Recently, I’ve been thinking about our Southern Baptist seminaries. The SBC owns six: Southern in Louisville, Southeastern in Wake Forest, NC, New Orleans, Southwestern in Fort Worth, Midwestern in Kansas City, and Gateway (formerly Golden Gate) in Ontario, California. There is a seventh Southern Baptist seminary, Mid-America, in Memphis. Mid-America is thoroughly Southern Baptist, but it is not owned by the SBC, nor does it receive any money from the Cooperative Program. The six seminaries together receive 21 percent of the Cooperative Program budget. That money is divided among the six seminaries according to a complex formula, based on enrollments. The International Mission Board receives about 51 percent, and the North American Mission Board receives 23 percent. So, the 21 percent allotment is the third highest in the SBC budget.
Personally, I began my studies at Southwestern Seminary in 1972. When my wife and I married, we wrote the Foreign Mission Board (now IMB) and informed them we were called to missions. The Personnel Department responded by writing, “great, go to seminary.” My pastor recommended Southwestern, so we went there. At that time Southwestern was the largest seminary in North America, and 55 percent of all FMB missions came from Southwestern. I graduated with my Master of Divinity (missions) in 1975. We served with the Foreign Mission Board in the Philippines, and I studied for my PhD in missions on two furloughs, graduating in 1986. I’ve taught at three IMB seminaries overseas and here in the USA at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, Southern Baptist Seminary, Mid-America Baptist Seminary, and now Southwestern Seminary in my old age. In total, I’ve taught in Bible college or seminary for more than 40 years. So, I was trained in seminary, and I’ve spent my life teaching at seminaries. So, what about our SBC seminaries?
Changes Observed
One change is the relative size of the seminaries. Seminaries report two numbers in regard to enrollment; head count (the number of people who take at least one course) and full-time equivalency (FTE). Full-time equivalency is calculated by dividing the total number of credit-hours taken by all the students by the number 24. Twenty-four credit hours is considered full-time study. The head count is always higher than the FTE. The Association of Theological Schools (ATS) ranks seminaries in size according to FTE, and the SBC allocates Cooperative Program funds primarily by FTE. In 2023-2024 Midwestern Seminary reported the highest FTE—1,862, while Southern Seminary reported 1,837. This is a big change because for many years Midwestern was the smallest of the six seminaries, and Southern was the largest. In terms of head count, Southern Seminary is still the largest with 4,222, compared to Midwestern 3,766. In the last two years, Midwestern has grown by 11%, while Southern has declined by 13%. When I was a Master of Divinity (MDiv) student 50 years ago, Southwestern was the largest. Southern can claim to graduate more MDiv graduates (359) than Midwestern (147) in the 2023-24 academic year.
Another change I’ve observed is that more and more students are studying via the internet rather than in person. Last semester, the provost at Southwestern told me that 58% of its students are on-line. I mentioned this to Dr. Don Dent, who recently retired from Gateway Seminary. He said the number of students in the classroom had decreased year by year, while online enrollment has increased.
A third change I see is more ethnic diversity. I’ve had lots more Asian students in my recent classes at Southwestern than what I observed 50 years ago. Southwestern has enjoyed success in recent years with its Hispanic program, and Gateway offers programs for Korean and Chinese students. I applaud these efforts.
Changes Suggested
The SBC really does not need six seminaries. I’m not the first to mention this. As I recall, there was an effort some years ago to merge Midwestern and Golden Gate and locate the new seminary in Denver. This fizzled when the alumni of those two seminaries rose up in opposition, as did the state convention leaders in the West, who appreciate Gateway. Still, with the majority of students joining online now, why should we operate six physical campuses?
Our seminaries are needlessly redundant. For example, each one of our seminaries offers a PhD program. I’ve taught in and administered doctoral programs for years. The problem is that we are producing many more PhD graduates than are needed. Most PhD students hope to become a college or seminary professor, but perhaps 10 percent will secure a teaching position. There is not much turnover in higher education. So, why do all the seminaries offer a PhD degree? The answer is to retain their faculty. To become a seminary professor, one must be bright enough to master the material in an academic discipline. However, that same bright professor must be willing to teach the same introductory course, say Introduction to Missions, over and over again. Honestly, over time, that becomes boring. On the other hand, teaching PhD students is intellectually stimulating, so seminaries establish PhD programs in order to retain their faculty.
The basic seminary degree is the Master of Divinity degree. It is a three-year program. One can enroll in an MDiv program with a bachelor’s degree in anything—business, engineering, even drama. It doesn’t matter. To enroll in a master’s degree program in history at a university, the student must have a bachelor’s degree in history. So, you can see the difference. Still, it seems ridiculous to study three years full-time in order to earn a master’s degree. I suggest we scrap the MDiv in favor of a two-year/four-year program. It would work like this: two years to earn a master of ministry degree and two more optional years to earn a doctor of ministry degree. This would bring our seminary programs in line with a four-year doctor of medicine degree.
I suggest that seminary faculty be paid better. The average Southern Baptist would be amazed at how little an assistant professor (lowest academic rank) is paid compared to a seminary president.
I suggest all seminary students be taught to use the Logos Bible software in their classes. This will serve them well in their careers.
I suggest that seminary students be taught cultural exegesis as well as biblical exegesis.
Finally, all our Baptist colleges and seminaries are facing a significant decline in enrollment due to the “demographic cliff.” What’s that? I found this definition online:
“You keep hearing about the ‘demographic cliff’ higher education is facing. It’s an ominous-sounding term for the steep decline in traditional-age students projected to start by 2026, with the number of new high school graduates expected to fall by about 13 percent by 2041. The consequences of the cliff will vary across geographic regions and types of institutions, yet there’s widespread worry about its effect.” (Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/3/25)
(Note: the seminary statistics came from Mark Wingfield’s article in the Baptist News Global, 2/10/25. For what it’s worth, I don’t agree with much of what he writes, but he does a good job reporting on the seminaries.)
