by Michaela Classen/MBTS
INDIANAPOLIS (MBTS) – Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) President Jason Allen delivered the seminary report during the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention on June 12. Allen’s address focused on institutional health, mission resolve, and God’s providence during the past year.
Allen began by expressing his gratitude for God’s continued faithfulness to Midwestern Seminary, represented in part through increased enrollment for the twelfth consecutive year. Midwestern Seminary’s enrollment now surpasses 5,200 students representing all 50 states and 64 countries around the world.
“Midwestern Seminary is reaching the world,” Allen said. “From North Carolina to North Korea, our students are making a gospel impact throughout the world. They are coming with full conviction, knowing who we are and what we believe, and are presenting themselves ready to be trained for gospel service.”
Allen continued his address by reporting on completed capital projects on the Kansas City campus totaling more than $50 million. He said, “By God’s grace, I stand before you today and testify that those projects have been completed, and we have not one red cent of indebtedness. Praise be to God.”
Campus projects included the complete renovation of the Spurgeon College Residence Hall, which now features additional space for students to enjoy, new amenities, and increased opportunities for fellowship. The renovations also included an increase of capacity to the Residence Hall by nearly 40%.
Looking to the fall semester, Allen shared early projections of a strong fall enrollment. At Spurgeon College especially, recent growth and the addition of new academic opportunities lend to a vibrant residential experience for students.
Allen also shared about Midwestern Seminary’s For the Church Cohorts program and the accompanying 100% tuition scholarship during the first year of residential master’s studies.
He said, “That first year of studies is daunting for most students. By God’s grace, incoming residential Master of Divinity students in our For the Church Cohorts program can study their first year 100% tuition free.”
For the Church Cohorts seek to equip like-minded residential seminary students through enhanced discipleship, focused study, and intentional community. Cohort participants can choose to participate in one of seven cohorts: Shepherds Fellowship, Biblical Counseling, Fusion Masters, Women in Ministry and Scholarship, Spurgeon Fellows, Theological Studies, and Biblical Studies.
Another marker of God’s providence to Midwestern Seminary over the past year was the Spurgeon Library’s acquisition of the Charles Spurgeon Heritage Collection from Spurgeon’s College UK.
Midwestern Seminary’s purchase of a substantial portion of Spurgeon’s personal library was unveiled in the newly constructed Spurgeon Library in 2014. Reflecting on this history, Allen shared his delight in adding to and strengthening the resources available in the Spurgeon Library for residential students, ministry training, and future publications on Spurgeon for the Church.
The acquisition of the Heritage Collection marks a historic moment in the preservation of Spurgeon’s legacy. The collection consists of thousands of books, manuscripts, letters, artifacts, newspaper cuttings, and more from Charles Spurgeon.
Allen encouraged pastors and ministry leaders to visit the Spurgeon Library in Kansas City to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from the British preacher Charles Spurgeon with resources available nowhere else.
Concluding his address, Allen said, “We exist for the Church. Southern Baptist churches are not an impediment or hindrance to our ministry; Southern Baptist churches are our ministry. It is an honor to serve you. To do so is the greatest privilege of my ministry life.”
He continued, “To that end, we will continue to serve to the best of our ability with doctrinal clarity and conviction, with mission focus on the Church, and pray that God will use this institution to raise up again and again a new generation of ministers to serve your churches and to fill your missionary slots.”