Some of you may have seen this important article over at The Gospel Coalition about the decline and relocation of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) by Collin Hansen, who is a graduate of the school. Reformed Theological Seminary has been friends with TEDS for many years. Over the years, a number of our faculty have done their studies there before coming to RTS, and a number of our graduates have gone on to do doctoral work there. We wish TEDS all the best in this new stage of their institutional life.
The last twenty years have been tough for accredited graduate theological education in North America. The majority of accredited seminaries have been stagnant or shrinking. Most folks have no idea how hard it is to provide what a seminary has to provide, and pay the bills for it.
By God’s grace, Reformed Theological Seminary has done well over that stretch, and we are poised to make some major announcements at the PCA General Assembly in June. Stay tuned.
As best as I can tell (because numbers are tricky, even when they are officially reported to or by accreditors) there are only about six seminaries larger than RTS in North America. RTS has been in the top twenty for a long time (going back to the late 1990s), but we have grown significantly over the last fifteen years, while other institutions have struggled. And we have a higher percentage of men preparing for the ministry in an MDiv program in our student body than any large educational institution that I know of (and this is repeatedly confirmed to me by the people who come to our campuses to recruit our students).
That is truly remarkable. But what is even more remarkable is that RTS teaches over two-thirds of our credit hours residentially. That stat is a “unicorn” among the largest seminaries. It is not uncommon today for large institutions to do 70% or more of their credit hours online these days.
Why are so many seminaries in decline? That’s a complex question, and the answer varies institution to institution, but I see at least three common denominators. (1) Church Decline: Some seminaries have declined as the ecclesiastical constituency they serve declines (this is especially the case with liberal, mainline, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox institutions, but I have also seen it happen with evangelical institutions). (2) Constituency-indifference to theological education: Some seminaries have declined when the ecclesiastical constituency they serve begins to view graduate theological education as nonessential and/or unimportant to preparation for ministry. If students don’t have to go or need to go or aren’t encouraged to go to seminary to prepare to serve the church, they don’t! (3) Cost: Many students would like to go, but can’t afford to go. This is almost always among the top three issues on a student’s mind who is deciding to go to seminary – can I afford this? Seminaries in high cost of living areas, without big endowments, strong donor constituencies, and significant scholarship programs, have suffered enrollment decline.
Why has RTS grown? I think, under God, there are a few key factors that account for where we are: (1) We are serving a vital and growing ecclesiastical constituency that needs more ministers and Christian workers. (2) Our students are drawn in large measure from ecclesiastical bodies that require or highly value rigorous theological education of their ministry. (3) RTS is affordable. RTS keeps a world-class theological education attainable through cost control and generous scholarships. We also are located in areas that are advantageous for cost of living. (4) RTS’s multi-campus system has helped preserve residential, in person, graduate theological education when everyone else was giving up on it. We have more local-church partnerships, and internship opportunities in the immediate vicinity of our campuses than any single-location institution could provide. Much more could be said! I’ve talked about it a little here: “The RTS Advantage.”