Southern Baptists Dominate List of Top Ten Largest Seminaries
Statistics show that the top ten largest seminaries in North America for the past five years have been evangelical and five of them are Southern Baptist
The top ten largest seminaries in North America for the past five years have been evangelical and five of them are Southern Baptist, statistics show.
According to enrollment data provided by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), these five seminaries are New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS), and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (GGBTS) – all of which have affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant denomination in America.
Greg Tomlin, the Director of Public Relations at SWBTS, says each of these seminaries has its own story as to how it grew in number.
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“SBTS in Louisville, Ky., for example, underwent some course corrections when R. Albert Mohler Jr. was elected president,” said Tomlin, who came to SWBTS in 1995 when he felt a call to ministry. “SEBTS in Wake Forest, N.C., did so as well under Paige Patterson, now the president of SWBTS in Fort Worth.”
These institutions, Tomlin noted, all rallied around the Bible and returned to their emphases on the authority and authenticity of Scripture in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
As a result, they began to gain students.
“Southeastern Seminary, for example, rose from some 600 students to more than 2,000 under the leadership of Dr. Patterson,” said Tomlin. “We here at Southwestern anticipate a similar growth pattern with a goal of 6,000 students enrolled in all of our programs.”
Tomlin said although the enrollment fluctuated from time to time, it has very rarely declined for more than just a few years, unlike most seminaries around the country -- especially those from Mainline Protestantism.
First, the seminaries are strong, said Tomlin, because of their reliance on the Word of God. Second, the seminaries all have programs that promote an intense passion for missions and evangelism. Third, their high academic standards allow them to testify to the Truth more effectively.
According to Tomlin, these are some of the reasons that explain how the seminaries have maintained steady enrollment status over the years.
However, these three points are often reversed in Mainline Protestantism, said Tomlin, particularly in their belief in the scripture.
“Scripture is, many times, scarcely trusted there,” he said.
Moreover, the affordable tuition cost is another contributing factor to the strong standing of Southern Baptist seminaries. Two-thirds of every Southern Baptist students’ tuition is paid by the convention.
“The education at Southern Baptist seminaries is affordable, as churches and good people from across the 16.5 million-member convention have contributed to the Cooperative Program,” said Tomlin.
“These reasons and many more, are among the ones that make keep the seminaries of the Southern Baptist Convention in the top of all seminaries globally.”
The Association of Theological Schools (ATS), which provided the enrollment data, is a membership organization of more than 250 out of total of some 300 graduate schools across the United States and Canada.
For details of statistics on these seminaries, visit http://www.ats.edu/.
