After a lot of hard work and exams the students and lecturers of WBST finally reached the end of another academic year. The culmination of this was the graduation ceremony which was held here at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Warsaw on the 12^th June. Many guests attended the ceremony from all over Poland. In particular family and friends of those students who were finishing their study at the seminary. The graduates were students who both gained full-time and part-time bachelor degrees in Theology. During the same time the students of the received their diplomas from the Rector of the Seminary, Pastor Gustaw Cieślar.

Introductory prayers and a greeting to all the guests started the graduation service at noon. After singing some worship songs and a reading of 2 Timothy chapters 2 and 3 by some seminary students the Rector welcomed the distinguished professors who were to present the certificates and diplomas; Janusz Dymczak, the Chairman of the seminary board, Professor Tadeusz Zieliński, the Dean of the seminary and of course the Rector himself, Gustaw Cieślar.

The Bachelor’s degree in Theology was presented to the following who finished their studies (photo below): Marcin Buska, Pawel Chojnacki, Andrzej Fiedoruk, Piotr Filipek, Marcin Korowaj and Lukasz Malojlo. (Remigiusz Neumann had also finished his full-time studies but he is yet to finish his dissertation).

The Diploma of the Catechetic Institute was also given to those who had finished their year-long course. The students who gained the Diploma this year were as follows: Magdalena Adamiec, Danuta Czerederecka, Janina Kalinowska, Renata Koziej, Aleksandra Kurowska, Renata Nowakowska, Malgorzata Poterewicz, Lidia Slaby, Ewelina Tolopilo and Kamila Wozniak.

In a spontaneous moment, Pastor Chojnacki (Methodist Church), who is the father of one of the graduates, made a short speech. He wanted to thank the lecturers and workers of WBST for all their hard work on behalf of the families of the graduates.

In this atmosphere of thanksgiving before God, one of the graduates Lukasz Malojlio wanted to thank the teachers of WBST on behalf of the students themselves. He said: “Life cannot be made longer or wider, but it could be made deeper.” He went on to explain how study at the seminary had given this depth to his life and thank was thanks to the lecturers and God himself.

After this the President of the Polish Baptist churches, Dr. Andrzej Seweryn, then prayed for the students. He thanked God for their hard work and service in the seminary. He then prayed that God would guide the students and give them a vision of further study or service.

The graduation ceremony was also the occasion when the news of Konstanty Wiazowski’s retirement was officially given. Konstanty had been a lecturer and worker at WBST since the very beginning. His presence as a good role model for the students was evident in the seminary. Indeed it was Konstanty’s vision and partly because of his dedicated work that the idea of a Baptist Seminary to train students started and was realized. His influence on the building and running of the Seminary was mentioned by Janusz Dymczak who gave a moving account of all Konstanty’s work. It was with much thanksgiving that everyone gave him a standing ovation.

The graduation ceremony also signaled the end of Gustaw Cieslar’s time of being the Rector of WBST. This did not come as a shock however as Gustaw had been planning this for a long time. Gustaw had decided to give all his time and attention to being the pastor of a congregation in the Polish town of Sczczecin. Janusz Dymczak gave another short speech of thanks for all of Gustaw’s hard work and dedication to the life of the Seminary. As a original gesture, Gustaw was given the desk, at where he worked for many long hours, as a leaving gift.