I’ve been doing a series this year on “5 Reasons to be Thankful for…” various SBC entity Presidents (So far, Al Mohler, Paige Patterson, Kevin Ezell). While researching, I noticed that our SBC seminaries as a whole have increased in their student enrollment by 8-10% in the past 10 years! That’s not bad for a so-called “dying” denomination in a “dying” evangelicalism!
SBC Seminaries FULL TIME Student Enrollment
2017-18 vs. 2007-08
SBTS: 1,702 vs. 1,411 = 21% Increase
SWBTS: 1,393 vs. 1,847
SEBTS: 1,602 vs. 863 = 86% Increase
MBTS: 1,120 vs. 398 = 181% Increase
NOBTS: 909 vs. 1,579
Gateway Seminary: 634 vs. 699
TOTAL = 7,360 vs. 6,797 = 8% increase! WOOHOO!
SBC Seminaries TOTAL Student Enrollment
2017-18 vs. 2007-08
SBTS: 3,157 vs. 2,562 = 23% increase
SWBTS: 2,767 vs. 2,693 = 3% increase
SEBTS: 2,187 vs. 1,542 = 42% increase
MBTS: 1,814 vs. 765 = 137% increase
NOBTS: 1,570 vs. 2,604
Gateway Seminary: 1,297 vs. 1,452
TOTAL: 12,792 vs. 11,618 = 10% increase! WOOHOO!
To those who want the SBC to go away. Lord willing, if these numbers are any indication, we are not “going away” any time soon.
*These stats came from the Association of Theological Schools’ Annual Data Tables.
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What is happening at NOBTS?
I think Hurricane Katrina is the biggest culprit.
181% increase for MBTS? They are certainly doing something right!
I’m not sure seminary enrollment is an indicator of overall denominational prosperity. When I was at Southwestern, in the late 1980’s, full time enrollment soared above the 4,000 mark, and there were more students at just SWBTS and SBTS than there are at all six schools now, and that was without undergraduate programs at any of them. One of the best things the SBC does, that few other denominations consider, is to underwrite theological education. If you compare Southeastern with some of the other alternatives, especially for Baptists or conservatives in the area, it’s $7,000 a year if you are SBC, while Liberty is $23,000. DTS runs over $24,000 while Southwestern is about $7,000. Even if you’re not SBC, the six SBC schools are less expensive alternatives than most of their competitors. From what I can gather on line, the bump in enrollment is due to a few of the schools offering degree programs at its undergraduate schools in areas outside of traditional seminary fare. It’s less expensive, for example, to go to the College at Southeastern for an education or business degree than it is to go to one of the region’s Baptist related universities. And now that undergrad programs are established, and offer more than just Bible college, the numbers are growing a bit at those schools.
Lee, the numbers I’ve provided above do not include Undergrad Student Enrollment. The Undergrad departments of our seminaries are not accredited by the Association of Theological Schools, at least their undergrad degrees are not.
I don’t think this is a very good indicator of where the SBC is currently. I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I am familiar with SBC churches throughout the state. What I see in the churches doesn’t line up with these numbers. I am seeing SBC churches merge in Tulsa because they are on the verge of closing their doors. I know tons of Baptist churches barely hanging on in rural areas. My home church that boasted of 500 in the 80’s now runs only 200 on a good day. Where they once ran 300 in Sunday School, those numbers have dropped to 120. I have talked to DOM’s in Texas and Oklahoma who say that their churches are dying. In fact, in SW Oklahoma, two of the associations merged because they had become so small. Also, I visited SWBTS back in February, the school I graduated from in 2008, and it was a ghost town. When I was there people where everywhere. In February I was there on a Thursday, which use to be very busy, and a Friday and I if you were a dispensation a list you would have thought the rapture had occurred. So, I have a hard time saying the SBC isn’t shrinking with these numbers. The seminaries may have more people, but the churches sure don’t. I would like to hear others thoughts.
Pastor J,
Shrinking isnt the same as demise.
