Here at the seminary, we love abbreviations. LOVE ‘em. Unfortunately, we’re not often very good at explaining what those abbreviations mean. So if you’ve been scratching your head wondering what the heck people are talking about, here’s a quick guide to some of the more common abbrevs floating around:
CTS— Calvin Theological Seminary. Because we don’t like to say our full name.
CRCNA—Christian Reformed Church of North America. Ditto.
CRWRC—Christian Reformed World Relief Committee. Newly renamed “World Renew.”
CRWM—Christian Reformed World Missions.
CRHM—Christian Reformed Home Missions.
OSJ—Office of Social Justice.
CFR—Creation. Fall. Redemption. Theology so important we had to abbreviate it.
KSA—Korean Students Association.
M.T.S.—Master of Theological Studies. Not, as some have suggested, an abbreviation of mutants.
FYF—Facing Your Future. A summer program for high-school kids that introduces them to the Seminary.
2850—CRC Headquarters, located at 2850 Kalamazoo Ave SE. Also called the “Pentagon.”
SL—Service Learning.
BOT—Board of Trustees.
CCP—Committee on Curriculum and Pedagogy.
CCC— Committee of Community Culture.
COS—Church of the Servant. A Church a mile-and-a half down Burton that’s a favourite of Calvin College profs.
CFAC—The Covenant Fine Arts Center (see pg 15).
BC—Before Calvin.
CPE—Clinical Pastoral Education.
XCI—Cross Cultural Internship. Cross, as in x, get it?
MPA—Ministry Practice Areas.
CVR—Calvin Van Reken. One cool prof.
CEP—Center for Excellence in Preaching.
TEFM—Theological Education as Formation for Ministry.
Th.M.—Master of Theology.
MIP—Ministry Incentive Programs. Ask Jennifer Settergren about them.
TULIP—A backronym for Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. Also an invasive species of flower.
PK, MK, TCK—Pastor’s Kid, Missionary’s Kid, and Third Culture Kid
RCA, PRC, URC, OPC, PCA, PCUSA, ECO—The other guys.