Our Religious Heritage

Expressing a continuing commitment to the ideals of its founder, Roberts Wesleyan College founded Northeastern Seminary in 1998 as a graduate school of theology.

Roberts Wesleyan College, originally Chili Seminary, was founded by Benjamin Titus Roberts in 1866. Roberts was an evangelical Methodist minister and the first general superintendent of the Free Methodist Church. He and the other founders of the Church affirmed the view of Christian teaching, personal piety, and social action taught by John Wesley. The Church’s official teaching in its Articles of Religion clearly shows its roots in classical Christianity. Its heritage can be traced through the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, the Augsburg Confession of the Protestant Reformation, and the great historic creeds of the early Church, such as the Apostles’ Creed, back to the Scriptures, and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

This heritage has been of major importance in the development of the educational programs at Roberts Wesleyan College and informs the mission of Northeastern Seminary as a graduate school of theology. Stating his purpose for the founding of Chili Seminary, Roberts wrote, “While we cannot prize too highly the benefits of mental culture, we should not lose sight of that moral and religious culture which lies at the foundation of correct principles and good character.”