Trinity International University President Kevin Kompelien (left) pictured with Trinity Western University President Todd Martin.
The news that a leading American seminary will be joining Trinity Western University is making waves around the North American evangelical world.
While both schools are describing the merger in positive terms – “joining Trinity Western in launching a global seminary” – some commentators say it is a symptom of tough times for Christian education.
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS), based in the North Shore of Chicago, has developed an impressive reputation over its 128-year history. TEDS is the divinity school of Trinity International University.
Trinity Western (TWU) is Canada’s largest private Christian university, with about 6,000 students. Based in Langley, it has satellite campuses in Richmond and Ottawa.
Both schools announced the development April 8.
A release from TWU stated:
TWU President Todd F. Martin highlighted how this development honours the history and traditions of both institutions while creating a stronger combined future.
“We are privileged to continue a longstanding legacy of evangelical scholarship and expand the impact of a global Christian education,” he remarked. “We are driven by the same heartbeat for the gospel, and together we can do even more to serve the Church and societies worldwide.”
“As universities founded by the Evangelical Free Church of America, we embody a shared theological foundation and a shared calling to provide exceptional Christian education,” said Trinity International University President Kevin Kompelien. “This agreement with TWU furthers TEDS’ mission for equipping Christian leaders to engage in God’s redemptive work in North America and around the world,” he affirmed.
Martin just took on the role of president of TWU in February, having taught there since 2008.
TEDS: impressive history, current challenges
Veteran religion journalist Bob Smietana wrote about the initiative for Christianity Today April 9:
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.
Longtime former dean Kenneth Kantzer, who led the school from 1960 to 1978 and helped it grow to national prominence, called TEDS “the Free Church’s love gift to the worldwide church of Christ.”
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. Kantzer went on to be editor of Christianity Today magazine. The school is also home to a number of centers, including the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding, named for a prominent evangelical theologian.
But over the last decade, Trinity has fallen on hard times. In 2015, the divinity school had 1,182 students – the equivalent of 753 full-timers – making it one of the nation’s larger seminaries. By the fall of 2024, that had dropped to 813 students and 403 full-time equivalents.
In 2023, the university shut down its on-campus programs, leaving it with too much property and not enough students. The university ran a $17.3 million deficit in 2023, according to its latest financial disclosure to the IRS, after shutting down its in-person undergraduate program. Trinity’s 2024 audit shows a $7.6 million deficit, with a similar deficit expected this year. A $19 million long-term loan is also coming due in 2026.
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TEDS/TWU history
The possibility of such a merger is not new. The TEDS statement noted:
By the mid-1980s, discussions of collaboration between TWU and TEDS took shape. TWU’s Vice President and Academic Dean Ken Davis envisioned “TEDS Canada,” a seminary deeply rooted in the evangelical tradition yet distinctively shaped by its context.
Though those plans never fully materialized, TWU pressed forward, expanding its academic offerings while holding onto the dream of a theological institution with global influence.
Now, 40 years later, that vision has found its fulfillment: TEDS has entered into a formal commitment to take steps moving under the auspices of TWU, a union that brings together two institutions with a common statement of faith and story of origin, as well as a shared commitment to training Christian leaders for the church and the world.
As this moves forward, TEDS will become TWU’s seminary, all the while remaining steadfast in its mission “to train men and women to testify to the transformative power of the inerrant Word throughout the world while providing a critique of the competing ideologies that threaten the life of the church” (Dr. David Pao, Dean of TEDS).
The TWU statement laid out the proposed conditions and schedule for joining:
Trinity Western will assume 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. Through a staged process, the acquisition is planned to be completed at the end of 2025, and TWU anticipates welcoming seminary students into the new school at the Langley campus beginning in the fall of 2026.
Part of a trend?
Ed Stetzer believes the merger “marks a watershed moment in theological education.”
Ed Stetzer, a leading evangelical commentator (and Dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University), tweeted that TEDS “was widely referred to as the queen of the seminaries.”
Writing on the ChurchLeaders site the same day as the TWU/TEDS announcements, he said the move represents the “seismic change” occurring in theological education.
He wrote:
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.
He added:
The future of theological education is at a crossroads. Institutions like TEDS merging with TWU, program closures at many schools and declining enrollments signal a pressing need for seminaries and churches to collaborate intentionally. By valuing and integrating theological education within the life of the church, we can ensure the preparation of well-equipped leaders for the challenges ahead.
Furthermore, this is also connected to orthodoxy. Seminaries that thrive will have close connections to churches – and churches are looking for seminaries they can trust.
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ACTS Seminaries
ACTS Seminaries has been established on the TWU campus since 1989.
Last spring, ACTS Seminaries announced a big change. As I wrote last year:
Bill Taylor, Chair of the ACTS Seminaries board, announced March 26 that ACTS will transition to a new Trinity Western University School of Theology.
ACTS is a partnership of four denominational seminaries – Canadian Baptist Seminary, MB Seminary, Northwest Seminary and Trinity Western Seminary. It is already based on the TWU campus.
Taylor wrote:
Much has changed in the world and in theological education since ACTS was birthed in 1989. These past few years, the ACTS board has deliberated over what structure will best serve students today and in years to come and ensure the flourishing of their education.
The ACTS board has agreed on a plan that will allow our students to continue to receive quality theological education in a vibrant, sustainable seminary. In short, we plan to ask [the Association of Theological Schools] to move the governance and control of ACTS to TWU and TWU will open a TWU School of Theology.
The ACTS partner seminaries and affiliate schools will continue to serve their denominations and constituencies, providing quality theological education in a variety of forms that may include continued partnership with TWU in some programs.
If things go as planned, TWU will launch the TWU School of Theology May 1, 2026.
ACTS Seminaries released a statement (‘TWU to Assume Ownership of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School’) April 8, but did not comment on its own role or future. It appears that MB Seminary, Northwest Seminary and Canadian Baptist Seminary will continue their work, on the TWU campus.
Mark Wessner, President of MB Seminary released an ‘ACTS/TWU Partnership Update 2025’ which responded to the announcement that TEDS would be joining TWU.
He stated:
I want to assure you that this development does not affect MB Seminary’s ability to offer its own graduate-level courses and degree programs. MB Seminary remains a healthy, effective and independently chartered theological institution, delivering programs through Teaching Churches across Canada and online.
As noted previously [see last year’s announcement], MB Seminary is working with TWU to identify specific graduate programs that will be delivered in partnership. We expect these details to be finalized by May 2025, with new program offerings launched in Fall 2026.
The other two seminaries had not posted responses at the time this article was posted.