Southern Baptists' Gateway Seminary Reports Record Fall Enrollment of 1,095 Students

ONTARIO, Calif. —

Gateway Seminary, a Southern Baptist school based in Ontario, California, has reported a record fall enrollment of 1,095 students, up from 971 a year ago, The Christian Post reported Oct. 26.

New enrollment rose 46% to 338 students, the largest incoming class in the seminary's history. Total credit hours reached 5,240, the most since Gateway moved its main campus to Ontario in 2016.

President Adam Groza said the count includes master's, doctoral and certificate students, along with diploma students who take the same master's-level classes. It leaves out Doctor of Ministry students and the school's unaccredited ADVANCE leadership program, which he said use a cohort model that does not compare directly.

Groza credited God's grace and the support of Southern Baptist churches. “Students are hungry for God's Word,” he said. He also pointed to the school's emphasis on preaching, missions and evangelism, noting that every student can qualify for a fully funded overseas mission trip, and to the faculty's commitment to the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture as set out in the Baptist Faith and Message.

Asked what struggling seminaries could learn, Groza urged them to stay close to local churches and partner with state conventions and associations. He also warned against cutting Master of Divinity hours, as some schools are doing, saying students want “a more robust theological education.”

Gateway recently opened a campus in Hawaii, which enrolled 24 students in its first semester, and has added teaching sites in California and Nevada and overseas partnerships in Finland, Hong Kong and Ukraine. The growth comes as many U.S. seminaries report falling enrollment and financial strain, according to the report.