In October 2009, ABTS launched a new curriculum that breaks new ground in holistic theological education. The new ABTS curriculum has emerged from a pilgrimage of several years of recognizing the need to move beyond the traditional academic paradigm of theological education to a more formative approach to leadership training. The new curriculum seeks intentionally to address two foundational educational principles:

• Genuine formation takes place only when multidimensional learning is intentionally designed and incorporated into the curriculum: that is, dispositional learning emerges through a balanced embrace of the cognitive, affective, and behavioural learning domains (the ABCs of learning). The ultimate purpose of ABTS is formation of effective Christian leaders for the Kingdom of God. While we must take seriously academic standards, we must equally be concerned about personal formation and growth, and the development of leadership skills and qualities. Consequently the ABCs must be more than “ink on paper.”
• The hidden or implicit curriculum is generally a more powerful formative influence on students than is the explicit curriculum. Consequently, the more the hidden curriculum can be addressed intentionally and made explicit in the overall structure of the school, the better positioned we will be to ensure genuine formation takes place.