When the Association of Bible College Principals in the United Kingdom convened in the summer of 2024, administrators came away with some pretty dire predictions.
Anthony Royle, head of the King’s Evangelical Divinity School in Southeast England, told his colleagues that “it seems like 50 per cent of Christian Bible Colleges in the UK will close in the next year or two.”
There are only 30 Bible colleges across the UK, alongside the Church of England’s 23 theological educational institutions. But these are the schools that train ministers for England’s 16,000 Anglican congregations and dozens of free church denominations. The apocalyptic outlook about the future of British theological education has some worried.
“I don’t know a theological college that does not have financial problems, enrollment issues, or some kind of existential challenge right now,” cultural commentator Krish Kandiah told Christianity Today. “It’s as bad as people are saying.”
Many institutions have closed their doors in recent years. Bangor University and the University of Sheffield shut down their theology schools. St. John’s College in Nottingham, England, shuttered in 2019. Redcliffe College dissolved in 2020. And a smattering of smaller colleges have also been boarded up. The Church of England reported at its General Synod in July that the number of potential ordinands in its theological education institutions has fallen precipitously—down 40 percent since 2019. Hundreds fewer Anglican seminarians are enrolling now than just five years ago.
Close observers don’t expect the trend to reverse anytime soon.
“We are going to see more closures, mergers, and competition for a smaller pool of potential students,” Kandiah said.
Principals, experts, and church insiders have offered a range of explanations for the dizzying downturn: People have blamed an increasingly secular society, the UK’s ongoing cost-of-living crisis, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some conservatives within the Church of England have said a lack of clear identity has also led to “uncertainties” about the future of the church. In a letter to bishops in July, The Alliance—an umbrella group that emerged in 2023 in opposition to the church’s plans to approve standalone services to bless same-sex couples—said the overhaul of church teaching on gender, sexuality, and marriage was undermining theological education. The group suggested that traditionalist bishops could reverse the decline, if they were given more authority over preparation for ordination in the Church of England.
But Marvin Oxenham, general secretary of the European Council for Theological Education, which serves Christian education institutions in Europe and the Middle East, said what is happening in the UK is larger than one particular theological conflict. There is a broader stress and strain on institutions of higher education across the globe.
“There’s been a general move away from what you might call ‘traditional models,’” Oxenham said. “In terms of theological education, the model of preparing pastors and missionaries to go to the field or serve within a denominational structure is breaking down,” he said. “It’s certainly not the prevailing model anymore.”
Oxenham, who previously worked as academic dean of the London School of Theology (LST), said he saw firsthand how theological schools in the UK are struggling to reinvent their curriculum and figure out nonresidential offerings to meet needs of potential students who aren’t interested in going the traditional route.
The solutions he has seen most often include offerings for bivocational professionals or coursework for people who are not pursuing ordination but are interested in personal development.
“It breaks the trinity of higher ed—bachelor, master, doctorate—offering a portfolio of learning that is student focused instead,” Oxenham said.
Oxenham believes these new models will be “the future of theological education in Europe.”
The current principal of LST, Mark J. Cartledge, said a few things have helped the school weather the storm, including a new master’s program in practical theology and ministry and a new bachelor’s in theology and the liberal arts. Cartledge hopes programs pairing theology and other subjects “will bring in a broader group of students who want to study philosophy, ethics, or science-informed theology.”
Cartledge said the school is also considering microcredentialing. Microcredentials certify the learning outcomes of short-term learning experiences like short courses, summer schools, and online seminars. These are not new but have recently become popular as a way to recruit more potential students.
St. Mellitus, the largest theological school in the UK, has tried to find more students with a move away from its residential model. Facing a drop in enrollment, president and chair Graham Tomlin has promoted a mixed mode of training where students can stay where they are and come to campus for occasional intensives.
The school has also instituted new learning streams for those they call “Peters” and “Calebs” in the Church of England. The Peter Stream is meant for lay leaders in churches, who lack some formal education and do not have the academic prerequisites required for studying for ordination. The Caleb Stream is for “seasoned saints,” who have been successful in other spheres, including business and education, but are looking to serve the church.
Both streams have widened access to theological education and helped St. Milletus limit its losses, a college spokesperson told CT.
Lucy Peppiatt, president of WTC (previously Westminster Theological Centre), told CT that what’s saved their institution thus far is the “hub model” instituted by her predecessor Crispin Fletcher-Louis. The Cheltenham-based school, which caters to charismatic and Pentecostal communities across the UK, offers undergraduate and postgraduate training to independent churches through a mix of in-person teaching, web learning, and videoconferencing through local learning centers they call “hubs.”
The hubs have enabled people to study university-level theology in the midst of their everyday lives, Peppiatt said, without making enormous sacrifices of time and money.
“We can’t just sit and wait for people to come to our institutions,” she said. “The onus is on academic theologians to demonstrate our desire to serve the church and to make the connections with pastors so that they are able to see why theological education is both relevant and important for what they are called to do.”
Some theological schools have also looked abroad for more students. Capernwray, a school in Northwest England, offer residential training through short-term Bible courses and a Christian camp experience. In 2025, half of the students enrolled in Capernwray programs are Americans. There is a strong contingent of Canadians and Germans as well.
“There’s Brits too,” said principal Derek Burnside, “but there’s never been a Capernwray with a majority of British students.”
The school’s primary aim is not academic training but spiritual formation. It was founded in the wake of World War II with the aim of reaching Germans and has continued to be very international.
Burnside, who has led the school since 2017, said that puts Capernwray in a pretty good position to escape the fate that will likely befall many smaller schools.
“There’s a genuine crisis in formal British theological education,” he said. “But a lot of younger, nonprofessional Christians are still looking to deepen their spiritual foundations, to be thoroughly biblically equipped before going on to secular educational settings or into the workplace.”
Burnside believes this could actually be good for Christianity in the UK. With biblical literacy on the decline and a culture that increasingly looks at Christianity as nothing more than cultural heritage, he thinks that democratized theological education could prompt a revitalization of faith.
“We are in a season of shaking and reshaping,” Burnside told CT. “But if the end result is greater access to quality theological education among people in the pews, that can only be a good thing. Perhaps I’m overly optimistic, but I think there’s room for hope.”
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