This deficit was blamed on the spending patterns of former presidents of the Southern Baptist seminary, including Dr. Adam Greenway, who had resigned in September 2022 amid declining enrollment. Dr. Paige Patterson, who served as president from 2003 to 2018, was also implicated in the school’s financial mismanagement. Patterson was forced to step down in 2018 amid allegations that he had helped cover up sexual abuse.
Financial struggles at schools that do not have the support of denominational structures have forced leadership to consider drastic measures to remain afloat. In May 2022, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary announced that it would sell its 102-acre main campus in Hamilton, Massachusetts, and move to Boston amid a years-long trend of declining enrollment. In 2022, the campus was reportedly worth about $54 million.
Later, in December 2022, the school altered course and announced that it would remain in Hamilton and instead sell off its apartments, “because they are largely underutilized.”
A few years earlier on the West Coast, Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, grappled with a similar decision. In 2018, the school announced that it would sell its 13-acre campus and move roughly 30 miles east to Pomona to alleviate financial pressures.
The announcement came roughly a year after the school closed three satellite campuses amid declining in-person enrollment.
In October 2019, Fuller opted to remain at its Pasadena campus, which had been the school’s home for more than 70 years. However, the school did announce plans to reduce its footprint by selling off “non-core properties.”
Declining in-person enrollment across a number of theological institutions is forcing seminaries to think differently about how to offer ministry leaders robust degree programs while remaining financial viable.
“There are just a few of us larger non-denominational seminaries that are stable or growing, and a lot of that has to do with engaging seminary students in more flexible ways, like church-based cohorts and other such programs,” said Dr. Ed Stetzer, dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in La Mirada, California. “However, it’s harder with standalone seminaries—not part of a university—that were primarily driven by residential experiences.”
Stetzer added, “Kevin is a good leader, well respected in the denomination, and we all wish him well.”
Disclosure: Dr. Ed Stetzer is editor-in-chief of Outreach Magazine and provides general editorial input for ChurchLeaders.
