On the closure of seminaries and colleges and the need for theological education

Does the recent closure of King’s College in NYC, the collapse of TEDS, and the very recent announcement, “sudden” to many, of the closure of Spurgeon’s College,[1] signal significant changes in the mode of doing theological education?

For some, the closure and collapse of these institutions means that theological education needs to be totally downloaded to local churches. Such an idea, in my opinion, would be fundamentally wrong.

Seminaries/bible colleges and local churches are necessary partners in the sphere of theological education. There are subjects and disciplines taught in seminaries that few, if any, local pastors can do in toto. I know of no pastor who is an expert in Greek and Hebrew, as well as being up to date with studies in biblical theology, systematics, historical theology, and church history. On the other hand, there are things that ultimately can only really be learned in the local church, such as preaching, the admin of a local church, and counselling.

In some ways, I think, the push to download all of theological education to the local church is a species of Landmarkism, the idea that the only institution that our Lord founded in the religious sphere is the local church and that there is no such thing as the universal Church. It is based on a misreading of Matthew 16:18: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Historically, Landmarkism used this text to claim that the only true churches were Baptist churches and that due to this promise of God about preserving the local church, there had to be a succession of local Baptist churches going all of the way back to either Jesus or John the Baptizer.

Indeed, I have come to see Landmarkism as a Baptist variant of the claim to apostolic succession. And at the fountainhead of it stand men like Cyprian in the third century, who identified visible local churches bound together by the communion of bishops as “the Church.” And thus, for Cyprian and those like him, their theological opponents, the Novatianists, were totally outside of the church. Now, there is much about Cyprian I love (see, for example, his letter to Donatus in which he describes his conversion and the nature of the Christian community), but I deem this identification of “the church” with a visible body of churches to be a fundamental mistake.

The employment of the term “church” in our Lord’s statement in Matthew 16 is the same way that the term, ekklēsia, is being used in the Pauline epistles of Ephesians and Colossians.[2] It is the universal Church, which is comprised of all who have savingly believed in the Lord Jesus. Now, notice what this implies. A faithful seminary/bible college, composed as it is of believers, belongs entirely to the Church. And to do theological education in a seminary or bible college, therefore, does not necessarily mean that the Church is not involved. Of course it is. Yes, such seminaries and bible colleges are not local churches; but they are part of the Church.[3]

In the post cited above by Peter Williams, the Principal and CEO of Tyndale House in Cambridge, he concludes his remarks thus: “Globally, there are more people than ever who want to know about the Bible. The opportunities for theological education institutions have never been greater.”[4] We need theological schools to flourish and aid local churches in training pastors and leaders for the Church.

Here, in Ontario, we have a great need of support for theological education. I think of Heritage Seminary in Cambridge, with which I have had a very long association that goes back to 1982 (albeit not continuous nor fulltime for much of that period). It has a brand-new building (see above) and has students, but has a great need of new faculty. I can think of no better way to employ one’s wealth, than to fund such an enterprise. In nuce, this seminary needs, in my opinion, to appoint at least three new faculty. What a boon it would be to the Church here in Ontario, to fund such appointments. May the Lord provide is my prayer!

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[1] See Peter Williams’ remarks: “Spurgeon’s College, one of the UK’s most historic, non-conformist theological colleges announced its closure suddenly yesterday. It had just received degree-awarding powers and other colleges were receiving accreditation, or in the process of seeking accreditation through it. To any, myself included, who hadn’t been watching closely its collapse appeared sudden. However, its last set of published accounts are jaw-dropping. I have never seen their like. I cannot fathom how trustees (collectively—some may have argued against) could allow such deficits or borrowing. I feel sorry for the many people affected by this collapse.” (Post of @DrPJWilliams on August 1, 2025; https://x.com/drpjwilliams/status/1951386492670029914?s=46).

[2] Ephesians 1:22‒23; 3:10 and 21; Colossians 1:18 and 24. Cf. Ephesians 4:4. Of course, in Colossians 4:16, the word is being used to refer to a local church.

[3] I wonder, then, is the term “parachurch” a helpful term?

[4] Post of @DrPJWilliams on August 1, 2025.