Dean of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School at TWU, David Pao (left) and TWU President Todd Martin.
It’s a loss for the Midwest, but a gain for Canada’s west cost. A leading evangelical seminary is moving from the Chicago area to join Trinity Western University (TWU).
A February 4 release from Trinity Western states:
Trinity Western University has become the new home of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), welcoming one of North America’s most respected theological schools into its academic community to serve the church locally and globally through seminary education.”
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School at TWU will launch in September:
The move marks the culmination of a long-held vision at TWU and a significant new chapter in the 128-year legacy of TEDS, formerly associated with Trinity International University (TIU) in Chicago.
Following a previous joint announcement on April 8, 2025, and a formal transfer of ownership in January 2026, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School now begins its next chapter as the official divinity school of Trinity Western University.
Through the provisions of a signed joint agreement, Trinity Western has received ownership of TEDS free of any financial obligations – as a gift to be stewarded for local and global future generations seeking a Christ-centred education with firm evangelical roots.
Founded as a junior college in 1962, Trinity Western University is now a research institute with more than 5,000 students, offering a wide range of undergraduate and graduate degrees. Its home campus is in Langley, with others in Richmond and Ottawa.
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, founded in 1897, is one of the world’s leading evangelical seminaries. TEDS at TWU anticipates serving more than 400 students.
A major move
When the announcement of the move was made last spring, leading Christian commentators were not entirely surprised – but they did see it as a significant matter.
Ed Stetzer, Dean of the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, wrote ‘The Remaking of Theological Education’ for ChurchLeaders.com.
He began:
The news of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School’s plan to leave Chicagoland and to merge with Trinity Western University in Canada marks a watershed moment in theological education.
It would be difficult to overstate the significance of this move, for many TEDS has been a symbol of evangelical identity and theology for generations.
At its core, this shift reflects the reality that theological education is in a moment of seismic change. More accurately, in many cases this change is simply outright decline. As I noted in a recent article on the Association of Theological Schools report, many larger theological educational institutions have declined substantially. Beyond Trinity, other historic institutions central to the neo-evangelical movement are struggling.
Referring to changing practices (“the internet democratized and decentralized education, making locations less important”), churches training their own staff and the need for seminaries and churches to collaborate more intentionally, he concluded:
At Talbot, we are committed to praying for (and believing in) our sister institutions during these transitions – we want them to be faithful and fruitful. So, our prayers and support are with TEDS and TWU as they navigate this new chapter.
Simultaneously, this defining moment invites all stakeholders in theological education to reflect, adapt and work together toward a vibrant and sustainable future.
Bob Smietana, writing for Christianity Today following the announcement last April, said:
A prominent but troubled evangelical seminary has agreed to be acquired by a Canadian university and move to British Columbia, the school’s leaders announced Tuesday.
The move comes after years of financial struggle and declining attendance at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School – known as TEDS – an Evangelical Free Church school whose alums have played an outsized role in shaping American evangelicalism.
Trinity will continue to hold classes at its Bannockburn, Illinois, campus north of Chicago during the 2025 – 2026 academic year but will move to the campus of Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia, in 2026. Current faculty will get a contract for the coming year, but it’s unclear how many will move to Canada in the future.
Smietana highlighted the prominence of many of TEDS’ graduates:
Among the school’s alumni are historian Randall Balmer, Sojourners founder Jim Wallis, New Testament scholars Scot McKnight and Craig Blomberg, disgraced evangelist Ravi Zacharias, Christian television host John Ankerberg and Collin Hansen, editor-in-chief of The Gospel Coalition.
Longtime professor Don Carson also was one of the founders of The Gospel Coalition, helping launch the so-called Young, Restless and Reformed movement that led to a Calvinist revival among evangelicals. [Former Dean, Kenneth] Kantzer went on to be editor of Christianity Today magazine.
He concluded with this:
David Dockery, a former Trinity International University president who now leads Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, said he has hope for the future of TEDS. The school has reinvented itself before, moving from Minneapolis to downtown Chicago and later to the Chicago suburbs.
“This in many ways will be Trinity 4.0,” he said. “It now has an opportunity for a new and next phase, and I pray God’s blessings upon them as they make this important transition.”
A legacy continued – and expanded
Aerial photo of TWU’s main campus in Langley.
The TWU release states:
“For decades, TWU has carried a vision for a divinity school – one deeply grounded in Scripture and oriented toward the global church,” said President Todd F. Martin.
“Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is among the world’s premier evangelical divinity schools, and what has unfolded is beyond anything we imagined: a strategic convergence of shared mission, shared values and shared calling….”
Two senior academic leaders, Dean David W. Pao and Associate Dean John Simons, along with a group of TEDS faculty-scholars are joining TWU – contributing expertise across biblical studies, systematic theology, church history, pastoral theology, intercultural and educational studies.
Together, they form the academic core of a divinity school designed to equip servant leaders for ministry, scholarship and faithful witness worldwide.
“We are embarking on a new way of doing theological education,” said Dean David Pao, “one that is both local and global in reach, pastoral and academic in focus, and offered as a genuine gift to the worldwide church.”
Both TWU and TEDS are rooted in the Evangelical Free Church, which was founded by immigrants from Scandinavia. TWU retains close ties with the Evangelical Free Church of Canada.
TEDS’ offerings
The release notes:
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School at TWU offers a wide range of graduate programs launching in September 2026. Programs will be accessible through a combination of in-person, hybrid and online formats to support students serving locally and internationally.
Options include master’s and doctoral degrees designed for ministry leaders, scholars and educators serving in diverse contexts:
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- Master of Divinity (MDiv) with two choices for study pathways, offered in English, Mandarin and Korean
- Master’s programs in Christian Ministries, Christian Studies, Theological Studies, Theology and Linguistics & Translation, each with customizable tracks or concentrations
- Graduate certificate and diploma program options
- Four doctoral programs: PhD in Theological Studies, PhD in Theology & Culture, PhD in Educational Ministry Studies and Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
TEDS at TWU will continue to provide church-based and online educational offerings for churches.
ACTS Seminaries
The ACTS consortium has been dissolved as a society and its accreditation has been transferred to TWU, enabling it to open TEDS at TWU.
The release points out that “Current students of ACTS Seminaries in Langley and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago can continue their studies seamlessly within the new Trinity Evangelical Divinity School at TWU beginning this fall.”
Trinity Western has been home to ACTS Seminaries until this point. ACTS was made up of four denominational seminaries – Canadian Baptist Seminary, MB Seminary, Northwest Seminary and Trinity Western Seminary.
One issue not addressed in the release is that three of the four seminaries involved in ACTS will continue operating, separate from TEDS.
I wrote about the future of those four seminaries last fall:
A November 13 update from the four Presidents of the ACTS Seminaries partner seminaries stated that the ACTS society will be dissolved next spring.
The cooperative seminary initiative is based on the grounds of Trinity Western University in Langley; its first class began in the late 1980s.
Dr. Kevin Schular, President of Canadian Baptist Seminary, Dr. Mark Wessner, President of Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Dr. Barton Priebe, President of Northwest Baptist Seminary and Dr. Todd F. Martin, President of Trinity Western Seminary said they were writing “to offer a joint statement regarding the future of theological education at ACTS Seminaries and the development of the new School of Theology at Trinity Western University (TWU).”
Here is part of the letter:
In March 2024, the ACTS Board of Directors and partner seminaries engaged in a process of discernment about the most sustainable path for theological education in the years ahead. Following careful evaluation, the Board made the decision that the ACTS consortium would dissolve as a society while its accreditation would be transferred to Trinity Western University (TWU), enabling TWU to open a new School of Theology.
A petition was then submitted to the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) for approval of the transfer of ACTS’ accreditation and governance to TWU. That petition was approved by ATS in June 2024. . . .
TWU is now planning to launch a new School of Theology – set to open in fall 2026 – that will build upon the legacies and academic excellence of both ACTS and TEDS.
As seminary presidents, we are deeply grateful for the remarkable legacy that ACTS has built over nearly four decades of ministry. Since its beginning, ACTS, in partnership with TWU, has granted 2,023 diplomas to 1,953 graduates-ranging from certificates to full master’s and doctoral degrees.
These graduates now serve in churches, mission organizations, classrooms and communities across Canada and around the world, embodying the gospel and the vision that first brought our schools together in partnership.
Trinity Western Seminary, as part of TWU, will join the new TWU School of Theology. The other three will continue to operate. Northwest Baptist will remain on the TWU campus, Mennonite Brethren will likely remain there and Canadian Baptist has moved its offices offsite.
Go here for the full release and for several FAQs.
(Later in November, Northwest Baptist received a grant of just under $10 million USD from the Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative.)
Note: A March 23 article on the TWU site describes ‘the TWU-TEDS origin story.’