Bethany Welcomes 38 New Students

Bethany Theological Seminary opened the 2025-26 academic year with a Joint Convocation with the Earlham School of Religion, held in Nicarry Chapel on Bethany’s campus. As is the tradition for the seminaries, the speaker was the most recently hired teaching faculty member, in this case Dr. Elena Lloyd-Slide, assistant professor of spirituality and pastoral care at Earlham School of Religion. 

Bethany welcomed 38 new, degree-seeking students for the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year, bringing the Seminary’s total enrollment to 115 students. The students represent 10 U.S. denominations and another six denominations in Nigeria. North American students live in 19 states plus British Columbia. Eighty-nine percent of Bethany students are studying at a distance. The student body is 46 percent male and 54 percent female. 

Enrollment of current students is distributed across the Seminary’s four master’s degrees and nine graduate certificates and postgraduate diplomas. The most popular master’s degree programs are the Master of Divinity with 23 students and the Master of Theopoetics and Writing, which currently enrolls 18. The Postgraduate Diploma in Biblical Peacemaking has 24 enrollees, while there are 13 students enrolled in the Certificate in Theopoetics and Theological Imagination. Read more about Bethany’s academic programs here.

This marks the third year of Bethany BOLD, the Seminary’s signature, service-based program for residential students. BOLD (which stands for Build, Organize, Love, and Dare) provides students the opportunity to put their education and faith into action, working with local non-profits to address challenges in the local community. Read more about BOLD here.

In total, there are 68 students enrolled in master’s degrees and 47 pursuing certificates. Twelve students are enrolled in multiple programs, a trend that is increasing year over year.  

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