and the colleges existed independently and cooperatively under separate boards. Most of the facilities in Manila had been shared with the Philippine Christian College until the s
caption: Union Theological Seminary in July 1945 after the Battle of Manila.
exif: {"Image Tag 0x000B": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384", "Image DateTime": "2017:10:05 14:45:27", "Image ExifOffset": "2242", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4516", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11947", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:10:04 10:22:30", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:10:04 10:22:30", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}