Pruning shrinks the tree size but in the end makes it stronger.
The usa and europe [already] are going to experience a winnowing in the number of true declared christians as the chaff is blown away from the kernel.
Blessings
Always amusing when someone predicts the demise of’ the SBC or CP…
I did a piece last July from the SBC book of reports. Seminary FTE was down a couple of percent for the last 3 year period.
There is always a lot of confusion in regard to seminary enrollments. The seminary administrators like to point to their “head count” numbers. The head count numbers are those found in Jared’s second list of Total Enrollment. The administrators naturally like those numbers better because they are always larger. FTE (Full Time Equivalent) is the total number of semester hours completed by all the students divided by 24. The number 24 represents two semesters with 12 semester hours completed each semester. That is how the Association of Theological Schools defines a full-time student. Lots of seminaries are struggling to keep their enrollments up. I’ve heard tales of woe from friends at several. One suggestion for the decline is that Liberty University’s online masters program is affecting enrollments. I might add that there are lots more seminaries and divinity schools that there were previously. Beyond that, some of our Baptist colleges have begun offering a masters degree in Bible/theology. All of this to say that there is lots more competition. A comment above made a good point. The cost of attending one of our six SBC seminaries or Mid-America Baptist Seminary, which is Southern Baptist but not owned by the SBC, is much lower than attending other seminaries.
So of our six seminaries – two schools are getting smaller by total head count numbers…wonder why?
Ahh, an FTE student is 12 hours a semester. Wow.
When I was a full time student at SWBTS’ Houston campus (2011-2012), I believe I was the only student that entire school year who took more than 6 hours a semester.
I’m not sure that Seminary enrollment is a good barometer of the condition of the SBC. Keep in mind that this increase in total enrollment has occurred at the same time that membership in the SBC has declined by almost a million and average Sunday attendance has declined by 500,000. Therefore, it is questionable to see the number of students as having causality with the growth in the individual churches.
Also, there is somewhat of an assumption that the Seminary graduates will be hired by SBC churches once they have a degree. I remember reading several years ago that the Executive Committee had forecast that almost 10,000 SBC churches would no longer be in existence in 15 years. At the same time, there are several multi site churches (J.D. Grear’s Summit Church is an example) which most likely have a lower number of Seminary grads on staff for the number of attenders than the number of pastors you would have if those members of the multisite churches were attending churches of the typical size of the SBC.
Some portion of the graduates will choose to go on staff at a nondenominational church. Cross Point Church in Nashville is a good example. Cross Point’s founding pastor was a Southern Seminary grad and their current pastor is a New Orleans Seminary grad. It would be interesting to see why the founding pastor chose for the church to be nondenominational – the church is located about 2 miles from the Executive Committee of the SBC.
As far as the increase in enrollment at some seminaries and decline at others, there could be other factors such as nearby competition. In California, for example, the San Diego area has Southern California Seminary founded by Shadow Mountain Church where David Jeremiah is pastor – it would be understandable that many in southern California would choose to attend there over Golden Gate when it is a 400 mile trip to the Bay area. In the deep south, some might choose Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham or Mid America in Memphis over moving to New Orleans. New Orleans is in an area where Baptists are a small portion of the population. In the nation called Texas, Southwestern has a number of close by competitors – Dallas Theological Seminary, B.H. Carrol, Truett Seminary at Baylor and Houston Baptist University now has a Theological Seminary.
Increased enrollment is great for the individual seminaries, but I’m not sure it if is a good measurement of the overall state of the SBC. Likewise, the decline in enrollment at others isn’t necessarily a poor reflection on their leadership, but could be a result of competition in the area.
I formerly taught at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, KY. Southern Seminary attracts lots of northern Evangelicals, who do not have a background, or even knowledge, of the SBC. When they arrive at SBTS, they discover that students who are members of a Southern Baptist church receive a 50% discount on their tuition. So, not surprisingly, many join a Southern Baptist church in the Louisville area. So, I agree that the relation of seminary enrollment to the health of the SBC may be tenuous.