About Carey

E pā ana ki te Carey

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Carey Baptist College

Carey is one of New Zealand’s leading theological colleges. Since 1926 we have been training Christian leaders to bring gospel renewal in churches and communities across Aotearoa and around the world. With a campus in Auckland, regional hubs throughout New Zealand, and a vibrant online programme, you can journey with Carey wherever you’re located.

While Carey belongs to the Baptist churches of New Zealand, we serve all the churches of New Zealand, offering a range of NZQA qualifications in the areas of Bible, theology, ministry, and mission. Along with these, we provide a world-class leadership formation programme for those who have a calling to pastoral or missional leadership. Through our Centre for Lifelong Learning, we also provide a suite of resources to support the professional development of Christian leaders.

At the heart of our training is a deep commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ and its power to transform you and your world. A journey with Carey will equip you to participate in the gospel’s transforming work, wherever you’re called. You will gain a new vantage point from which to see more clearly the riches of our faith, the realities of our context, and the rhythms of Christian life and leadership today.

By integrating God’s word, God’s world, and God’s work, and by learning with others in a dynamic and supportive community, you will be transformed. You’ll acquire the biblical knowledge, the practical skills, and the spiritual integrity to be a faithful disciple and an effective leader. As a college, we celebrate the bicultural heritage and cultural diversity of Aotearoa New Zealand. We welcome all peoples, all cultures. Journey with Carey and be equipped and transformed.

The Carey Offering

A journey with Carey equips and transforms you for ministry and gospel renewal – we help provide you with a new vantage point from which you will be able to see yourself, your faith and the world more clearly.

It’s by looking to these horizons that you can prepare for effective ministry and mission in a changing world.

Together we will look:

  • backwards to the story and resources of our faith tradition (God’s word)
  • outwards to the realities of our context today (God’s world)
  • forwards to the future practice of ministry and mission (God’s work)

Transforming your world starts from the inside out—we also help you reflect inwards to better understand your faith, renew your mind and heart, and be further transformed as a follower of Jesus. With this new perspective, you are more fully equipped to be an active participant in what God is doing.

Journey with Carey and be transformed.

Roy's Peak and Poutama
Roy's Peak and Mountains Icon

The Carey Brand

The Carey logo and brand have been developed around the concept of a high place or a vantage point or ‘taking the higher ground’.

It is achieved by the journey upward, ascending the staircase (‘poutama’) of learning and growth to the summit of the mountain. It is the place where you are able to see where you have come from, survey the horizon and prepare for what is to come with eyes wide open—‘Omata-whānui’.

Both the journey to and the arrival at the summit give new perspective that also speaks to the Māori understanding of time, where the past, the present and the future are viewed as intertwined.

“Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua: I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past.”

Mountains in Scripture are often places where people have transformative moments—say encountering God or being commissioned for mission—always intended to back lead us down and into life and ministry.

The Carey Logo

The upward pointing triangle symbol depicts a mountain and speaks to the idea of a journey to a summit, ascension, overcoming, triumph and growth. The journey is upward, made both alone and in a community of learners and leaders. The summit is a point of revelation or transformation, a new turangawaewae or place to stand.

The mountain overlooks, and is reflected in water, the downward triangle. Together the triangles
symbolise the duality of high and low, the ascent and descent journey of Christian pilgrimage, heavenward vs earth-bound perspectives, respecting the past while still being future-facing. Jesus’ kingdom is an upside-down kingdom, where service and character are the mark of greatness and preparation for ministry at Carey involves holistic formation around these precepts.

The ‘poutama’ are stepped patterns of Māori tukutuku panels and woven mats, symbolising both genealogies and also the various levels of learning and intellectual achievement. The stepped patterns look like stairs or steps upward on the journey and represent education, progress and ascension.

The journey with Carey will transform your way of seeing, grow your faith, expand your perspective and widen your horizon, so that, in both church and mission contexts, you will be transformed.

Carey Logo_Mountain Iconography
Carey Baptist College Logo

 

Photo of the Principals Cloak

Carey's Vision and Values

Carey’s heartbeat is equipping leaders and resourcing disciples for the sake of Jesus’s ministry in Aotearoa. Read more about our vision for 2030, and the values at the centre of our mission.

Compliance and Reporting

Learn about our recent evaluation and review from NZQA (2024), our efforts to adhere to The Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021, and more.

Partnerships

Carey is proud to be affiliated with and adhere to the high standards of quality teaching of various accreditation bodies and associations.

a road towards the mountains

Governance and Management

General governance and management of Carey is under the direction of the Carey Board and the Management Team.

Māori at Carey

Māori at Carey

At Carey we aspire to be a community of faith and learning where our Māori students are participating, teaching, and learning as Māori. Find out more about our Tiriti hikoi and what that means for you, as Māori, here at Carey.

photo of students with arms around each other

Support Carey

At Carey we are incredibly blessed to have a community of people who support and invest in our future. Find out how you can be involved.

 

Photo of Rick Pierce for quote

“Participating in high quality, leading-edge teaching, within the context of a great learning community, and wrestling with practical implications in today’s world continues to inspire. Carey has been the catalyst for an enlarging vision of who God is that is not only strengthening my calling but is making a significant difference in the lives of those around me.”

– Rick Pierce, Graduate, Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Theology

At Carey we believe that the God of mission is at work in the world by the Spirit to renew people and places in Christ. Our calling is to equip Christian leaders with the convictions, competencies, and capacity to participate in that mission, bringing gospel renewal in churches and communities across Aotearoa and around the world.